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Research Awards Program

The Research Section of the Medical Library Association encourages MLA members to engage in research activities by sponsoring annual research awards that recognize paper and poster presenters at the MLA Annual Meeting whose work demostrates high-quality research. The evaluation of the research work is performed by judges based on published criteria. A $100 cash award is presented for 1st Place for both papers and posters. A $50 cash award is presented for 2nd Place for both papers and posters. If funds and quality of submissions warrant, additional awards may be made. A separate $100 cash award may be given for the highest quality research poster or paper presented by a hospital librarian at the annual meeting.

Submission of Research Abstracts and Published Criteria

To be considered for the Research Award, paper and poster presenters must meet the following published criteria.

Judging Process

Judges

Paper and poster presenters are evaluated by a team of judges that consist of members of the Research Awards Committee and other MLA members who have volunteered to serve as research judges. The Research Awards Committee and team of judges meets at the beginning of the MLA Annual Meeting to discuss the judging process and receive assignments. All MLA members are encouraged to volunteer to serve as research judges by submitting the Award Judge Registration Form to the current Research Awards Committee Chair.

Guidance for Judges of Papers & Posters

Following the posting of selected contributed paper and poster abstracts on the MLA Annual Meeting website, the Chair and/or Co-Chairs of the Research Awards Committee divide the research-oriented abstracts and notify the team of judges that these abstracts are available for online evaluation. Judges electronically access and review their assigned abstracts prior to the Annual MLA Meeting so they are better prepared to evaluate these research presentation(s) during the contributed paper program sessions. Judges are instructed to review their assigned papers and/or posters according to the Guidance for Judges documentation.

• Evaluation Form: Papers
• Evaluation Form: Posters

Following the Annual Meeting, the completed forms with scores from all the research award judges are submitted to the Research Awards Committee Chair and/or Co-Chairs who tabulate the scores and contact the winning authors. The Research Award results are reported to the Research Section Executive Committee within two weeks after the Annual MLA Meeting, published in the MLA News and Hypothesis:The Journal of the Research Section of MLA, and announced at the annual MLA Awards Ceremony.

Previous Research Award Winners

An archive of Research Award winners is also available here at the Research Section website.