CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
7 Ridgmount St, London WC1E 7AE.

Tel: 020 7255 0500  Textphone: 020 7255 0505    Fax: 020 7255 0501  E-mail: [log in to unmask]

MEDIA RELEASE
Monday 9 February 2004
For immediate release  (Please copy to online discussion lists)

YOUR CHANCE TO WRITE LIBRARY HISTORY

£200 prize offered for best essay of 2003 

Entries are now open for the 2004 Library History Award, an annual £200 award for the best essay on library history published in, or pertaining to, the British Isles, in 2003.  Organized by the Library and Information History Group of CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, the Award aims to improve the quality and increase the quantity of writing on library history in the British Isles.  

Sponsored by Emerald, and first made in 1996, the Award was founded at the suggestion of Dr John Crawford, chair of the CILIP Library and Information History Group.  "It has been a valuable means of encouraging young library historians and helping them to develop their scholarly communication skills," Dr Crawford comments.  "If the study of library history is to continue and develop in this country then initiatives like this are essential."

Authors may put themselves forward for the prize and, in addition, any member of CILIP may nominate a published essay for consideration.  Entries will be judged by the Group's Chairman, Awards Manager and another Committee member, together with a specially invited external assessor and a representative of the sponsor, Emerald.  Nominations close on 30 June 2004, and the winning entry is automatically considered for publication in Library Review.

Further information on the Library History Award 2004

Items considered for inclusion will normally come within the scope of the former Bibliography of British Library History.  The essay should relate to a British Isles theme.  The author should ordinarily be resident in the British Isles but need not be a UK citizen.  The entries will be identified and judged by a panel to include:

1.      The Chairman of the Library and Information History Group.
2.      The Awards Manager of the LIHG who will act as the administrator.
3.      One other member of the LIHG Committee.
4.      An external assessor at the invitation of the LIHG Committee.  
5.      A representative of Emerald, normally the editor of Library Review.

The editor of Library Review will have the right to publish an abstract or shortened version of the winning essay.  Nominations, including six copies of the essay, which should have been published during 2003, should be sent by 30 June 2004 to:

Dr Dorothy Clayton
Awards Manager, Library and Information History Group,
John Rylands University Library of Manchester
Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PP.
Tel:  0161 275 3757
Email: [log in to unmask]

Notes to Editors

CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals is the leading professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers, with around 22,000 members working in all sectors, including business and industry, science and technology, further and higher education, schools, local and central government, the health service, the voluntary sector, national and public libraries.  For further information about CILIP, go to www.cilip.org.uk.

CILIP's Library and Information History Group (LIHG) was formed in 1962.  It publishes a regular newsletter, and a scholarly journal, Library History, appears under its aegis.  It promotes other publications such as the long-established British Library History: Bibliography, and is closely involved in projects such as A History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland.  The LIHG also seeks to support action for the preservation of library records, artefacts and buildings.

Emerald, sponsor of the Library History Award, is a leading English language publisher of academic and professional literature in the fields of management and library services. As an internationally-recognised publisher, Emerald is committed to offering high quality, valuable products while honouring its pledge to contributors of enabling the widest possible dissemination of their work through traditional (via subscription) and non-traditional (via partnership) distribution models.  Further information from www.emeraldinsight.com.

- Ends -