OPLA Leadership in Adult Readers’ Advisory Award

The OPLA Leadership in Adult Readers’ Advisory Award is given to honour excellence in adult readers’ advisory who has made a positive impact on reader’s advisory librarianship.

Criteria/Eligibility

Nominees must be a member in good standing of OPLA.
Nominees must be working in the public library field in Ontario.
Nominees for this award will be evaluated in the following areas: ○ Active involvement in the public library profession. ○ Enhanced service to adult readers in the local library. ○ Innovation in delivery of readers’ advisory services. ○ Strong advocacy for readers’ advisory services. ○ Helping others acquire readers’ advisory skills.

Nomination Procedure

The nominator must be a member in good standing of OPLA/OLA.
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 o 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 Readers’ Advisory 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 Readers’ Advisory 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. ○ Current members of the Readers’ Advisory Committee and sitting OPLA Council members are not eligible for this award. ○ 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. Each member of the Selection Committee will complete this rubric independently, with results tabulated at the end. If there is a tie, the Selection Committee will proceed to open discussion about the nominees.
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 RA in a Day 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).
○ If the award recipient cannot attend the RA in a Day 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.