Every year, the Association of Research Libraries offers scholarships to library and archives students of diverse origins to help them enter the field of research and academic librarianship. Funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the ARL has four different programs: the Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce, the SAA Mosaic Program, the MLA Diversity & Inclusion Initiative, and the one for which I have been honoured to be awarded this year, the Career Enhancement Program.
As a 2015 CEP Fellow, I had the pleasure of participating in the ARL Diversity Programs Annual Leadership Symposium in Chicago, IL at the end of January. The symposium was a unique opportunity to meet the other diversity scholars and attend a series of back to back workshops, panels and networking events hosted by various ARL member institutions on a variety of topics including open access, copyright, digital scholarship, and diversity issues. The networking events were fantastic, allowing us to rub elbows with deans and library directors from university and college libraries all over the U.S., who were very generous with their time and advice, and expressed genuine interest in learning about our particular areas of study and academic goals.
The leadership symposium ended with a massive snowstorm, and some of the scholars were left stranded for days. I was able to get out just in the nick of time, albeit with an overnight stay at the Seattle airport! However it was well worth it, and I am ever so grateful for all I learned and the new friends I made. Next I will complete an 8-week paid internship at North Carolina State University Libraries in Raleigh, NC, this May-June. Stay tuned for details on that experience in the fall SLAIS matters newsletter.
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Cecilia Rose |
Cecilia Rose University of British Columbia Internship Host Institution: North Carolina State University Cecilia Rose is pursuing her MLIS at the iSchool at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She has worked with digital collections as a metadata and research assistant at the UBC Library and The Vancouver Sun. She holds an undergraduate degree from UBC in creative writing, and has experience in project management and multicultural communication. She is looking forward to expanding her knowledge as an information management analyst at UBC in 2015. She is interested in local history, photography, digitization, user experience design, and information architecture. |
