OPLA Children’s or Youth Services Librarian of the Year Award

The OPLA Children’s or Youth Services Librarian of the Year Award (formerly the Children’s Librarian of the Year award, and prior to that the Children’s Services Merit Award) is given to honour a children’s librarian who has made a positive impact on children’s or youth services librarianship.

Criteria/Eligibility

Nominees must be a member in good standing of OLA/OPLA.
Nominees must be working in the public library field in Ontario.
The nominee must have made a significant contribution in the following areas: o Active involvement in the public library profession. o Enhanced service to children and youth in the local library. o Innovation in delivery of children’s or youth services o Strong advocacy for service to children and youth. o Modeling children’s and youth services librarianship as a rewarding career. o Being a positive role model to colleagues and the wider community.

Nomination Procedure

The nominator must be a member in good standing of OLA/OPLA.
The nomination form is accessed by visiting the OLA Awards webpage: https://accessola.com/membership-information/awards/
The nomination package should include evidence to support the nomination and must include: o A letter of not more than 500 words to the committee from the nominator. o Two letters of support. o Between 1 and 3 samples of the nominee’s work which could include planning or training documentation, marketing materials, program summaries, etc. o Not more than three photographs, news clippings, etc. if available o The detail provided should be sufficient to ensure the committee has a clear understanding of the nominee’s skills, service and leadership related to Children’s or Youth Services and other important key considerations.
Nominations will be accepted between: February-March.
The closing date for nominations in any given year will be listed on the OLA website.
Once the winner has been chosen, the OPLA President will contact the successful nominator. o The OLA office will contact all unsuccessful nominators.
Unless otherwise arranged, the OPLA President will also contact the successful nominee and request a photo for promotion purposes. o The OLA office will later connect with the nominator and the winner for award presentation logistics.
If desired, nominators may be involved in the award presentation such as creating and/or writing the presentation speech. Please indicate your interest to do so in the nomination form

Selection Process

The OPLA Council will appoint the Selection Committee. It will be composed of three members of the Child and Youth Service Committee with a spare designated in case of a conflict of interest. OPLA Council liaisons will support the process but not actively assist in the selection. o Current members of the Child and Youth Services Committee and sitting OPLA Council members are not eligible for this award. o Supervisors and co-workers of nominees are not eligible to sit on the selection committee.
Nominees who are not selected may be re-nominated in subsequent years with the submission of updated documentation.
The OPLA Awards Committee will review all of the applications and assess candidates’ eligibility. Eligible applications will be assessed using a rubric according to the criteria as above and any supporting the documentation.
The presentation of the award is at the discretion of the OPLA Council and is not necessarily presented on an annual basis.

Award Presentation Information

This award is presented at the annual Child and Youth Blow Out Event with recognition at the annual OLA Super Conference. Award winners receive 2 complimentary tickets to the conference for the day of the event (travel expenses not included). o If the award recipient cannot attend the Child and Youth Blow Out Event, the award will be presented at another OPLA event or at the following Super Conference.
The winner will be notified in advance of the award presentation.
At the presentation, an introductory speech will be delivered outlining the achievements of the award winner.
The recipient will prepare a short acceptance speech.
The recipient may be asked to write an article for HOOPLA about their work, the award they received, and what it’s meant to them in their careers.