Award for Excellence
The ACRL-OR Award for Excellence shall be given to recognize a project that demonstrates excellence in the field by significantly improving Oregon academic libraries or librarianship. Recipients are given an engraved plaque, recognition at the ACRL-OR/WA Fall Conference, and a stipend of up to $150 to defray the cost of the fall conference registration.
Eligibility
Any individual or group in Oregon may apply or be nominated; ACRL-OR membership is NOT required. This is not a lifetime achievement award and the nomination must include an initiative or project that occurred in the previous three years. Current ACRL-OR board members can be nominated, but must recuse themselves from the voting process.
How to Apply
The 2025 - 2026 nomination period will close at 11:59pm on April 14, 2026. The latest information about the Award for Excellence, including information about winners, will be posted to the ACRL-OR News page.
Award Winners
2026
The Accessibility Standing Group of the Orbis Cascade Alliance was recognized for their Accessibility Speaker Series. This robust series addressed a range of library work and sources, helping library workers develop practical skills and theoretical expertise to address a wide variety of accessibility needs and support compliance with new regulations. These sessions were recorded and made freely available to further the access and impact of the project. Led by Orbis Cascade Program Manager, Diversity & User Experience, and Consortial Training Coordinator Amy Coughenour, the group included: Lainie Allen (Western Oregon University), Talea Anderson (Washington State University), Stephanie Brown (Pacific University), Elizabeth Cheney (University of Puget Sound), Celia Hagey (University of Idaho), Rebecca Hastings (University of Idaho), Charlotte Hull (Eastern Oregon University), Amber Mak (University of Washington), and Mary Wegmann (Western Washington University).
2025
Angie Beiriger, Director of Research Services, Reed College Library was nominated for her project 'Getting Students Back into the Library: Management and Advocacy for Increased Outreach and Engagement to Students'. Angie is being honored for her efforts to “re-welcome” students to the library after the pandemic closure and a library construction project, through student centered programming and original outreach initiatives. Angie’s advocacy and support of librarians’ outreach activities, redesigned spaces, and new exhibits led to increased student library use, and increased numbers of attendance for events. Her dedication to making the library a space for all, has increased student satisfaction of services and library spaces.
2025
The Special Collections and Archives Research Center (SCARC) at Oregon State University was recognized for their project, Anti-Racist Description Activities in SCARC which demonstrates their ongoing commitment to anti-racist archival practices by engaging in educational opportunities and ongoing conversations. SCARC worked to identify and change harmful language and imagery in the department’s finding aids and collections and demonstrated its commitment to using inclusive, anti-racist, non-derogatory language in newly created items. Led by project manager Natalia Fernández, the team included Chris Petersen, Anne Bahde; Anna Dvorak; Rachel Lilley; Tiah Edmunson-Morton; Kevin Jones; and Karl McCreary, all from OSU Libraries and Press, along with student support from Grace Knutsen, Margot Pullen, Olivia Dever, and Maxine Deible.
2022
PSU librarian Sarah Stanforth, along with Anders Tobianson from BSU, on their work, Your Research Journey at Portland State University Library – Open Educational Resource. The project culminated in the publication of an open access book to support student’s understanding of the research process at the library.
2020
OSU librarians Laurie Bridges, Diana Park, and Tiah Edmunson-Morton, for their project Writing (Pacific Northwest) African American History into Wikipedia.
Marci Ramiro-Jenkins, Martín Blasco, and the OLA Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion/Anti-Racism Task Force, for their work on developing an EDI plan for the Oregon Library Association.
2018
Pam Kessinger and the Oregon Association of School Librarians Standards Committee, for writing Grade Level Learning Goals for each standard and indicator of the Oregon School Library Standards
2016
Amy Hofer, Coordinator for Statewide Open Education Library Services, for leading the Open Oregon Educational Resources project which has statewide impact on supporting open education resources (OER).
2015
John Schoppert, Director of Library Services at Columbia Gorge Community College (CGCC), for leading the Gorge Open (GO) Open Educational Resources (OER) project.
2014
The Library User-experience & Assessment Un-Conference (LUAU) team for the positive impact on Oregon libraries by bringing together academic librarians from across the Pacific Northwest.
2013
Todd Hannon for his work with rural communities through the Community Research Enhancement and Education Development (CREED) project.
2012
