Oboler Award Committee

Charge

The Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award Committee recognizes a significant published work in the area of intellectual freedom. Books and articles are awarded in alternate years. (Updated and approved by the IFRT Executive Committee 2021)

Responsibilities

OIF Responsibilities

  • Works with committee chair to schedule and organize committee meetings

  • Attend virtual and in-person meetings when possible

  • Monitor committee connect space and respond to questions and requests

  • Post press releases to ALA News

  • Forward nominations to the committee

  • Maintain online nomination form and PDF

  • Update online list of past recipients

  • Provide guidance on ALA Connect and ALA processes

  • Provides initial welcome and onboarding email to committee members at the beginning of the term

Timeline

After the Chair-Elect has finalized committee appointments and before the term begins, the incoming Oboler Award Committee Chair may want to meet with the incoming chair and staff liaison to review the goals of the year, the frequency/calendar of meetings, confirm duties and clarify any questions.

First Quarter (July - September)

  • Term begins at the close of Annual Conference or July 1

  • Welcome new officers and committee members

  • Review goals and calendar with committee members

Second Quarter (October - December)

  • Publicize a request for award nominations

    • Draft a press release for OIF staff to post on ALA news page (previous Oboler News)

    • Post request to multiple groups

    • Create social media graphics and text for IFRT and OIF

    • Speak at web meetings with a verbal request for nominations and to highlight past award winners

    • Submit a brief piece for the IFRT Newsletter

  • Respond to each nominator, thanking them for their time and submission and outlining the committee's process and giving them an estimate of when they would expect an announcement.

Third Quarter (January - March)

  • Committee may meet in person at ALA's midwinter meeting to discuss the nominations

  • Communicate process of review and evaluation with committee members

  • Review nominations

  • Committee will discuss the nominations virtually

Nomination Review Process

  • Committee chair assigns a nomination to a committee member

  • Committee members research background information and references provided in the nomination

  • Committee members submit a report of 2-3 paragraphs based on their findings, or additional information the committee should be aware of before making a final decision.

  • Post the nomination report in the committee library

    • Summarizing the nominee's accomplishments briefly with the nominee's name listed.

    • Make a reference check of the references listed on the nomination and find out any more information you can from the references about the nominee to verify and possibly discover additional facts that assist with the nominee's narrative and contributions.

    • Additionally research online what you can about the nominee's accomplishments to verify what you can, or fill in any missing holes as you see fit in order to fairly rank their achievements.

    • Based on your research and interviews, and the supporting documents, please then rate the nominee, as Strongly Recommend, Recommend or Do Not Recommend for the Immroth award based on your findings and personal opinion of the candidate's achievements.

    • Include your own name in the written report as the compiler.

Fourth Quarter (April - June)

  • Committee chair will notify the award recipient, the recipient's nominator, and anyone else who submitted a nomination.

  • Committee will draft a press release about the award recipient and submit it to OIF for distribution (previous Oboler News)

    • Announcement is also posted in the IFRT newsletter

  • Committee will draft copy and graphics to promote the award recipient on social media and submit to OIF and the Communications and Publication Committee

  • Committee will write a column about the year's activities for the IFRT Report and submit to the chair of the Communications and Publication Committee by their deadline

  • Committee chair will formally invite the award recipient to the awards reception and make any necessary arrangements

    • notify recipients and their nominators and/or guests so they can make arrangements to attend ALA conference or have someone attend in their place

  • Committee chair will coordinate the plaque order and the check request with OIF staff liaisons

  • Committee chair will act as host to the award recipient during IFRT award reception and at any other IFRT events or meetings the winner attends.

  • Committee chair will give a brief speech about the award recipient, thank the committee for their work, and present the plaque and award check to the recipient at the IFRT awards reception at ALA's Annual Conference.

  • Committee chair will offer to ship the plaque to the recipient and coordinate with OIF staff liaisons