The American Library Association is a professional society for librarians and some other information service providers. Its awards program includes "Books, Print & Media Awards"; professional recognition within the library sciences; and scholarships, fellowships and grants. Some of the former are annual book awards with great public visibility.

• ALA Professional Recognition awards.
  • ALA Medal of Excellence.An annual award since 1953 for achievement for recent creative leadership of high order, particularly in the fields of library management, library training, cataloging and classification, and the tools and techniques of librarianship.^[1]
  • American Library Association Equality Award in recognition of achievement for outstanding contributions toward promoting equality in the library profession.^[2]
  • American Library Association Honorary Membership, the Association's highest honor may be conferred on a living citizen of any country whose contribution to librarianship or a closely related field is so outstanding that it is of lasting importance to the advancement of the whole field of library service. It is intended to reflect honor upon the ALA as well as upon the individual.^[3]
  • Beta Phi Mu Award recognizing an individual for distinguished service to education for librarianship.
  • Herb Biblo Outstanding Leadership Award for Social Justice and Equality - administered by the Social Responsibilities Round Table to recognize an individual for outstanding leadership in promoting social justice and/or equality within the library profession. ^[4]
  • James Madison Award — administered by the Office for Government Relations, from 1989 annually honoring "individuals or groups who have championed, protected and promoted public access to government information and the public's right to know at the national level"^[5]
  • Jean E. Coleman Library Outreach Lecture is presented at the annual conference of the American Library Association and is tribute to the work of Jean Ellen Coleman, founding director ALA Office for Library Outreach Services, to ensure that all citizens, particularly Native Americans and adult learners, have access to quality library services.

• • John Sessions Memorial Award -administered by the Reference and User Services Association. Recognizes a library or library system which has made a significant effort to work with the labor community and by doing so has brought recognition to the history and contribution of the labor movement to the development of the United States.
  • Joseph W. Lippincott Award. An annual award established in 1938 to a librarian for distinguished service to the profession of librarianship, such service to include outstanding participation in the activities of the professional library association, notable published professional writing, or other significant activity on behalf of the profession and its aims.^[6]
  • Justin Winsor Prize (library) awarded by the Library History Round Table for the year's best library history essay.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (June 2012)

AIA/ALA Library Building Awards — co-sponsored by the American Institute of Architects, honoring excellence in library architecture and design

Key

• Award: Name of the award or list
• First: Year the honor was inaugurated (first awarded)

Two years such as "1958 –1966" signify the honor has been discontinued and was last awarded in the latter year.

• Type: one of {Book, Career, Media, Print, Professional}
• Admin.: ALA Division responsible for the award
• Class: one of the following, if any
  • Recommended lists ("Best of ...") = lists of multiple recommended works
  • Youth Media Awards = honoring work(s) for children or young adults and/or their creators
  • Libraries and librarianship = honoring work about libraries, etc.
• Mo.: Month of announcement

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (June 2012)

• ALA Grants and Fellowship awards.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (June 2012)

• ALA Scholarships.