ALISE/The Eugene Garfield Doctoral Dissertation Competition
Previous Winners
The award recognizes dissertations that deal with substantive issues related to library and information science. Applicants may be from within or outside LIS programs.
One outstanding dissertation will be selected. The winner will receive $500, plus conference registration at the ALISE annual meeting, and personal membership in ALISE. The winner of the Dissertation Competition will present a summary of their work at the ALISE annual meeting.
2020 Sponsor
ALISE is thankful for the generous support of the Eugene Garfield Foundation for sponsoring the award.

Award Criteria
Dissertations will be judged on the following criteria:
- Significance of the research problem to the overall LIS field.
- Presentation of the relevant literature.
- Design of the study (i.e., appropriateness of methodology, selection of specific techniques and/or tests).
- Conduct of study (i.e., application of methods of data collection).
- Analysis and presentation of the data (i.e., quality of analysis, logic of findings).
- Appropriateness of conclusions.
- Clarity and organization of the writing.
Nomination Requirements
Applicants need to submit their applications. The members of ALISE Eugene Garfield Doctoral Dissertation Award Committee will judge the dissertations. In cases where the research or methodology warrants it, additional assistance will be obtained from ALISE members outside the committee.
Submission Requirements
Your submission must include:
- A 200-word-abstract of the dissertation
- A copy of the dissertation completed between March 1, 2019 and February 29, 2020
- Proof of university acceptance. We accept the following evidence as proof of university acceptance: a university transcript facsimile, official or unofficial, showing doctoral degree awarded or a letter from the advisor indicating university acceptance within the timeframe.
Submission Process
Submit award nominations/applications online via EasyChair. All first-time EasyChair users must create a username and password. Once created, return to the ALISE '21 submission page to log in. Once logged in, select 'Enter as an author'.
Select the track that corresponds to the award name/type.
Submission Deadline
The submission deadline is March 15, 2021.
Committee Membership
- The Committee consists of five ALISE Members, one of whom serves as Chair
- Members are selected by the President-Elect and serve for two years and may be appointed to serve a second consecutive two-year term.
- The chair is selected by the President-Elect holds this position for one year, and may be appointed to serve a second consecutive one-year term.
- The Committee reports to the Past-President
The Chair may recommend additional committee members if warranted by the number of submissions
Chair
Melissa Gross, Florida State University
Members
Ana Ndumu, University of Maryland Monica Colon-Aguirre, East Carolina University Ying-Hsang Liu, University of Southern Denmark John Budd, University of Missouri
Chair may recommend additional committee members if warranted by number of submissions.
Board Liaison
Stephen Bajjaly, Wayne State University
Previous Winners
2020 - Eva Revitt, University of Alberta, The Academic Librarian as the Subaltern: An Institutional Ethnography of a Feminized Profession.
2019 - Timothy Gorichanaz, Drexel University, for Understanding Self-Documentation
2018 - Rachel Clark, Syracuse University, for It’s Not Rocket Library Science: Design Epistemology and American Librarianship
2017 - Devon Greyson, University of British Columbia, for Health-Related Information Practices and the Experiences of Young Parents
2016 - Angela Pollak, University of Western Ontario, for Words to Live By: How Experience Shapes Our Information World at Work, Play, and in Everyday Life
2015 - Kyong Eun Oh, Rutgers University, for The Process of Organizing Personal information
2014 - Youngseek Kim, University of Kentucky, for Institutional and Individual Influence on Scientists' Data Sharing Behavior
2013 - Kimberly Anderson, University of California, Los Angeles, for Appraisal Learning Networks: How University Archivists Learn to Appraise through Social Interaction
Michelle Caswell, University of Wisconsim - Madison, for Archiving the Unspeakable: Silence and Voice in Khmer Rouge Mug Shots
2012 - Eric Matthew Meyers, University of Washington, for The Nature and Impact of Information Problem Solving in the Middle School Classroom
2011 - Shari Ann Lee, St. John's University - Queens, for Teen Space: Designed for Whom? and Cassidy Sugimoto, Indiana University - Bloomington, for Mentoring, Collaboration, and Interdisciplinary: An Evaluation of the Scholarly Development of Information and Library Science Doctoral Students
2010 - Charles Kamau Maina, University of Western Ontario, for The Traditional Knowledge Protection Debate: Identifying and Listening to the Voices of Traditional Knowledge Holders
Honorable Mention: Tiffany Veinot, University of Western Ontario, for Social Capital and HIV/AIDS Information Help Exchange Networks in Rural Canada
2009 - Xiaojun Yuan, Rutgers University, for Supporting Multiple Information-Seeking Strategies in a Single System Framework
2008 - Kara Anne Reuter, University of Maryland, for Children Selecting Books in a Library: Extending Models of Information Behavior to a Recreational Setting
2007 - Kate Williams, Dominican University, for Social Networks, Social Capital, and the Use of Information and Communications Technology in Socially Excluded Communities: A Study of Community Groups in Manchester England
2006 - Diane Kelly, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, for Understanding Implicit Feedback and Documents Preference: A Naturalistic User Study
|