Eve Lacey wins the Donald G. Davis Article Award

We are delighted to share the news that Eve Lacey has won the 2024 Donald G. Davis Article Award for her article, “The Role of Halkevi Libraries in the Early Turkish Republic” published in Library & Information History. The prize was awarded by The Library History Round Table of the American Library Association.

Here's what Eve had to say:

"I'm very grateful to the ALA for recognising the article with this award, and to EUP for making it open source and accessible for everyone. I hope that reading about the Halkevi libraries of the early Republic can inspire further research into Turkish library history."

Here's what the judges had to say:

"The Role of Halkevi Libraries in the Early Turkish Republic” is an interesting, well-written introduction to an understudied and controversial community development project and its impact on the early years of the Turkish Republic. The article is well-researched, logically structured, and highly readable, and the author balances the discussion of day-to-day operations of these libraries with underlying political motivations very well. This article both moves us out into a non-Western realm and challenges us to think about government dogma and its intersection with library services. It showcases good writing, depth of research, careful analysis, and an understanding of why we should care about the subject today."

About the Library History Round Table

The Library History Round Table of the American Library Association exists to facilitate communication among scholars and students of library history, to support research in library history, and to be active in issues, such as preservation, that concern library historians. The Round Table sponsors conferences, publishes a newsletter, and presents the Justin Winsor Prize and the Phyllis Dain Dissertation Award to promote excellence in library history research. In 1999, LHRT marked its 50th year of library history scholarship and activism.

• Have a read of the article "The Role of Halkevi Libraries in the Early Turkish Republic"
• Find out more about the prize