portal: Libraries and the Academy: 2008 Johns Hopkins Press Award for Best Article

The portal: Libraries and the Academy Board of Editors Awards Committee is pleased to announce that “Evidence-Based Library Management: The Leadership Challenge,” featured in the October 2007, Volume 7, Number 4 issue has been awarded the 2008 Johns Hopkins University Press Award for the best article featured in portal in the 2007 volume, http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/portal_libraries_and_the_academy/v007/7.4lakos.html . The winning article, authored by Amos Lakos, is an extension of the author’s earlier work on developing management information services and creating a culture of assessment in libraries. The author focuses observations on the use of data in decision-making in libraries, specifically on the role of leadership in making evidence-based decision a reality, and reviews new opportunities for data analysis, assessment delivery, and decision-making in libraries. Developments in the information technology (IT) area, especially the increased dominance of very large networked infrastructures and associated services, large-scale digitization projects, collaborative frameworks, and economic and market trends, may have a positive impact on library options for data use and analysis by library management. The discussion is informed by a wide range of new products and services, which are becoming available in the marketplace and are designed to assist decision makers, and by interviews conducted by the author with over 20 library directors, mostly from the Association of Research Libraries.

The criteria used in the selection process for this award included the quality of research methodology, the extent to which the article places library issues in a broader academic or higher education context, the extent to which the article makes a significant contribution to the literature or the advancement of knowledge, its timeliness, and the overall quality of writing. After an independent review of articles nominated by board members, “Evidence-Based Library Management: The Leadership Challenge “ was selected as the fourth annual recipient. In addition to the Johns Hopkins University Press Award, the author will receive a five hundred dollar cash prize.