Lindsay Schettler awarded Jan Merrill-Oldham Professional Development Grant

CHICAGO – Lindsay Schettler, the special collections and content management librarian at the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth, Kansas, has been awarded the 2016 Jan Merrill-Oldham Professional Development Grant.

The Jan Merrill-Oldham Professional Development Grant is given by the Preservation and Reformatting Section (PARS) of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) to support travel to the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference and Exposition. The award will be presented on June 25 at the ALCTS Awards Ceremony during the 2016 ALA Annual Conference in Orlando, FL.

The $1,250 grant, sponsored by the Library Binding Council, is intended to provide librarians and paraprofessionals new to the preservation field with the opportunity to attend a professional conference and encourages professional development through active participation at the national level. The grant is to be used for airfare, lodging and registration fees to attend the ALA Annual Conference. The recipient will attend the Preservation Administrators Interest Group meeting and at least one other PARS interest group meeting. The recipient will write about the experience for “ALCTS News.”

Schettler received her M.L.I.S. with a concentration in Archives, Reformatting and Preservation Librarianship from the University of Denver in June of 2015. She has been the special collections and content management librarian at the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth, Kansas since July 2015. In the short time that she has been in her current position, Lindsey has made significant strides at the library and university level creating preservation workspaces, collection management policies, preservation documentation, a disaster preparedness and response plan and a digitization center. Lindsey is working on additional projects at the state and regional level and is in the infancy of creating a Kansas City Regional Preservation and Conservation Interest Group Forum to act as a support system for local institutions.

Lindsey describes herself as having a “passion for preservation.” By being able to attend the 2016 ALA Annual Conference, Lindsey hopes to expand her professional network and skillset as well as enhance her leadership development as well as open up new opportunities for scholarship and research. This desire for knowledge and experience in the preservation field embodies what the Jan Merrill-Oldham Professional Development Grant exemplifies.

The Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) is the national association for information providers who work in collections and technical services, such as acquisitions, cataloging, collection development, preservation and continuing resources in digital and print formats. ALCTS is a division of the American Library Association.