With Movers and Shakers now being international, why not nominate those Australian librarians and see that they get this just reward.

Nominations for 2013 are now open, but hurry, you only have until the 7th November 2012.

The Salem Library Blog Award Winners 2012 have been announced. As expected, there are some very familiar names there. What is nice to know too, is that the library blogosphere is still alive and well and capturing the attention of librarians around the world. Well that and our own Blog Every Day of June!

These awards in their third year, are a combination of public and judge votes. The public (being librarians) nominate library blogs in each category and the judges select a short list on which the public votes.

From the three years of nominations, Salem has also compiled and regularly updated a Library Blog Center, which has an impressive array of current library blogs, including some from our own Aussie Library Blogs Roll.

So check out the winners and see if you agree with the vote. You might even add some new blogs to your reading regime.

Some of Libraries Interact’s friends were nominated and we congratulate them on this amazing honour.

Check out the winners and runner ups – I am sure you’ll find something to add to your feed reader.

The Library Blog Awards aim “to recognise blogging excellence across the library spectrum.” This year’s vote will be ‘bigger & better” with more judges, more blog categories and a public vote.

Judges include Andy Woodworth (Agnostic, Maybe) and Jessamyn West (Librarian.net), amongst a who’s who of library blogging across the spectrum.

As Walt Crawford noted in his Liblogs by Country assessment (Cites & Insights January 2011), Australian libloggers are very active, with the highest rate of 3.5 blogs per million people (beating out the US – 2.8 and Canada – 2.7).  So we have many blogs of our own for nomination.

Whether its Australian or not, why not take a few minutes and nominate your favourite library blogs for the 2011 Library Blog Awards. Nominations close 13th May, with a list of finalists to be announced 18th May and the winners by mid-June.

So get moving, there’s not much time to get those nominations in. What better way to spread the word about the great content being shared by librarians world-wide.

There are quite a few familiar names spread through the lists of fifty innovators, community builders, tech leaders, marketers, advocates and change agents, who have been recognised for their “extraordinary work to serve their users and to move libraries of all types and library services forward”.

This year, we have our 2nd Australian Mover & Shaker – Ellen Forsyth from the State Library of New South Wales, awarded as Tech Leader for her innovative work with Ref Ex and the 2011 Twitter Reading Group.

All the details of the winners and their innovative work (inspiration for us all) is available at the 2011 Library Journal Movers and Shakers website.

Congratulations to Ellen and all the other worthy winners!

The Library Journal Movers and Shakers Awards recognise excellence in librarians across a wide range of disciplines, not just technology. They are a great way for applauding the wonderful work librarians do to elevate our services and our profession and to improve the services, organisation and standing of libraries in our communities.

The Library Journal Movers and Shakers awards went international a couple of years ago and Australia’s own Paul Hagon joined the auspicious ranks of awardees, by being recognised in 2010.

LJ Movers and Shakers 2011

On to 2011:

“The editors of Library Journal need your help in identifying the emerging leaders in the library world. Our tenth annual round of Movers and Shakers will profile 50 or more up-and-coming individuals from around the world who are innovative, creative, and making a difference. From librarians to vendors to others who work in the library field, Movers and Shakers 2011 will celebrate the new professionals who are moving our libraries ahead.” (Library Journal)

In its tenth year, it would be great to see a second and maybe even third, fourth and fifth, Australian to be acknowledged with a Mover and Shaker award – but the only way this will happen is if we nominate them.  We all know someone who would be worthy of such an accolade, so take the time to share your appreciation of their work by nominating them. Nominations close 1st November 2010.

On the local scene, nominations are also now open for the 2010 VALA Award.

“The VALA Award, made biennially, is presented to the Australian library or information centre judged to have made the most innovative use of information technology during the previous two years.” (VALA)

The ‘use’ would have been implemented between July 2008 and June 2010 and the nomination of a library or information centre can be made by any person. Guidelines and nominations are available from the VALA Award page.

Two opportunities, one to recognise the great individuals in Australian Libraries and the other to recognise the great work of our libraries – support your colleagues and our libraries be ensuring they are nominated for these awards.

“****Information technology award****

VALA is inviting nominations for its most prestigious award, the
Robert D. Williamson Award 2010, and we’d like them by Monday 15
November 2009 (but keep them secret!).

This biennial award, always a surprise to its recipient, is presented
to an individual or organisation who or which is, in the opinion of
the judging panel, currently making an outstanding contribution to the
development of information technology usage in Australian libraries
and is positively and significantly influencing development in
information technology usage within libraries. Find out more details
of this Award,  by visiting the Robert D. Williamson Award 2010 page
at http://www.vala.org.au/awardrw10.htm.

Guidelines and nomination forms are available from the Website.

Anyone can nominate a person deserving recognition, so nominate
someone today.  If you wish to nominate someone, but cannot fully
complete the form, then go ahead, and we will work with you and others
to find out more.”

We all know of libraries doing cool things with technology.  It would be good to see one of them receiving such recognition.  Check out the website for more details.

They have come up with two innovations in recent times, which may be of interest to Libraries Interact readers.

The first is the proposed LSW Zine.  They are seeking “rants, manifestos, articles and artwork”, to be incorporated into “a planned dead-tree compilation of writing about libraries by library people.”  This planned compilation is aimed to be published mid 2009 and to be distributed at the ALA Chicago conference.  Check LSW Zine for more details.

The second is Shovers and Makers. A companion to the Library Journal’s Movers and Shakers awards it aims to showcase what other librarians, who don’t get highlighted by M&S are up to.  The delight in this process is you win by self-nominating.  Check out their website and read a few of the winners profiles, including a few of the Libraries Interact team and whilst there, why not nominate yourself?

There are many well-deserved names on this years list and many others who I am looking forward to finding out more about.  Check out the Library Journal Movers and Shakers 2009 list and the links to their respective blogs (courtesy of Bobbi Newman – thanks!)

This year, an international flavour was added and I am happy to say that the Shanachie boys were named in this auspicious group.

Congrats to all the winners – your accolades are well-deserved.

The travel scholarships include overseas travel to research library automation and are worth up to A$13,000.

Guidelines are available on the VALA website : VALA Awards 2008