For the third year in a row, Stanford Libraries opens nominations for the Stanford Prize for Innovation in Research Libraries (SPIRL), a prize to recognize and celebrate innovation through programs, projects, and new or improved services that benefit users. The deadline for entries is January 16, 2015.

Eligibility for SPIRL includes research, national, or other libraries that support research activities. Awards will be based on a single program or project undertaking and/or a sustained culture of encouraging innovation. The effect of such efforts must have measurable impact on the library's own clientele as well as the potential for influencing the practices and/or standards of research librarianship generally.

The goals of the prize are to highlight and to celebrate functionally significant results of the innovative impulses in research libraries worldwide.

Entries must be received on or before January 16, 2015. Official entry form and rules are available on the SPIRL home page. The winner(s) will be announced in mid-March 2015 and a modest cash purse will be awarded.

The first SPIRL prizes were awarded in February 2013 to Bibliothèque nationale de France for their projects Gallica Library and Discovery Service, and to Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes for their service oriented platform for the management of metadata and content in digital libraries. Commendations of Merit were awarded to Griffith University for their Research Hub project, and to New York Public Library for their New York Public Library Labs project. The second SPIRL prize was awarded in March 2014 to North Carolina State University Libraries for The James B. Hunt Jr. Library. Commendations of Merit were awarded to Harvard Law Library for their projects Library Cloud and StackLife, and to National Institute of Informatics for their JAIRO Cloud project.

Stanford Libraries supports the teaching, learning and research mandates of the University through delivery of bibliographic and other information resources and services to faculty, students and staff. It is tackling the challenges of the digital age while continuing the development, preservation and conservation of its extensive print, media and manuscript collections.

Web resources:
• Entry Form
• SPIRL website