About the Award
The Paul Evan Peters Award recognizes the most notable and lasting international achievements related to information technology and the creation and use of information resources and services that advance scholarship and intellectual productivity.
This award is offered jointly by the Association of Research Libraries, the Coalition for Networked Information, and EDUCAUSE. It was developed in honor of Paul Evan Peters, founding director of the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), who guided CNI until his untimely death in 1996 and who was recognized as one of the 100 most influential people in 20th-century librarianship in the American Libraries listing of December 1999. CNI was formed in 1990 by the Association of Research Libraries, CAUSE, and Educom to promote the creation and use of networked information resources and services that advance scholarship and intellectual productivity; in 1998 CAUSE and Educom consolidated to form EDUCAUSE.
Award winners are recommended by a committee and selected by the chief executives of ARL, CNI, and EDUCAUSE.
This award program has been endowed by the Association of Research Libraries, EDUCAUSE, Microsoft Corporation, and Xerox Corporation.
Award Selection Guidelines
The award will be granted to an individual or individuals (as opposed to programs or organizations) who has made a career-long contribution to the advancement of scholarly information and communications and who meets at least one and preferably more of the following criteria:
- Demonstrates a positive and lasting impact on scholarly communications through the implementation and/or use of information technology and networks, as evidenced by publication, the development of environments for the dissemination of information, contributions in the area of data stewardship, or other similar endeavors
- Addresses a specific problem fundamental to scholarship, research, and intellectual productivity and provide an innovative solution using information technology
- Helps increase awareness of the role of scholarly information and communication through the dissemination of effective techniques using computing and information technologies
Recognition
The award recipient(s) will receive a commemorative award and will be asked to present a major address at a CNI membership meeting. The awardee(s) will receive travel and housing expenses for that meeting.
Nominations
The next call for nominations will be released in 2026.
Recipients of this award will receive a commemorative award and will be asked to present a major address at a CNI membership meeting.
For questions, contact us at PEP-Award@cni.org.