CHICAGO — San Diego-area Spectrum Scholars, librarians and library supporters came together to raise more than $1,300 for the Spectrum Presidential Initiative through a recent fundraiser.  Organized by Spectrum Scholar Alanna Aiko Moore with assistance from Scholars Pearl Ly, Laura Tamanaha, Ady Huertas, Miko Osada and Bie-Hwa  Ma, the garden-party event brought together more than 65 supporters of the Spectrum Scholarship Program.   

American Library Association (ALA) President Molly Raphael, Immediate Past President Roberta Stevens, ALA President-elect Maureen Sullivan and ALA Past President Dr. Betty J. Turock, chair of the initiative, continue the Spectrum Presidential Initiative as a special campaign to raise $1 million for the Spectrum Scholarship Program. Through this initiative, ALA aims to meet the critical needs of supporting master’s-level scholarships, providing two $25,000 doctoral scholarships, increasing the Spectrum Endowment to ensure the program’s future and developing special programs for recruitment and career development. 

Alanna Aiko Moore said of the event, “As a 2003 Scholar, Spectrum is near and dear to my heart.  I would not have graduated with my MLIS without the leadership program and financial support offered by the Spectrum Scholarship Program. I am thrilled that so many others recognize the value of the Spectrum Program and attended our event.”

The Spectrum Scholarship Program is ALA’s national diversity and recruitment effort designed to address the specific issue of underrepresentation of critically needed ethnic librarians within the profession while serving as a model for ways to bring attention to larger diversity issues in the future. Since its founding, Spectrum has provided more than 700 scholarships to qualified applicants enrolled in an ALA-accredited graduate program in library and information studies or an ALA-recognized NCATE School Library program. To learn more about the Spectrum Scholarship Program, visit www.ala.org/spectrum.

For more information about the Spectrum Presidential Initiative or to make an online donation, visit http://spectrum.ala.org. To learn more, get involved, or to make a pledge to the Spectrum Presidential Initiative, contact Miguel A. Figueroa, Director, Office for Diversity & Spectrum at mfigueroa@ala.org, or Kim Olsen-Clark, Director, Development Office at kolsen-clark@ala.org.

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