Results+of+Application+Process

Announcing the Award

 * During July and August 2009, two major advertising event occurred to announce the IMLS award to the Department of Library Science and the opportunity for interested PreK-12 school teachers in South Texas to apply for a scholarship extending from the IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program Grant.
 * Three Region Education Service Centers (ESC) 1, 2, and 20 were our partners in the advertising event. The ESCs advertised through local newspaper articles and email to reach potential interested applicants for the scholarship opportunities provided by the IMLS grant funding.
 * On July 20, 2009, Sam Houston State University published news about the award at Today@Sam, an online journal of events and news concerning faculty and students of the university.
 * Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) Newsletter featured an article on the award in the ORSP October edition. The article was a front page feature continued on the next two pages. The distribution for the ORSP Newsletter is the university faculty and staff, and other interested parties.

Receiving the Applications

 * The first advertising event about the IMLS grant opportunity provided through the SHSU Department of Library Science resulted approximately 50 applicants. This raised a concern with the Program Directors that many potential applicants had not been reached. Contact was made again with the ESCs to once again reach out to the education community to advertise the IMLS grant.
 * The second wave of advertising resulted in a much larger gain in number of applicants fro the IMLS grant opportunity. As of September 2009, the number of applicants approached nearly 600.

Results of the Application Process

 * 40 applicants were selected to receive and participate in the IMLS grant. They are currently accepted, enrolled, and in the midst of their coursework.
 * Due to the large number of applicants for the IMLS grant, Sam Houston State University is awarding scholarships for full-time Library Science (LS) graduate students who begin their coursework in Summer 2010 or Fall 2010. The scholarship totals $6,000 to cover about half the cost of tuition and fees for the LS program ($12,222) over an 18-month period.
 * One of the greatest accomplishments of the IMLS grant is in regard to the people it will serve. The IMLS grant will help the 40 IMLS grant recipients obtain Masters degrees in Library Science and fulfill their dreams of becoming school librarians. However, that number is small in comparison to the numbers of children and families these grant students will reach in their careers as school librarians. The program directors and the faculty of the Department of Library Science have chosen remarkable, confident, impressive educator leaders to participate in the IMLS grant. These future school librarians will have positive impacts in their schools and in their communities in the areas of reading and education for lifelong learning.
 * The program directors are thankful to IMLS for investing in the future of the 40 grant recipients and also in the lives of the children of South Texas. This investment is going to lead to positive changes for the people who live in these culturally-diverse communities.