EBSCO, in partnership with ALA, awards scholarships for librarians to attend 2016 Midwinter Meeting

CHICAGO, IPSWICH, Massachusetts – In co-sponsorship with the American Library Association (ALA), EBSCO Information Services has awarded five librarians $1,000 scholarships to attend the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Boston, Jan. 8-12, 2016. The EBSCO ALA Annual Conference Sponsorship is an annual award, established to allow librarians to attend the conference by defraying the cost of travel and other associated expenses. The goal of the award is to help facilitate the rich opportunities for professional development and networking that the conference offer librarians.

The scholarship winners are:

·         Brian McCann, Librarian, Black and Veatch, Overland Park, Kansas City

·         Christina Vortia, Teen and Social Media Librarian, East Orange Public Library, East Orange, New Jersey

·         Erin Hvizdak, Reference and Instruction Librarian, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington

·         Hannah Buckland, Director of Library Services, Leech Lake Tribal College, Wilton, Minnesota

·         Kristen Rademacher, Librarian, Marist High School, Chicago

As part of the application process, librarians were asked to write an essay explain how attending the conference will contribute to their professional development. Hvizdak praised how the conference promotes diversity and multiculturalism by assembling librarians from all over the country.

“In an increasingly globalized world, I want to discover ways that librarians can promote intercultural dialogue and provide access to resources that increase human capabilities and reduce human suffering. Midwinter’s emphasis on meetings and discussion groups provides the perfect opportunity to develop more personal relationships with colleagues from around the country and globe, leading to more fruitful collaborations and improved services for diverse populations," she said.

EBSCO is dedicated to supporting the library community around the world and maintains a long tradition of co-sponsoring scholarships to ALA conferences that provide funds for conference registration, travel, and expenses. The scholarship recipients will be honored by EBSCO and ALA representatives during the conference at a breakfast on Sunday, January 10.

Applications were judged by an ALA-designated jury: jury chairman Julius Jefferson, section head, Foreign Affairs Defense & Trade Section, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Ann Crewdson, children’s librarian, Issaquah Library, Issaquah, Washington; Lynda M. Kellam, librarian, University of North Carolina at Greensboro Jackson Library, Greensboro, North Carolina; Ms. Joyce C. Wright, retired librarian, Champaign, Illinois; Elizabeth Nelson, cataloguing and collection development librarian, McHenry County College, Crystal Lake, Illinois.

About ALA
The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit professional organization of more than 57,000 librarians, library trustees, and other friends of libraries dedicated to providing and improving library services and promoting the public interest in a free and open information society: www.ala.org.

About EBSCO Information Services

EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is the leading discovery service provider for libraries worldwide with more than 8,000 discovery customers in over 100 countries. EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) provides each institution with a comprehensive, single search box for its entire collection, offering unparalleled relevance ranking quality and extensive customization. EBSCO is also the preeminent provider of online research content for libraries, including hundreds of research databases, historical archives, point-of-care medical reference, and corporate learning tools serving millions of end users at tens of thousands of institutions. EBSCO is the leading provider of electronic journals & books for libraries, with subscription management for more than 360,000 serials, including more than 57,000 e-journals, as well as online access to more than 700,000 e-books. For more information, visit the EBSCO website at: www.ebsco.com. EBSCO Information Services is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a family owned company since 1944.

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For more information, please contact:

Kathleen McEvoy

Vice President of Communications

(800) 653-2726 ext. 2594

kmcevoy@ebsco.com