Excellence in Librarianship

The award process is coordinated through the Office of the President. Nominators are encouraged to consult with the Office of the President about candidate eligibility prior to preparing a nomination; questions about dossier preparation are welcome at any time.

SUNY Oneonta may submit one nomination to this program annually.

Eligibility

Each award has program-specific eligibility criteria; nonetheless, there are eligibility criteria common to all. Regardless of program, nominees must have completed three academic years of full-time appointment out of the five years just prior to the year of nomination and must be resident on campus when nominated. Individuals serving in part-time, or any qualified academic rank, such as adjunct, clinical, or visiting capacities – irrespective of length of their service or amount of their involvement – are ineligible for these programs.

General restrictions on eligibility

There are also circumstances that preclude nomination regardless of the program. The following are special conditions that limit eligibility and these restrictions apply to all programs:

• Individuals holding Distinguished Faculty Rank: Distinguished Librarian, Distinguished Professor, Distinguished Service Professor and Distinguished Teaching Professor – may not be nominated for an Excellence Award in any of the categories;
• Recipients of an Excellence Award may not be nominated for another Excellence Award within a five-year interval;
• Recipients of an Excellence Award may not be re-nominated for an award in the same category;
• Individuals holding qualified academic appointments (as defined in SUNY Board of Trustees policies: individuals holding the title of lecturer or titles of academic rank preceded by the designation “visiting” or other similar designations) may not be nominated;
• The chief campus officer for academic, student, or administrative affairs, or persons serving in these capacities, may not be nominated for an Excellence Award. Other exclusions include the following (but not limited to) as well as other comparable titles: Direct reports to the President or Chancellor, Vice Chancellors and above, Vice Presidents and above, Vice Provosts and above, Senior Counsels and above, and the Deans of the College of Ceramics at Alfred University and the New York State Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, of Human Ecology, of Industrial and Labor Relations, and of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University;
• Individuals should not be nominated in the same season for promotion to Distinguished Faculty rank and an Excellence Award in the same category (e.g., an individual should not be nominated for a Distinguished Teaching Professorship and an Excellence in Teaching award); and
• Posthumous nominations are ineligible.

Eligibility criteria

Academic Background – Candidates must hold full-time appointment as a faculty librarian and must possess a Master of Library Science (MLS) or equivalent (e.g., MLIS).

Academic Rank – Candidates may hold any academic rank (as defined in the SUNY Board of Trustees policies: individuals having the titles of librarian, associate librarian, senior assistant librarian and assistant librarian).

Length of Service – Candidates must have completed at least three academic years in full-time appointment (years do not need to be consecutive) at the nominating campus prior to the year of nominations.

Restrictions – Individuals serving as head of the campus library – or of all the libraries for institutions with multiple libraries – are also ineligible for nomination. (However, the head of the library may be eligible for the Excellence in Professional Service Award if this individual satisfies the other selection and eligibility criteria for that award.) Individuals holding qualified academic appointment (as defined in the SUNY Board of Trustees policies: individuals having the titles of academic rank preceded by the designations “visiting” or other similar designations) may not be nominated.

Local Guidelines: How to Prepare a Nomination

Nominators' Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of the nominator(s) to complete and submit all required and allowable support file data. This includes the electronic submission of the following documents to awards@oneonta.edu by noon on Friday, January 10, 2025:

• One complete PDF dossier containing all required materials
• One MS Word document of the maximum five-page summary
• One MS Word document of the nominee’s curriculum vitae

SUNY will announce winners in April or May; however, due to timing factors, only award recipients and their campuses will be notified.

Nominator Dossier Preparation

The dossier will contain all required materials in the sequence below, with a table of contents. Incomplete nominations will automatically be disqualified.

1. Table of contents.
2. The one-page abstract, signed by the nominator(s), must highlight the nominee’s most outstanding accomplishments, organized by the specific SUNY selection criteria. Also, it must briefly describe the campus support for the nomination.
3. The Summary Presentation (five-page summary) should include direct quotes from the letters of support and must speak specifically to each of the selection criteria in the SUNY guidelines as follows:

   Skill in Librarianship -There must be positive evidence that the candidate performs superbly in fulfilling his or her librarianship duties. Consideration should be given to the candidate's ability to perform this function in a creative and innovative fashion that is of outstanding quality.

   Service to the University and to the Profession -In providing librarianship services, the candidate must be generous with personal time and easily accessible. The individual must be flexible and adapt readily to the needs of the library, the institution and the constituents served.

   Scholarship and Continuing Professional Growth - The candidate must keep abreast of developments in the field and use relevant contemporary data in relation to that person’s work situation. Evidence in this category should include references to publications, membership, and work in professional organizations, attendance at meetings, seminars, etc.

   The format of the Summary Presentation (five-page summary) is significant because the document if approved by the local selection committee, will be forwarded to SUNY System Administration. Formatting requirements include:

   • The heading must indicate the name, rank, and college of the nominee and the nominator as follows:

     Name, Rank, SUNY Oneonta, nominated for the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Librarianship by Name, Title, SUNY Oneonta.

   • The final paragraph must repeat the nomination and summarize its salient points.
   • Avoid the use of first-person.
   • Single-space with at least 11 point font size and set margins to at least 1".
   • Please do not use acronyms or language which will not be understood by external reviewers.
4. The required curriculum vitae must be reasonably detailed, specifying the most recent (with last-modified date) and required data (date of appointment to the SUNY system, highest rank attained and date of appointment to that rank).
5. Recent (ideally within one year) letters providing strong evidence of the extraordinary aspects of the nominee’s activities and addressing the criteria for this award. These shall be limited to no more than five (5) letters, some of which may be from individuals not employed on campus. SUNY Oneonta peers should be at the nominee’s position level or higher and should not also be listed as nominators for the dossier. If the nominee is in a position that involves direct student contact, no more than two (2) additional letters of support from students may be included.
6. Documentation supporting excellence in librarianship will be used only for the on-campus evaluation. It must contain a complete list of professional activities, publications and/or other information pertinent to the nomination. Please note which activities are expected of all staff in the nominee’s organizational unit, and which exceed typical expectations within the position. Please note the time frame and extent of involvement.

Last updated 9/27/2024

SUNY Guidelines
Rating Sheet

Incomplete nominations will automatically be disqualified.