About Awards

GODORT presents six awards annually: three awards to recognize achievements by documents librarians, one award designed to encourage participation in professional study or publication, a scholarship for those pursuing a library science degree, and the Larry Romans Mentorship Award, presented jointly by GODORT and the ALA Rainbow Round Table (RRT). Awards are presented at the American Library Association's Annual Conference.

Further information about the various GODORT awards is listed below. To see recent and past GODORT awards recipients, please choose a link from the menu on the left side of the page. For information about the nominations process, please visit the Awards Committee page.

James Bennett Childs Award

The James Bennett Childs Award is a tribute to an individual who has made a lifetime and significant contribution to the field of documents librarianship. The Award is based on stature, service, and publication which may be in any or all areas of documents librarianship. The award winner receives a plaque with a likeness of James Bennett Childs.

ProQuest/GODORT/ALA "Documents to the People" Award

The ProQuest/GODORT/ALA "Documents to the People" Award is a tribute to an individual, library, institution, or other non-commercial group that has most effectively encouraged the use of government documents in support of library service. The award includes a $3,000 cash stipend to be used to support a project of the recipient's choice. This award is sponsored by ProQuest.

NewsBank/Readex/GODORT/ALA Catharine J. Reynolds Research Grant

The NewsBank/Readex/GODORT/ALA Catharine J. Reynolds Award provides funding for research in the field of documents librarianship, or in a related area that would benefit the individual's performance as a documents librarian or make a contribution to the field. This award, established in 1987, is named for Catharine J. Reynolds, former Head of Government Publications at the University of Colorado, Boulder. It is supported by an annual contribution of $2,000 from the NewsBank Inc.

Bernadine Abbott Hoduski Founders Award

The Bernadine Abbott Hoduski Founders Award recognizes documents librarians who may not be known at the national level but who have made significant contributions to the field of state, international, local, or federal documents. This award recognizes those whose contributions have benefited not only the individual's institution but also the profession. Achievements in state, international, or local documents librarianship will receive first consideration. The award winner receives a plaque.

W. David Rozkuszka Scholarship

The David Rozkuszka Scholarship provides financial assistance to an individual who is currently working with or in government information/documents in a library and is trying to complete a masters degree in library science. This award, established in 1994, is named after David Rozkuszka, former Documents Librarian at Stanford University. The award winner receives $3,000.

Margaret T. Lane / Virginia F. Saunders Memorial Research Award

The Margaret T. Lane / Virginia F. Saunders Memorial Research Award will be given annually to an author or shared among collaborative authors of an outstanding published research (i.e., books, articles, occasional papers) in which government information, either published or archival in nature, form a substantial part of the documented research. Preference may be given to publications in library and information science (LIS), but the award is not restricted to the LIS field. The award winner receives a contribution of $1000 from Readex.

Larry Romans Mentorship Award

The Larry Romans Mentorship Award is given annually by the Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) and the Rainbow Round Table (RRT) of the American Library Association. The purpose of the award is to recognize librarians who, through their sustained mentoring efforts, have made a difference in our profession. Each year, the award will honor a librarian who has demonstrated excellence in the area of mentoring, who has successfully encouraged others to serve as mentors, and who has impacted the lives and careers of others through tirelessly devoting time, energy, and talent toward helping others succeed in our profession. The award consists of a citation and $1,000. The award will be presented at the GODORT Awards Program at the ALA Annual Conference. In addition, recognition of the recipient will also take place at beginning of the Stonewall Book Awards Program held at the ALA Annual Conference.