International Association
of School Librarianship

IASL Best Conference Paper Award


The IASL Best Conference Paper Award is given in memory of L. Anne Clyde and Margot Nilson, longtime IASL members and supporters. The award is comprised of a certificate of recognition and a conference travel stipend, which will be presented at the conference. The stipend of up to 1000 USD is intended to provide support for conference attendance for the successful applicant and will be based on the cost of an economy airfare or other appropriate transportation to the IASL annual conference for that person.

L. Anne Clyde Memorial Research Award

This award is given for the best paper presented at an IASL conference making a research and/or theoretical contribution to the field of school librarianship. Learn more about Dr. L. Anne Clyde here

Margot Nilson Memorial Award in Literature for Young People
This award is given in memory of Margot Nilson, a longtime IASL member and supporter, for a paper making a historical, analytical, and/or practice contribution to the field of literature for young people.

Selection Committee

One Best Conference Paper Award may be given at each IASL annual conference. The award decision must be made by the IASL Awards Committee or by a selection committee that is appointed by the IASL Executive Board. The IASL Executive Board may delegate the award decision to a sub-committee of the annual conference's Organizing Committee, chaired by a member of the IASL Executive Board or an IASL SIG Chair.

Only one paper per applicant may be submitted for the award. Authors may not simultaneously submit the same paper to other competitions or publication venues. Currently-serving Best Conference Paper Award selection committee members are not eligible to apply for the award. Due to the intrinsic potential for conflicts of interest, selection committee members must exclude themselves from all decisions related to the awards if they are not at arms-length from the authorship of any of the papers being considered for the Best Conference Paper Award.

Selection Criteria

The award selection committee must make their decision based on four criteria, equally weighted:
- Quality of the written paper
- Contribution to the field of school librarianship
- Timeliness and interest of the topic addressed
- Practicality or applicability of key findings or new knowledge, clearly articulated

Eligibility Requirements

The primary author of the paper, i.e., the person applying for the award, must be a current IASL member. Co-authors are not required to be current IASL members. A signed statement of originality and eligibility must accompany each paper being considered for the Best Conference Paper award.


Application Form

Applicants should print or copy this portion of the page, complete the information, and email it to iasl@c2cpro.solutions.

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I. Award Application - Based on Content: (please check only one appropriate box)

[   ]      L. Anne Clyde Memorial Research Award
[for a paper making a research and/or theoretical contribution to the field of school librarianship]
[   ]      Margot Nilson Memorial Award in Literature for Young People
[for a paper making a historical, analytical, and/or practice contribution to the field of literature for young people]

II. Applicant Information (primary author contact information)


Select: _____ Personal or _____ Institutional / Association Membership

Name of person/Association: ___________________________________________________________________

School/Institution (if personal application): _________________________________________________________

Position: ___________________________________________________________________________________

Postal Address: _____________________________________________________________________________

City, State/Province, Postal Code: _______________________________________________________________

Country: ___________________________________________________________________________________

Email address: ______________________________________________________________________

Phone [include international country code]: ________________________________________________________

Fax [include international country code]: __________________________________________________________


III. Author/s and Title of the Paper:

IV. Statements of Orginality and Eligibility: The paper is the original work of the author/s, as listed above. The paper has not been submitted for publication or for presentation at a conference in its present form. All contributions and references to sources have been duly acknowledged and, where necessary, all permissions have been obtained from organizations or persons named in the paper.

I am a current member of IASL. If successful in this award application, I (or my co-author) will present the paper at this year’s IASL conference. I understand that the conference travel stipend is awarded to the primary author, but may be, as appropriate, shared with or used by co-author/s of the paper.


Signature: _________________________________________________________________________________


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Past Winners

2022 - Jesselyn Dreeszen Bowman - "Good intentions and Poor Collections: The Attitudes of Southern School Librarians on Transgender Material and Library Holdings" (2022 L. Anne Clyde Memorial Research Award)

2021 - Jennifer Branch-Mueller and Joanne Rodger - “Single threads woven together in a tapestry”:Dispositions of teacher-librarian leaders”

2019 - Karen Reed, Ph.D. - "Demonstration of Teacher Citizenship Behavior (TCB) by School Librarians through Work and Volunteer Service" (2019 L. Anne Clyde Memorial Research Award)

2018 - No Award.

2017 - Melissa Johnston, Ph.D. - "Preparing Teacher Librarians to Support STEM Education" (2017 L. Anne Clyde Memorial Research Award)

2016 - Xiaofeng Li and Ross Todd, Ph.D. - "Information Practices of Middle School Students at a School Library Makerspace(2016 L. Anne Clyde Memorial Research Award)

2015 - Ray Doiron, Ph.D. and Marlene Asselin, Ph.D. - “Ethical Dilemmas for Researchers Working in International Contexts” (2015 L. Anne Clyde Memorial Research Award)


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2019 - Karen Reed, Ph.D. - "Demonstration of Teacher Citizenship Behavior (TCB) by School Librarians through Work and Volunteer Service" (2019 L. Anne Clyde Memorial Research Award)
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