Awards and recognition for Libraries staff

Purpose and description of the awards

The Library Staff Excellence Award and the Library Academic Staff Excellence Award are presented to honour outstanding contributions from members of the McGill Libraries team. Each year, the McGill Libraries present one individual award to a member of the academic staff and one to a support or professional staff member whose work has had a positive impact on the Libraries and its users. Each award is in the amount of $1,500.

Criteria

Members of the Libraries team are invited to nominate individuals who have shown excellence, initiative, collaboration in their practice, and/ or commitment and dedication to the Libraries' mission:

The McGill University Libraries contribute to society through advancing teaching, learning, and research in a supportive and welcoming environment. We anticipate and respond to the needs of diverse users by providing outstanding collections, excellent services, and inspirational spaces. We work in collaboration with global scholarly and library communities to enhance access to knowledge.

Eligibility

All members of the staff who have been employed at the McGill Libraries for two years on a full-time basis can be nominated, with the exception of past winners of the awards. Permanent part-time staff are eligible provided the length of service is equivalent to two years of full-time employment in the Libraries.

All support, professional and managerial staff can be nominated for the Library Staff Excellence Award.

All librarians, archivists or contractual academic staff can be nominated for the Library Academic Staff Excellence Award, with the exception of the Dean, the Vice-Dean, and Associate Deans.

Nominations are based upon contributions and achievements made in the two previous calendar years.

Committee

The McGill Libraries Award Committee is established to set guidelines for the award process as necessary, to solicit nominations for the awards, and to recommend recipients to the Trenholme Dean of Libraries. All decisions of the Committee are on the basis of consensus. Committee members will be asked to declare any conflict or appearance of conflict of interest with the nominees.

The composition of the Committee shall be:

• Two members of Library Cabinet, of which one will act as chair;
• Two past recipients of the Staff Excellence Award; and,
• Two past recipients of the Academic Staff Excellence Award, or its previous designation, Librarian Excellence Award.

Appointments are made by the Trenholme Dean of Libraries, are for two-year terms, and should be staggered as much as possible. There is no limit placed on the number of terms that any one individual may serve.

Award Process

1. The Committee issues the Call for Nominations no later than the 31st of January, with a nomination deadline of 15th of March.
2. The Call for Nominations is distributed to all library staff by email and to the McGill community, through the Libraries’ website and newsletter.
3. The Committee makes a recommendation to the Trenholme Dean of Libraries by 15th of April.
4. The Trenholme Dean of Libraries subsequently contacts the nominee to ensure that the nominee is accepting the award.
5. The awards are presented at the Libraries All Staff Meeting of June, and the Academic Staff Excellence Award is also presented to the nominee at one of the spring convocation ceremonies.

Nomination

Any member of the Libraries team or the McGill community may serve as a nominator. Nomination must be signed by a minimum of two nominators.

The submission is composed of the form containing a supporting statement (500 words maximum) accompanied by a maximum of two letters of support (one page maximum each) demonstrating how the nominee has exemplified excellence, initiative and collaboration in their work, and has expressed commitment and dedication to the Libraries’ mission. Please submit the nomination package to assistant[underscore]dean[dot]libraries@McGill[dot]ca no later than 15th of March 2025. Nomination email must cc the co-nominator(s) and must come from a McGill email address.

Librarian Excellence Award | Past winners

Staff Excellence Award | Past Winners