Scholarship SubCommittee
It was another productive year of the NJLA Scholarship Subcommittee working together to support talented candidates for librarianship.
The committee’s initial meeting was held on August 25, 2016 at the Monroe Township Public Library to review the scholarship application process, designate committee member public relations/marketing duties, discuss the NJLA Annual Conference, and to plan the calendar in which we set the following dates:
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Deadline for this year’s application submissions was February 6, 2017.
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Review applications by February 17
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Meet candidates on March 3
The committee contacted schools and listservs to market the scholarship. The chair created and shared flyer about the NJLA Scholarship application information available at the January 6 2017 VALE (Virtual Academic Library Environment) Conference as well. The committee received 16 applications via the online form in addition to supporting documents via USPS. All applications and supporting material was scanned and shared with the committee using Dropbox and Google Docs. The committee met via conference call (February 17) to discuss applications. The committee invited seven candidates for an onsite interview.
The chair verified Scholarship amounts via the investment committee: $8,000 in scholarships for the 2017-2018. A new scholarship was created in honor of Karen Avenick. Thanks to the generosity of our NJLA members, $3,700 was collected and awarded. Sharon Karmazin also generously donated an additional $5,000 toward the Karma Scholarship, going from $10,000 to $15,000 per year for 3 years. Following discussions with the NJLA office and Sharon Karmazin, the award name was changed from “Karma Scholarship” to “Karma Fellowship.”
The committee met with the final candidates at the Huntington House/ Rutgers on March 3 and decide to award scholarships to seven applicants including one for the Karma Fellowship.
The committee did not identify another committee to work with us to co-sponsor an event for the NJLA Conference. We did not submit any continuing education program proposals as the committee could not develop a focused program based on the committee’s purpose.
Several Scholarship Committee members and the scholarship recipients had an opportunity to sit together during the NJLA President’s Inaugural Luncheon on Tuesday, April 25.
