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LRL Notable Document Awards

The NCSL’s Legislative Research Librarians Section Notable Document Award will be presented at the NCSL Annual Meeting in New Orleans in July.

The purpose of the award is to:           

• Formally recognize excellence in documents that explore topics of contemporary interest to legislators and staff by presenting substantive material in an outstanding format.
• Advertise the extensive range of information available to legislators and staff.
• Increase participation by legislative research librarians in the States Information Network.
• Encourage deposit of documents with NCSL and the Council of State Governments (CSG) by subject-appropriate publishing organizations.

The winning documents will be highlighted at the NCSL annual meeting and will be announced in the LRL Newsline, State Government Research Checklist, State Legislatures, and State Government News.

Legislative research librarians should submit titles for consideration based on the following criteria, using the attached nomination form.

The document:

• Clearly and prominently displays title, author, publisher, and date.
• Contains a title that reflects actual content.
• Appears relevant to identifiable readership.
•  Significantly contributes to knowledge of concern to legislators.
• Is innovative in presentation of material.
• Contains strong bibliographic/footnote entries.
• Presents information accurately and clearly in an organized fashion.
• Offers graphics that are readily grasped.
• Was published within the last two years.
• Compares state activities in an arena of contemporary legislative interest in a comprehensible manner.
• Expands understanding of government processes, functions, or relationships.
• Attempts to provide balance and perspective from various sides in the political spectrum.

There is no limit to the number of titles you can nominate; 6 copies of each document should be submitted with a nomination form. (If this is a problem and deters you from nominating an item, send 1 copy, and we will contact the issuing agency for the rest)

Please be aware that documents produced by or under the auspices of NCSL’s Legislative Research Librarian Section are not eligible for the award.

A “document” for purposes of this award is defined as one produced by a federal, state, or local government agency, by a foundation, consulting firm, or quasi-public or private sector non-profit organization. Format includes print, microfilm, CD-ROM, periodical/serial, or URL.

2008 LRL Notable Document Nomination Form (PDF)