PLA announces 2008 Grow Your Own Institutional Scholarship winners

Contact: Louisa Worthington


(312) 280-5024


PLA


lworthington@ala.org




For Immediate Release


February 12, 2008


PLA announces 2008 Grow Your Own Institutional Scholarship winners

CHICAGO - The Public Library Association (PLA) has announced the winners of its "Grow Your Own @ Your Library" institutional scholarship pilot program.




This highly competitive program was developed to address the educational needs of public library staff working toward the ultimate goal of obtaining a master's degree in library and information science. This year, PLA awarded eight public libraries grants of $8,000 each to be distributed to staff members who are working to obtain a master's degree in library and information science. One library from eight of the nine Public Library Data Service (PLDS) population categories was selected. No winner was selected from the service population category of 1 million and over.




PLA congratulates the following scholarship recipients:

Service population of 500,000-999,999: Kern County (Calif.) Library

Service population of 250,000-499,999: Genesee District (Mich.) Library

Service population of 100,000-249,999: Newport News (Va.) Public Library System

Service population of 50,000-99,999: Hamden (Conn.) Public Library

Service population of 25,000-49,999: Wells County (Ind.) Public Library

Service population of 10,000-24,999: Wadleigh Memorial Library (N.H.)

Service population of 5,000-9,999: Wilkinson (Colo.) Public Library

Service population under 5,000: Milltown (Wis.) Public Library

For more information on the "Grow Your Own @ Your Library" institutional scholarship program, contact the PLA office at (800) 545-2433, ext. 5PLA, or visit PLA's Web site at
www.pla.org. PLA is a division of the American Library Association. PLA's core purpose is to strengthen public libraries and their contribution to the communities they serve, and its mission is to enhance the development and effectiveness of public library staff and public library services.