2009 ALSC Bechtel Fellowship Winner named
Contact: Jenny Najduch
ALSC Marketing Specialist
(312) 280-4026
JNajduch@ala.org
NEWS
For Immediate Release
February 10, 2009
CHICAGO—The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) has awarded the 2009 Louise Seaman Bechtel Fellowship to library media specialist Linda Martin from Gainesville, Ga.
The fellowship is designed to allow a qualified children’s librarian to spend a month or more reading and studying at the Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature, part of the George A. Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida, Gainesville. The Baldwin Library contains a special collection of 85,000 volumes of children’s literature published mostly before 1950.
The fellowship is endowed in memory of Louise Seaman Bechtel and Ruth M. Baldwin and provides a stipend of $4,000.
While at the Baldwin Library, Martin will pursue her study, “Storytelling in the Content Areas.” Her ultimate goal is to use story as a framework for learning in all subjects by finding stories from the past that can be adapted for the modern day classroom. Upon returning to her school, Martin plans to teach storytelling to her students and to teachers in her school district so that they can learn techniques of sharing stories orally too.
ALSC, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), is the world’s largest organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of library service to children. With a network of more than 4,200 children’s and youth librarians, literature experts, publishers and educational faculty, ALSC is committed to creating a better future for children through libraries. To learn more about ALSC, visit ALSC’s Web site at
www.ala.org/alsc.
Members of the 2009 Louise Seaman Bechtel Fellowship Committee include: Nancy Johnson, chair, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Wash.; Candace Deisley, Children’s Literature Connection, Albany, N.Y.; Carol A. Doll, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Va.; Mary Pruitt, Lewisville, Texas; Grace Ruth, San Francisco, Calif.
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