ACRL is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2026 Katharine Kyes Leab and Daniel J. Leab American Book Prices Current Exhibition Catalog Awards. These annual awards recognize excellence in the production of catalogs and brochures that accompany exhibitions of library and archival materials, as well as for electronic exhibitions of such materials. Exhibition catalogs are important accompanying literature for art, media, documents, ephemera, and items displayed in museums, galleries, or special collections and archives. Catalogs provide documentation on all the items displayed and also often include images, historical interpretation, essays, or other contextual information that enriches the viewer’s experience of the exhibition.
ACRL has been formally recognizing excellence in exhibition catalogs since 2001. The Awards program was on hiatus from 2022-2025 and recently relaunched with updated criteria and improved processes. The Leab Awards are administered by the Exhibition Awards Committee of the ACRL Rare Books and Manuscripts (RBMS) Section, whose operating expenses are covered by a generous endowment from Katharine Kyes Leab and Daniel J. Leab, former editors of American Book Prices Current. This year, for the first time in the award’s history, Leab Award recipients were determined by popular vote from ACRL and RBMS members. The 2026 Leab Awards include multiple categories for both print and digital exhibition catalogs.
2026 Leab Award Print Catalog Recipients
Best in Show, Innovation in Audience Engagement, and Innovation in Production Categories: Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, for Women on the Move: An Exhibition of Travel Books curated by David Fernández, Ksenya Kiebuzinski, and Elizabeth Ridolfo
“Women on the Move was conceived as an interactive educational resource that draws attention to women’s travel narrative,” shared curator David Fernández. “Receiving this important award from RBMS and ACRL recognizes the value of exhibition catalogues as accessible tools for engaging audiences with archives, rare books, and special collections.”
Learn more: Explore this catalog’s digital companion and check out The Idea Shop’s Women on the Move feature to see more images and production details.
Excellence in Content Category: The Morgan Library & Museum in New York, New York and DelMonico Books for Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy edited by Erica Ciallela and Philip S. Palmer with contributions by Colin B. Bailey, Juliana Amorim Goskes, Araceli Bremauntz-Enriquez, Julia S. Charles-Linen, Rhonda Evans, Anne-Marie Eze, Daria Rose Foner, Jiemi Gao, Gail Levin, Deborah Parker, Deborah Willis, and Tamar Evangelestia-Dougherty
“I am deeply humbled to learn that Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy has won the Leab Exhibition Catalog Award for Excellence in Content,” said Philip S. Palmer, editor and contributor from The Morgan Library & Museum. “The commendation is immensely gratifying to me, the book’s co-editor Erica Ciallela, and each of our contributors. Their research, hard work, and dedication have done so much to give Belle da Costa Greene the detailed scholarly attention she has always merited, and I cannot be more thrilled that the book has received this signal honor. To be recognized for excellence in content is especially satisfying, as the catalog’s essays draw attention to previously unknown archival resources and bring fresh perspectives to bear on this titanic book-world figure. The book was made by many hands and stands on the shoulders of other scholars, especially the historians Jean Strouse and Heidi Ardizzone, to whom I extend my sincerest admiration.”
“During the 2024–2025 exhibition accompanying the volume, hundreds of thousands of visitors came to the Morgan to hear the story of Belle da Costa Greene,” Palmer continued. “That show is now over, but the catalog will live on, reach an even wider audience, and continue to spur new research and writing on this incredible librarian’s life and career.”
Learn more: Copies of Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy are for sale from The Morgan Library & Museum Shop or DelMonico Books and digital exhibition content is available from The Morgan Museum & Library.
Excellence in Description Category: Oak Knoll Press in New Castle, Delaware for Imaginary Books: Lost, Unfinished, and Fictive Works Found Only in Other Books by Reid Byers
Author Reid Byers shared: “I am both honored and delighted to receive the Leab award for Excellence in Description from the ALA/ACRL/RBMS. The approval of such a distinguished and well-acronymed body is a heady experience indeed. Of course, there is a certain lingering doubt, due to the imaginary nature of my bibliographical efforts, as to whether a genuine award is completely appropriate, but, in spite of the ontological ambiguity of the compliment, I feel I must in any case trust the generous opinion of the members’ vote in the matter, for as Beerbohm put it, any books written by fictional characters ‘…are books only by courtesy and good will.’”
Learn more: Imaginary Books is available for purchase from Oak Knoll Press and The Grolier Club has a virtual tour of the exhibition.
Innovation in Design and Innovation in Inclusion and Representation Categories: Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Urbana, Illinois, for “We are each other’s Harvest”: Gwendolyn Brooks and the Formation of Black Literary Canon by Cait Coker, designed by Chloe Ottenhoff
Claire Stewart, the Juanita J. and Robert E. Simpson Dean of Libraries and University Librarian, said “Library exhibitions are simultaneously the most public-facing and yet the least-recognized forms of scholarly work. They require intellectual labors such as material research, subject expertise, and the ability to interpret and inform across a variety of audiences. The Rare Book & Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois has the dual charge of stewardship for one of the largest special collections in the country and the public remit to make those holdings accessible to not just scholars but also school children and community members.”
Stewart continued, “‘We are each other’s Harvest’: Gwendolyn Brooks and the Formation of Black Literary Canon was composed in honor of the 75th anniversary of the publication of Annie Allen and Brooks’s reception of the first Pulitzer Award by a Black author, but its content and exploration of the history of Black writing in America speaks to the past, present, and future of American literature. We are honored that in this fraught era when humanist research is under threat from advocates of AI, academic apologists, and at times even hallowed institutions, the ACRL and the RBMS Exhibition Awards Committee still recognize the importance of human work for human readers.”
Learn more: A publicly accessible digital copy of ‘We are each other’s Harvest’ is available from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign along with exhibition information and a recording of remarks at the exhibition’s opening reception.
2026 Leab Award Digital Catalog Recipients
Best in Show, Innovation in Design, and Innovation in Inclusion and Representation Categories: Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for “Disembodied Reembodied” by Jenny Schmid, Emily Beck, Jaime Konerman-Sease, and Lois Hendrickson
“The collaboration represented by the Disembodied Reembodied folio’s creation and the development of the accompanying website has been vibrant and generative in unexpected and exciting ways,” commented co-author Emily Beck. “The folio resources and responds to historical images of gestation and birth from the collections of the University of Minnesota’s Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine, prompting viewers to consider connections between history and current healthcare experiences. From course-integrated instruction in departments such as History, French, Bioethics, Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies, and Midwifery, to conference presentations across arts, humanities, and science disciplines, the content of the folio has proven to be a valuable spark for in-depth conversations about scientific research legacies, contemporary experiences of reproductive healthcare and issues of bodily autonomy.”
“The 10 hand-printed folios have all been placed in public collections, such as at the University of Minnesota, University of Iowa, Columbia University, and the Library of Congress. We are grateful for the rare book community’s recognition of the folio’s website since it ensures that the information and images are available for a greater public to view and respond to,” Beck continued.
Learn more: View the full digital exhibition catalog from the Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine and additional exhibition content from Artist-in-Residence Jenny Schmid.
Excellence in Content and Innovation in Audience Engagement Categories: Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History in Atlanta, Georgia, for “Softness Was Always Ours: A Tender Tribute to Black Women and Girls” curated by Jami Adkins Murphy
“Receiving the Leab Award for Excellence in Content and Innovation in Audience Engagement is deeply meaningful to me,” shared curator Jami Adkins Murphy. “’Softness Was Always Ours’ was created to honor Black women and girls through archival materials that reflect our beauty, joy, intellect, style, creativity, and full humanity. I wanted the exhibit to invite people into the archives in a way that felt visually compelling, emotionally resonant, and accessible, while demonstrating the power of thoughtful digital curation. To have RBMS and ACRL members recognize both the content and the ways audiences are invited to engage with it affirms the care, research, design, and intention behind this work. I am grateful that the exhibit has been received not only as a catalog, but as a space of recognition, connection, and celebration.”
Learn more: Explore the full digital exhibition catalog from the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History and the Fulton County Library System, including an exhibition playlist.
Excellence in Description Category: Oskar Diethelm Library, Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, New York for “Psychiatry, Insanity, and Religion in the Trial of Charles Guiteau” curated by Nick Brenner and Nicole Topich
George Makari, MD, Director of the DeWitt Wallace Institute of Psychiatry: History, Policy, and the Arts, commented “It is an incredible honor for Weill Cornell Medicine, Oskar Diethelm Library’s exhibit ‘Psychiatry, Insanity, and Religion in the Trial of Charles Guiteau’ to receive the Excellence in Description, Katharine Kyes Leab and Daniel J. Leab American Book Prices Current Exhibition Catalog Award. We are deeply grateful for this recognition from the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries and thankful for this support.”
Learn more: Visit the full exhibition catalog from the Oskar Diethelm Library.