Selection Criteria Updates for the Bonnie W. Oldham Library Research Prize

The Weinberg Memorial Library has updated the selection criteria for the Bonnie W. Oldham Library Research Prize this academic year. The purpose for these updates is to make the criteria more inclusive and diverse in terms of the types of projects and researchers the Prize honors. The criteria are also now more prominently featured on the prize website, as is the judging rubric used to evaluate submitted application packages.

The updated criteria are that the application package submitted by the student(s):

• Demonstrates use of library resources, including collections, services, and/or spaces.

• Demonstrates through use of sources appropriate levels, types, and breadth of scholarship for research need.

• Demonstrates personal learning and understanding of the research process.

• Demonstrates an Ignatian dimension to research through topic, methodology, findings, and/or reflection on the research process that represents one or more Ignatian characteristics applied to research.

The first three selection criteria have been in use since 2017, though this is the first year they are published prominently on the prize website. The fourth criterion, focusing on Ignatian dimensions to research, is completely new in 2022-2023. The Ignatian characteristics applied to research the judges will be considering are Magis, Care of the Person / Cura Personalis, Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice, Contemplation in Action, and Forwarding the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus.

To aid student applicants, faculty recommenders, and judges of the Prize, the Library Research Prize Planning Committee developed glossary descriptions of these characteristics that explain what they might look like when applied to research. For example, the Magis is “characterized by a restless desire for excellence” which in research might be reflected by intellectual depth of study of a subject of inquiry and/or persistence through challenges to a successful end; whereas, Contemplation in Action is characterized by “learning that is both active and reflective,” which in research might be reflected by the researcher’s ability to articulate how their learning – about their subject of inquiry and/ or about research itself – “motivates them to think and learn on their own” both now and in the future and/or gives the researcher an “appreciation of their own agency.”

These glossary definitions are based on explanations offered by The University of Scranton Jesuit Center* and are defined on both the judging rubric and the prize website. By awarding points to research projects that demonstrate these characteristics, it is the hope of the Library Research Prize Planning Committee that even more diverse projects, researchers, and subject areas at the University will be recognized through the competition.

The Weinberg Memorial Library inaugurated the Library Research Prize in 2011 to recognize excellence in student research projects that show evidence of significant knowledge of the methods of research and the information gathering process, and use of library resources, tools, and services. In 2017, the prize was named for Professor Emerita Bonnie W. Oldham, who founded the prize at the University in 2011. The Bonnie W. Oldham Library Research Prize consists of three fully endowed prizes of $500 each awarded to the winning individual student or group of students in the following categories: Undergraduate Foundational (100-level courses), Undergraduate Upper-level (200to 400-level courses), and Graduate.

The judging panel is composed of University of Scranton faculty and staff invited from the faculty in each of the University’s three colleges, the Library faculty, the Library Advisory Committee, and the Center for Teaching & Learning Excellence (CTLE). The application package is submitted by the student(s) who produced the research project and includes a completed application form, a 500-700 word description of research, the research project, a statement of faculty support submitted through a provided form, and a bibliography or other appropriate listing of sources consulted. It is in these components of the application package that the judges will be looking for evidence of the criteria for the prize.

More information about the Bonnie W. Oldham Library Research Prize can be found at www.scranton.edu/libraryresearchprize. The deadline for projects assigned in Intersession and Spring 2023 courses is Monday, May 1, 2023. Prize winners will be honored at a reception on Thursday, May 11, 2023, at 2:30 p.m. in the Library’s fifth floor Charles Kratz Scranton Heritage Room. Questions about the prize can be directed to Prof. Donna Witek, Information Literacy Coordinator, at donna.witek@scranton.edu.

—Professor Donna Witek, Information Literacy Coordinator

* The University of Scranton Jesuit Center’s definitions of the Ignatian characteristics: https://www.scranton.edu/about/jesuittradition/ignatian-spirituality.shtml