2026 CAPAL Student Research Paper Award Recipient: Anna Matveeva
The Student Research Paper Award for 2026 is awarded to Anna Matveeva for her paper, “Subject Representation of Underground Soviet Literature in LCSH.” The Awards Committee was very impressed by the depth of scholarship demonstrated in this paper, which critiques the representation of historically marginalized literature in the Library of Congress Subject Headings. Anna’s work skilfully unpacks the distinction between two unique types of Soviet material (samizdat and tamizdat) and argues effectively for (1) the centrality of tamizdat to Soviet dissident literature, and (2) the practical and philosophical consequences of excluding this term from authoritative subject headings. The resulting paper is eloquent and accessible, tackling a complex subject in a way that makes it compelling and approachable for librarians regardless of their affinity for metadata. The calibre of Anna’s student work is excellent; we look forward to seeing published work from her as she begins her career in academic librarianship.
Congratulations, Anna, for your research and writing excellence!
Anna Matveeva is a graduate student at the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from Bard College in NY. Anna has experience working in public, academic, and special collection libraries, as well as archives and museums. Anna’s research explores the ways of archiving and cataloguing underground Soviet literature. Her work has been generously supported by a SSHRC Master Canada Graduate Scholarship.
__________________________
2026 CAPAL Early Career Researcher Award Recipient: Kristen Howard
The 2026 Early Career Researcher Award is awarded to Dr. Kristen Howard for her paper “Digitization and Exploitation: Acknowledging and Addressing the Use of Exploitative Prison Labor by Libraries and Archives.” This compelling and timely work confronts an issue long overlooked within the profession: the ethical implications of relying on prison labour in digitization and memory work. By clearly naming this moral problem and offering practical, actionable interventions, the article has already contributed to meaningful reflection and action among scholars and practitioners. The article has prompted the disclosure of this labour in certain digital collections and has been adapted into an article for a public history audience. This work exemplifies the transformative potential of scholarship that bridges theory and practice, and addresses urgent ethical questions facing librarianship today.
Congratulations to Kristen for her incredible work on this paper and this well-deserved award!
Dr. Kristen Howard is a liaison librarian at McGill University. She holds an MISt from McGill University and a PhD in History from the University of Arizona. She is an editor for Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research, and her other research has focused on primary source, AI, and citation literacies, and the creative use of special collections.
__________________________
2026 CAPAL Contributions to the Association Award Recipient: Helen Power
The 2026 Contributions to the Association Award goes to Helen Power. Helen began contributing to CAPAL ten years ago immediately upon graduation from Western University’s MLIS program, and she has been an invaluable part of the association ever since. The Awards Committee was greatly impressed by Helen’s numerous CAPAL-related achievements and is delighted to celebrate them with this award.
Helen became a member of CAPAL’s Education and Professional Development Committee in 2017, and she served as Chair of that committee from 2020 to 2025. It’s also in 2017 that she began her role as Coordinator and Co-facilitator of the Information Literacy Community of Practice, a position she still holds today. As a member of the Board from 2020-2023, she was involved in several projects, including taking the lead in drafting the first iteration of the association’s Funding Policy. Helen also served as Communications Coordinator for the CAPAL Conference Organizing Committee in 2017/2018, and then as Conference Manager for CAPAL23 – presenting two sessions at the very same conference.
In her capacity as a member of the Research and Writing Community of Practice as of 2019, Helen worked with Éthel Gamache and Rhiannon Jones to co-develop and co-facilitate multi-week summer research and writing programs for CAPAL members in 2023 and 2025, reaching over 60 librarians and library students. She and her collaborators discussed the program in a 2025 Journal of Academic Librarianship article and a 2026 CAPAL conference presentation. In the same Community of Practice, she was part of the working group that created the CAPAL Research Collaborators List, which now includes 65 librarians across Canada.
It is also largely due to Helen’s work that the very award she is receiving came into existence. Between December 2023 and July 2025, she chaired both the CAPAL Awards Working Group and the inaugural CAPAL Awards committee, creating and launching the Student Research Paper Award, the Early Career Researcher Award and the Contributions to the Association Award. These three awards offer opportunities for recognition to a wide range of CAPAL members and potential members: soon-to-be academic librarians writing high-quality research papers for their courses, emerging academic librarians working to produce meaningful research while building their scholarly portfolios, and librarians dedicating time and effort to helping CAPAL thrive.
Congratulations Helen on this well-deserved award!
Helen Power is the Engineering and Science Librarian at the University of Saskatchewan. As a member of the University Library’s Learning and Curriculum Support division, she advocates for and supports colleagues in their assessment of student learning. She is passionate about mentorship and helping others with their professional development, which shines through in her work with the library, CAPAL, and beyond. Helen is also an author of fiction, collector of fridge magnets, and (unintentional) killer of houseplants.