The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC)’s Special Collections and Bechtel Fellowship Committee is now accepting applications for the $4,000 Louise Seaman Bechtel Fellowship, endowed in memory of Louise Seaman Bechtel and Ruth M. Baldwin.
The Baldwin Library of the George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, contains a special collection of 85,000 volumes of children’s literature published mostly before 1950. This fellowship allows qualified children’s librarians to spend a total of four weeks or more reading and studying at the Baldwin Library.
As a past recipient and member of the Fellowship Committee, I feel that the experience at the Baldwin Library was a highlight of my professional career. Imagine spending four weeks reading and researching historical children’s books–it was incredible! Some of the topics of research by past fellowship winners include a survey of horror in Children’s books, 19th & 20th century Cinderella books, family stories of the 1930s & 1940s, and 19th & 20th century Pop-up books. Many other areas of the Baldwin collection still remain for researchers to discover.
I would encourage all of you who are personal members of ALSC, have an MLS, and have eight years of experience working with children to apply for this amazing opportunity. The deadline is December 30, 2012.
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Our guest blogger today is Mary G. Marshall. Mary is the Assistant Director/Head of Children’s Services at the Addison Public Library in Illinois. Mary is also a member of ALSC’s Special Collections and Bechtel Fellowship Committee and shares a blog with her son who is also a librarian: http://www.
If you’d like to write a guest post for the ALSC Blog, please contact Mary Voors, ALSC Blog manager, at alscblog@gmail.com.