CHICAGO - The Minnesota Library Association (MLA) has announced its support of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Spectrum Scholarship Program through a gift to the Spectrum Presidential Fundraising Initiative.  MLA has made a $750 contribution to the Initiative. 

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. MLA’s contributions will allow ALA to continue to support Master’s-level Spectrum Scholarships.

Robin Ewing, 2011 MLA President, said of the gift, “MLA values a diverse library workforce. We’re pleased to join with other state chapters in supporting the Spectrum Presidential Initiative and have chosen to donate a dollar on behalf of each of our members.”

The Minnesota Library Association is an association of library supporters, representing all types of libraries by helping them accomplish together what none can do alone. MLA provides opportunities to meet library peers and associates and meets the interests of its more than 730 members by facilitating educational opportunities, supporting strong ethical standards and fostering connections between the library community and various constituencies. In addition to the annual three-day conference, programs are planned and sponsored year round by MLA divisions, sections, round tables and committees. Find out more at www.mnlibraryassociation.org.

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 AASL-recognized 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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