{{ site.title }}

ARL and Society of American Archivists Awarded IMLS Grant for Mosaic Program

purple mosaic
image © Jim Bumgardner

ARL and the Society of American Archivists (SAA) have been awarded a $487,652 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program in support of the new ARL/SAA Mosaic Program—a diversity recruitment program that seeks to attract students to the archives and special collections profession and provide support for them during graduate school. The program will provide a full suite of financial benefits and career development and placement support to 15 students from traditionally underrepresented racial and ethnic minority groups entering academic studies in archival science, special collections librarianship, or similar graduate programs.

This collaborative diversity recruitment program will expand SAA’s existing Mosaic Scholarship, established in 2008, to help advance SAA’s diversity strategic priority. The new program will offer minority candidates an opportunity to pursue graduate education in archival science or special collections librarianship while gaining valuable, “hands-on” experience in a large archives or library environment. The ARL/SAA Mosaic Scholarship Program will increase the number of qualified, experienced, and diverse archivists and special collections librarians in the hiring pipeline, providing them with practical training and skills development that will render them competitive in the current job market. The program curriculum will encourage Mosaic Scholars to assume leadership roles within their professional organizations and associations and equip them to lead discussions concerning the preservation of documentary records in the digital age.

Program Benefits

The ARL/SAA Mosaic Program offers a generous compensation package for each program participant consisting of:

  • Tuition stipend in support of graduate education in archival science or administration, or special collections librarianship
  • Paid internship in a partner ARL archival organization or special collections library for a period not to exceed one calendar year. (Internship sites at ARL member institutions will be determined by the applicant pool and by the capacity of potential partners to develop and manage the internships.)
  • Paid student membership in SAA for one year
  • Support for travel to and attendance at an SAA Annual Meeting and the Mosaic Leadership Symposium. ARL and SAA will develop and host the Mosaic Leadership Symposium that will address leadership skills, strategies for job searching, skills development, résumé writing, interviewing skills, and other topics related to job placement.

In addition to financial support, the ARL/SAA Mosaic Program will provide each program participant with:

  • Mentoring by an archives or library information professional employed in the partner institution. Mentors will participate in formal training provided by ARL consultants.
  • Opportunity to attend the SAA annual meeting during the scholarship year
  • Career placement assistance for program participants provided by SAA, special programs and events at the SAA annual meeting, and other career resource services available through the respective SAA and ARL websites

“We’re especially delighted to be working with ARL to expand and enhance the Mosaic Program,” said SAA Executive Director Nancy Beaumont.  “This collaboration matches ARL’s remarkable track record of recruiting professionals from traditionally underrepresented racial and ethnic minority groups with SAA’s compelling interest in diversifying the archives and special collections workforce to ensure the diversity of the American record.  Good things are bound to result from working together!”

More information about ARL’s diversity recruitment programs can be found on the ARL website. Information about this newly formed collaboration is forthcoming.


funding-provided-by-imlsThe Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 125 research libraries in the US and Canada. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, facilitating the emergence of new roles for research libraries, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is on the web at https://www.arl.org/.

,

Affiliates