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.

Up to two outstanding dissertations will be selected. Each winner will receive $500, plus conference registration at the ALISE annual meeting, and personal membership in ALISE. Winners of the Dissertation Competition will present a summary of their work at the ALISE annual meeting.

2019 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 February 9, 2018, and February 28, 2019
• 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

Details on the submission system will be posted in the coming months.

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

Kevin Rioux, St. John's University 

Members

Board Liaison

Stephen Bajjaly, Wayne State University, President

 Previous Winners

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