Making It REAL! Recruitment, Education, And Learning:
Creating a New Generation of Librarians to Serve All New Yorkers

IMLS Grant

What Is the Purpose of the Grant?

• The grant will enable the launch of a bold and imaginative plan to effect fundamental change in recruitment and education for librarianship.
• It will generate important support for IMLS's "Librarians for the 21st Century" grant program throughout New York State, providing financial support to 44 master's-level students and enabling an infusion of new recruits into the library profession.
• The project will be a significant step toward realizing the goal of the Regents New Century Libraries legislative initiative: recruitment of a new generation of librarians to bring greater visibility and diversity to the profession.
• A program of model Teaching Libraries and scholarships will recruit and educate professional librarians, cultivating a diverse new workforce that is well prepared to serve community needs, especially those of diverse groups and special populations.
• The Teaching Libraries will establish models and best practices for replication by library systems, library schools, and library organizations nationwide.
• Library systems and library schools will build strong partnerships and develop new means of collaboration.
• The recruitment process will become stronger with the development of new strategies, new means of communication, alternatives for library education, and a heightened awareness of recruitment needs for the 21st century.

Who Are the Project Partners?

• Teaching Libraries (Contact List)
  • Capital District BOCES School Library System
  • Clinton-Essex-Franklin Library System
  • Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCES School Library System
  • Mid-York Library System
  • North Country Library System
  • Northern New York Library Network
  • Onondaga County Public Library
  • Queens Borough Public Library
  • Rochester Public Library / Monroe County Library System
  • Rochester Regional Library Council
  • Southeastern New York Library Resources Council
  • The New York Public Library / The Branch Libraries
  • The New York Public Library / The Research Libraries
• Library Schools (Contact List)
  • Long Island University, Palmer School
  • Pratt Institute: School of Information and Library Science
  • St. John's University: Division of Library and Information Science
  • Syracuse University: School of Information Studies
  • University at Albany, SUNY: Department of Information Studies
  • University at Buffalo, SUNY: Department of Library and Information Studies, School of Informatics
• New York Library Association (NYLA)

What Are the Roles of the Project Partners?

• The library systems, partnering with library schools, will create 15 scholarships and traineeships in Teaching Libraries where librarian recruits will acquire practical, hands-on experience and mentoring.
• Library schools will match Federal funds to provide 29 scholarships for students recruited to enhance diversity in the library profession or acquire special skills in serving diverse users.
• All project partners will initiate activities to strengthen library education overall:
  • construction of a career web site
  • implementation of a public-relations campaign to reach out to diverse populations and raise statewide awareness of the project
  • annual meetings of recruits and project participants
  • publication of project experiences and outcomes
• The New York State Library and an Advisory Group representing different types of libraries and regions of the state will oversee project activities and administration, support project activities, and develop plans and alternatives for continuing the project after three years.

The Project Director for Making It REAL! is Mary Linda Todd, Library Development Specialist in the Division of Library Development at the New York State Library; phone (518) 486-4858.

Last modified on June 9, 2009 -- asm
For further information, please contact Mary Linda Todd.
URL: http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/imls/index.html