Chapter's Retirees Scholarship Fund
Supports Library School Students

Laurie Probst
Penn State University

Erin Mullen (Recent graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, now working at the Boston Public Library)

Receiving the 2001 Midwest Retirees scholarship both encouraged and enabled me to attend my first MLA chapter meeting this past October. As students, we are told that music librarianship is a rapidly changing field. Library schools across the country have the daunting task of trying to prepare students for their role in this rapidly-evolving profession. But this training must also involve the professional community at large to be effective. Changing roles and job descriptions, as well as evolving technologies, may daunt one individual, but the support of a network of librarians transforms many of these changes into exciting challenges.  At the chapter meeting, I observed firsthand how a great many issues impact individual libraries and librarians - many in ways that vary greatly from our textbooks. Had I not attended, I would not have encountered many of these problems until I entered the profession. Early participation in professional meetings helped make me aware of the vast professional resources available to music librarians, regardless of their place of employment. I thank the [Midwest MLA Chapter] for welcoming me, giving me encouragement, and providing me with a community of professional support. The Retirees' scholarship has for me not only a much appreciated cash value, but also has

    At the 2000 national meeting in Louisville, the chapter Executive Committee discussed how we might honor chapter members who were retiring from the profession. As an alternative to contributing to national initiatives, we considered how the chapter might support its outreach efforts to new members of the profession, especially students in the region's library schools. In this way, we would acknowledge the importance of our most experienced librarians in training and supporting the future of the profession. We accepted a recommendation to offer scholarships to library school students to attend a chapter meeting and to fund the scholarships through an annual call for member donations in honor of the year's retirees.

In the first year the call for contributions was well received and we have been able to fund three scholarships to students to attend the last two chapter meetings. With this success, we are eager to see the the program continue to grow, and even expand. We will need continued funding, and, perhaps more importantly, more publicity and member involvement to make students in our region aware of the scholarship and the opportunity to become involved in the chapter.

A scholarship application form is enclosed with this newsletter and is available on the chapter website. We accept applications from students and we encourage chapter members to make nominations.

This year, we asked the two 2001 scholarship recipients to share their comments about the scholarship and their experience at the annual meeting.

Todd O'Connor (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, currently completing MLIS and MM degrees)

Receiving the Retirees Scholarship both encouraged me and allowed me to attend the 2001 Annual Meeting at Indiana University. I was encouraged knowing that other music librarians support and urge grad students like myself to be a part of this professional organization. At the sessions, I learned so much about various aspects of music librarianship (not all covered by my course work) and met many future colleagues who welcomed me and shared words of wisdom (and potential job openings). I was also grateful for the generous financial support that helped this full-time student begin to cover the transportation, lodging, food, and registration expenses that accrued. The three days were well spent with MLAMW and I thank every scholarship contributor for making it possible.