ACL Award for Excellence in Innovation

The program began after a reduction in force, leading to the need to maintain and expand the university’s library services. Through collaborations with the Career & Workforce Development office and others on campus, the Library Ninjas Program was born, providing library student workers with the opportunity to develop paraprofessional library skills well beyond the typical information desk duties. These “Library Ninjas” are not only gaining valuable work experience but also being introduced to the profession of librarianship as a potential future vocation.

What sets the Library Ninjas Program apart from other workforce development initiatives is its focus on hands-on experience, mentorship, and vocational exploration through the lens of situated learning and narrative identity development. The program has grown to include various specialized tracks in areas such as Instruction, Programming, Cataloging, Marketing, and Technology Support. Each track allows students to focus on areas of personal interest, helping them gain practical workforce experience aligned with their professional goals.

By offering these developmental “tracks,” the Library Ninjas Program provides students with the opportunity to gain focused experience, helping them explore librarianship as a career option, while also developing future library advocates.

Look for a future article in The Christian Librarian detailing this library program.

Criteria to apply:

1. A staff member of the applying library must be a current ACL member.
2. The innovation must be something you have implemented for the first time or significantly updated in your library within the past academic year (12-18 months).
3. Winning applicants must be willing to present their library innovation as a workshop or poster presentation at the following year’s ACL conference and/or write an article about their innovation for The Christian Librarian.

Judging Criteria:

• Impact on the library
• How the innovation helps the library to better achieve its mission
• Impact on their campus, specifically students or faculty, or the wider community
• Extent to which the innovation was implemented at optimum levels
• Sustainability of the idea (if applicable)

Judges:

Applications will be judged by a committee of ACL members representing various sized institutions. Judges will not be from libraries that have submitted applications.

Award: