Library Instruction Round Table sponsors a 2011 Spectrum Scholarship

CHICAGO - The Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT) of the American Library Association (ALA) has announced its support of the Spectrum Scholarship Program with a contribution to the Spectrum Presidential Initiative of $6,500. In recognition of this gift, the ALA Spectrum Scholarship Program will name one LIRT Spectrum Scholar in 2011.

ALA President Roberta Stevens, Immediate Past President Dr. Camila Alire, ALA President-Elect Molly Raphael and ALA Past President Dr. Betty J. Turock, chair of the initiative, continue the Spectrum Presidential Initiative as a special campaign to raise $1 million for the Spectrum Scholarship Program. Through this initiative, ALA aims to meet the critical needs of supporting master’s-level scholarships, providing two $25,000 doctoral scholarships, increasing the Spectrum Endowment to ensure the program’s future and developing special programs for recruitment and career development. LIRT’s contribution will allow ALA to continue to support Master’s-level Spectrum Scholarships.

Kawanna Bright, LIRT president (2009-2011), said of the gift, “LIRT recognizes the importance of a diverse library workforce and is excited to sponsor a Spectrum Scholar. Due to the successful management of our resources by the past LIRT leadership, we find ourselves in a position to fund a full scholarship. In this way, we are not only able to support an important presidential initiative, but we can assist a student that shares LIRT’s interests in information literacy and lifelong learning.”

LIRT was founded in 1977. Its purpose is to advocate library instruction and information literacy as a part of lifelong learning. LIRT supports librarians engaged in library instruction and information literacy in all types of libraries.

Established in 1997, the Spectrum Scholarship Program is ALA’s national diversity and recruitment effort designed to address the specific issue of under-representation of critically needed ethnic librarians within the profession. Spectrum Scholars improve service at the local level through the development of a representative workforce that reflects the communities served by all libraries. Spectrum has provided more than 680 scholarships to qualified applicants enrolled in an ALA-accredited graduate program in library and information studies or an AASL approved school library education program. To learn more about the Spectrum Scholarship Program, visit www.ala.org/spectrum.

For more information about the Spectrum Presidential Initiative or to make an online donation, visit http://spectrum.ala.org. To learn more, get involved, or to make a pledge to the Spectrum Presidential Initiative, contact Miguel A. Figueroa, Director, Office for Diversity & Spectrum at mfigueroa@ala.org, or Kim Olsen-Clark, Director, Development Office at kolsen-clark@ala.org.