Grant will help lure additional librarians

Monday, Nov. 10, 2003 | 8:44 a.m.

Nevada librarians are trying to rejuvenate their profession with $361,000 in scholarships for 50 students seeking master's degrees in library and information science.

The grant, awarded Oct. 30 by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, is one of 27 inaugural grants totaling almost $10 million nationwide. The money will allow state librarians to recruit a diverse group of students for librarian careers in both urban and rural settings.

Forty students will earn their master's degrees through a distance-learning program from the University of North Texas School of Library and Information Sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The grant money will pay up to $6,000 a year, or about 55 percent of tuition for the program. Another 10 students will receive up to $7,500 a year to attend an American Library Association-accredited program of their choice.

Within the next 10 years, 60 percent to 70 percent of librarians, particularly those in administrative positions, will retire, Sara Jones, state librarian and administrator for the State Library and Archives, said.

"We are making special efforts to show that there is more to being a librarian than there used to be," Jones said. "It's not all about books."