When Women Didn't Count wins!

Every year the Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association gives awards for special merit in the field.  The prize for scholarship was just given to my book When Women Didn't Count.

The 2018 Margaret T. Lane/Virginia F. Saunders Memorial Research Award is awarded to Robert Lopresti, Western Washington University Libraries, for his book, When Women Didn't Count: The Chronic Mismeasure and Marginalization of American Women in Federal Statistics published by Praeger. Digging back into the history of how women have been represented or completely missing in U.S. government data collections since the late 1700s, Lopresti has revealed how this inaccurate data has affected women, men, and all of American society. The book challenges readers to reexamine their understanding of data collection methodologies and to think more deeply about biases and weaknesses in these methodologies as they have changed throughout the history of the U.S. and its perception of women. The Awards Committee was impressed with the sheer number of government reports, documents, and statistical information consulted as well as the variety of federal agencies examined. The book is of critical importance at a time when data is valued so highly in decision-making and policy.

I am thrilled and honored.