Scholarships

• Guidelines for General Library Studies Scholarship
• Guidelines for School Library Media Specialist/School Librarian Jo Morse Scholarship
• Application and Reference Forms
• See Also, Akla Awards

Guidelines for General Graduate Library Studies Scholarship

Purpose The stated purpose is to provide financial assistance to worthy students pursuing graduate studies leading to a Masters Degree in Library and Information Studies and to encourage graduates to return to Alaska to work in professional library positions. Scholarships may be awarded for both on-campus and/or distance education programs. Preference will be given to an individual meeting the federal definition of Alaska Native ethnicity.

Eligibility
An applicant must be an Alaskan resident who:

• is eligible for acceptance, is currently enrolled, or will be a student in a graduate school library media specialist certificate program during the academic year, semester, or academic quarter for which the scholarship is received.
• makes a commitment to work in an Alaska library for a minimum of one year after graduation as a paid employee or a volunteer, or for two semesters for one semester's financial assistance. A scholarship recipient who fails to fulfill this commitment will be expected to repay the money received. Candidates awarded the scholarship must supply proof of admission to an accredited program before the scholarship is disbursed.

Amount
Amount for the next academic year will be $3,000. Criteria for Selection
An individual will be selected by a Scholarship Committee of AkLA based on the following criteria:

• Financial need
• Demonstrated scholastic ability and writing skills
• Applicant's response to an essay question regarding his/her professional goals and objectives in pursuing a library career
• Strength of references. Three Applicant Reference Evaluation Forms are required, at least one of which must be from a librarian. References may include additional comments or letters.

Guidelines for School Library Media Specialist/School Librarian Jo Morse Scholarship

Purpose
The stated purpose is to provide financial assistance to worthy students pursuing graduate studies leading to a library media specialist/school librarian certificate and to encourage graduates to return to Alaska to work in professional school library positions. Scholarships may be awarded for both on-campus and/or distance education programs. Preference will be given to an individual meeting the federal definition of Alaska Native ethnicity.

Eligibility
An applicant must be an Alaskan resident who:

• possesses a State of Alaska Teaching Certificate
• is eligible for acceptance, is currently enrolled, or will be a student in a graduate school library media specialist certificate program during the academic year, semester, or academic quarter for which the scholarship is received. The scholarship may not be used for Continuing education or recency credits for certification renewal.
• makes a commitment to work in an Alaska school library for a minimum of one year after graduation as a paid employee or a volunteer, or for two semesters for one semester's financial assistance. A scholarship recipient who fails to fulfill this commitment will be expected to repay the money received.

Candidates awarded the scholarship must supply proof of admission to an accredited program before the scholarship is disbursed.

Amount Amount for the next academic year will be $3,000.

Criteria for Selection
An individual will be selected by a Scholarship Committee of AkLA based on the following criteria:

• Financial need
• Demonstrated scholastic ability and writing skills
• Applicant's response to an essay question regarding his/her professional goals and objectives in pursuing a library media specialist certificate
• Strength of references. Three Applicant Reference Evaluation Forms are required, at least one of which must be from a librarian. References may include additional comments or letters.

Application and Reference Forms

Completed applications must be received by January 15 of the award year. The recipient is announced at the annual spring AkLA conference.

Please fill out this application form (PDF 98kb) and make necessary copies of the reference form (PDF 72kb).

Instructions for Downloading the Application Form:
The application form is an Adobe Acrobat PDF form - this requires you to have Adobe Acrobat Reader loaded on your computer. You may download it for free by clicking on the image to the left.

Click on the Application Form link above to open the form. What happens next depends on which browser and version you have...

Option 1: The form appears in your browser window - you can either start typing directly into the form, or click on the ACROBAT TOOL BAR DISK ICON to save the file to disk if you want to work on it later. Note that the ACROBAT TOOL BAR APPEARS ON A SECOND LINE BELOW THE BROWSER ICONS.

Option 2: A separate Adobe Acrobat window is launched - you can start typing directly into the form, or if you want to complete the form at another time, pull down the FILE MENU and select SAVE AS, and name and save the file to disk (you cannot use the FILE ICON to save the file to disk unless you have typed something into the form).

Option 3: A dialog box appears asking you to select an application to Open the File - normally AcroExch is already inserted as the application. if not, browse to locate the program file, or download the program from the Adobe Web Site using the link above. The other option in the dialog box is Save to Disk. If you wish to complete the form right away, select Open the file. Select Save to Disk and name and save the file to disk if you you want to complete the form at another time.

Naming and Saving the Form:
You will need to name and save the file to your local hard drive or floppy disk in order to retain the information you entered into the form.

Click on the ACROBAT TOOL BAR DISK ICON In the Save As dialog box, name the file and save it on your computer

Printing the Form:

Click on the PRINTER ICON on the ACROBAT TOOL BAR at the top of the page.

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