CHICAGO- The winner of the 2026 Dartmouth Medal for most outstanding reference work, an annual award presented by the expert reference and collection development librarians of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of ALA, was announced as part of RUSA’s Book & Media Awards Media Blitz Day.
This year’s winners are Mark O’Shea and the late Tim Halliday, authors of The Book of Frogs: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species from around the World, Second Edition published by University of Chicago Press. Readers will find authoritative and updated information on 600 species of anurans (frogs and toads), spanning six continents. And whether they are smaller than a dime or outweigh a chihuahua, the book’s life-sized images of these amazing creatures practically leap off the page.
In alphabetical order, our honorable mentions are:
● Martyn Cornell, author of Porter and Stout: A Complete History, published by McFarland.
● Dorothy Hodgson, editor-in-chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Women’s History, published by Oxford University Press.
● Lutz Marten, Ellen Hurst-Harosh, Nancy C. Kula, and Jochen Zeller, editors of The Oxford Guide to the Bantu Languages, published by Oxford University Press
● Patrick Robertson, author of Robertson’s Timeline of World & American Firsts, published by The Invisible Imprint.
The Dartmouth Medal, established in 1974, honors the creation of a reference source of outstanding quality and significance. The award is given to the best new reference source published in the previous year.
The Dartmouth committee, made up of reference subject experts from academic, public, and sometimes school and other libraries, receives nominations from librarians, editors, and publishers and spends countless hours reviewing copies throughout the latter half of the year.
The Dartmouth Medal selection committee is: Lauren Seegmiller, Denver Public Library, chair ; Donald Altschiller, Boston University; Brian E. Coutts, Western Kentucky University; Dona J. Helmer, Anchorage School District (ret.); Jasmine Kirby, Old Dominion University; and Kaite Mediatore Stover, Kansas City Public Library .
The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association, represents librarians and library staff in the fields of reference, specialized reference, collection development, readers’ advisory and resource sharing. RUSA is the foremost organization of reference and information professionals who make the connections between people and the information sources, services, and collection materials they need. Learn more at www.rusaupdate.org.