Scholarships

The Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) offers scholarships to subsidize first-time conference attendance by professional librarians, qualified paraprofessionals, and students. RBMS is committed to increasing diversity in its membership and the special collections and archives professions. Accordingly, several conference scholarships have been designated for applicants from underrepresented ethnic and racial groups or for those employed by institutions that primarily serve one or more of these groups. For more information about the RBMS commitment to diversity, please visit the RBMS website. If you would like to donate to the RBMS conference scholarship program, you may do so when you register for the conference, or separately through the Friends of ACRL Website. For the Friends site, please remember to indicate that the donation is for RBMS conference scholarships. Full and partial scholarships are awarded. Full scholarships include a waiver of the conference registration fee (up to $290 for professional and paraprofessional ACRL members, or $135 for full-time student members) plus a travel and accommodation stipend. Partial scholarships provide complimentary registration and may or may not include a stipend. Congratulations to the RBMS 2016 Scholarship Recipients! Kim Bell, Queen's University Nahali Croft, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Lena Denis, Simmons College School of Library & Information Science Katherine Fisher, University of Hawai'i at Manoa Lauren Goss, San Jose State University Katherine Hoarn, Florida State University Anne Jenner, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections Julia King, University of Toronto Rachel Kopel Cinda Nofziger, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan Matthew Poland, University of Washington Anne Rowlenson, Long Island University Ruth Tillman, University of Notre Dame

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Eligibility: All candidates must be:

1. Currently enrolled in a library, information science, or archival studies program; a graduate of such a program; OR currently employed as a paraprofessional in a rare books, special collections, or archives capacity and
2. Members of ACRL who have not previously attended an RBMS conference and who do not have sufficient institutional support to attend.

Criteria: The Scholarships Committee will take into consideration the following criteria when considering applicants:

• Evidence of commitment to and interest in the special collections field
• Interest in contributing to the profession
• Potential to benefit professionally from attendance at the conference
• Financial need
• Member of an underrepresented racial or ethnic group, or employed by an institution that primarily serves one or more of these groups

Requirements: Scholarship recipients are required to attend the entire conference and complete the conference evaluation. To help us ensure the ongoing improvement of the scholarship program, all scholarship winners will be required to submit a post-conference evaluation letter by July 31, 2016. Notification: All applicants will be notified on or before April 22, 2016.