Posted August 20, 2004.

Pilot Program Offers Urban Library Training

Seven first-year MLS students will receive on-the-job training and full-time salaries beginning in September under a joint project of Brooklyn (N.Y.) Public Library and Pratt Institute’s School of Information and Library Science in New York City. Called PULSE (Public Urban Library Service Education Project), the pilot program is funded by a three-year grant of nearly $517,000 awarded by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services in July.

Designed to attract new librarians from diverse cultures and backgrounds, the program is intended to address anticipated shortages in major urban public libraries. In addition to a salary, participants will be provided with tuition toward a 36-credit degree and a bonus for maintaining a 3.5 or higher grade point average.

“It’s a fabulous grant,” BPL Executive Director Ginnie Cooper said in the August 18 New York Daily News, because the library can offer students a variety of training settings. “A library school offers theory,” she added. “We offer the opportunity to practice it—and decide where your heart is.”

Posted August 20, 2004.