Jacob P. Folsom Selected as the 2025 David H. Clift Scholarship Recipient

The American Library Association (ALA) is pleased to announce the selection of Jacob P. Folsom of Los Angeles, California, as the 2025 David H. Clift Scholarship recipient.

The David H. Clift Scholarship was named for a former director of the American Library Association. The $3,000 scholarship is awarded to a person pursuing a master's degree in library and information studies.

Folsom’s journey into librarianship began when he volunteered to serve as the facilitator for a chess and checkers club at his local library. He remembers fondly that “it didn’t take long for the library’s small but devoted community of chess aficionados to walk in the door for the first event, tentatively at first. Soon though, they were swept up in conversation, recounting championship matches in painstaking detail, comparing ratings with minute precision, and swapping tips about favorite chess resources from library books to YouTube channels.” Folsom says, “It amazed him to see how a little event like this could make a huge difference, creating a community which had not previously existed.”

In just a couple of short years, Folsom found himself working at a branch of the public library, taking on a variety of responsibilities in an attempt to learn as much as possible. Folsom says he “counts himself lucky to have found a sense of purpose which he did not have in the early years following the attainment of his undergraduate degree.” Folsom also stated that, “It brings [him] comfort in these hard times to believe in the mission of the public library, and to know that the work he does has the power to solve the problems we face by fostering knowledge, community, and connection.”

As he moves forward in his library studies, Folsom is excited to become a public librarian. His goal is to “serve a community by answering queries, connecting people to resources, and developing programming that meets the needs of the community.” His favorite literary genre is mystery, and he says he “loves the feeling of treating patrons’ questions as little cases to solve.”

Folsom commented that, “It is an amazing thing to feel connected to your work with all your heart.” He looks forward to “channeling this source of strength that he’s been lucky enough to discover, as a resource that will serve the public good.”

Currently, Folsom works as a clerk at the Los Angeles Public Library.

Folsom attends San Jose State University (California).

For information on the ALA Scholarship program, visit the scholarship page.

The ALA Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment (HRDR) manages the ALA Scholarship Clearinghouse.