Newcomers & Scholarships

Welcome Newcomers!

You are warmly invited to attend the 50th Annual Preconference of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

If you are attending an RBMS Preconference for the first time or would like to learn more about RBMS, you are encouraged to attend the Conference Orientation and Introduction to RBMS, to be held Wednesday, June 17, 2009 from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Omni Charlottsville Hotel, just prior to the general welcome reception. Also on Wednesday evening, following the welcome reception, we are planning a "Dutch-treat" restaurant/cocktail outing for new members to spend some additional time getting to know one another and RBMS leaders. Check back here for details in the coming weeks.

Please note that no RBMS business or committee meetings are held during the Preconference. These meetings take place at ALA Annual and Midwinter meetings. RBMS also sponsors a program session on a topic of interest during the ALA Annual Conference, to be held this coming year in Chicago, Illinois, on 9-15 July 2009.

To join RBMS, visit ALA's membership page, or write to Membership Services, American Library Association, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL. 60611, or call 800/545-2433 ext. 5108 to request a membership application.

We also invite you to learn more about becoming a member and getting involved in RBMS by visiting the membership page of our section website at: http://rbms.info/about/membership.shtml.

To learn more about RBMS from a more experienced member, you are invited to request a conference "buddy" to guide you through the preconference experience. You do not have to be a first-time preconference attendee to request a buddy.

If you are a more experienced member, you are invited to serve as a "buddy" for one of our newcomers.

Prior to the conference, seasoned RBMS members who have volunteered for the program will contact those who have requested buddies to arrange a time to meet at the conference.

Please visit the RBMS Membership and Professional Development Committee "Buddy" Program page on the RBMS website for details.

In partnership with ACRL, RBMS is offering scholarships to subsidize first-time preconference attendance.

Several full and partial scholarships will be awarded. Further details on scholarships will be available shortly.

RBMS is committed to increasing diversity in its membership and the special collections and archival professions. Several preconference scholarships have been designated for applicants of underrepresented ethnic and racial groups, both for professional librarians and qualified students. For more information about the RBMS commitment to diversity, please visit the RBMS website.

Eligibility: All candidates must be currently enrolled in a library or information science, archival studies or museum studies program, or must have completed such a program. Candidates must also be members of ACRL who have not previously attended a preconference and who do not have sufficient institutional support to attend.

To apply: Candidates must complete an online application form, which will be linked here in mid-February. Applications will be due in mid-April. Successful candidates will be notified on or before the end of April. Please watch the RBMS discussion list for announcements about the scholarship program and check back here for details.

As a special part of this 50th anniversary preconference, we are inviting retired leaders of the section to share their experiences and insights with newer generations of special collections librarians. We have partnered with ACRL to extend an offer of complimentary registration to retired RBMS leaders who served as section chair, Executive Committee member, or preconference program chair.

While are making every effort to contact retired leaders who meet these criteria directly and personally, we welcome you to contact RBMS section chair Mary Lacy at mlac@loc.gov or 202-773-0250 if you are interested learning more about this initiative or know a colleague who might be eligible. We would like to have as many retired section leaders attend our 50th anniversary preconference as possible.

For our 50th anniversary celebration, we are launching a "50 for 50" campaign, seeking contributions from RBMS members to support attendance by our former leaders as well as scholarships for new attendees at this 50th anniversary celebration. ACRL will contribute $2 in funding for every dollar we raise up to our goal of $3,750. To supplement these funds, Yale University has generously donated $2,000 for scholarships in honor of Marjorie Wynne.

We will use funds collected from this campaign to provide attendance scholarships for new and aspiring professionals, with special attention to applicants from professionally underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds, as well as supporting our "Golden Leaders" initiative, which is designed to encourage retired section leaders to attend the preconference and recognize their service by offering complimentary registrations. One of our key goals for this preconference is to foster cross-generational dialogue between former section leaders and those who will shape its future.

We have already received more than $1,000 in contributions from RBMS members as they registered for the 2008 Preconference, which will count toward our goal of raising $3,750 in order to receive the full ACRL matching funds of $7,500.

Please consider donating $50 toward the scholarship fund for our special 50th anniversary RBMS Preconference. Of course, contributions for greater or smaller amounts will be welcome as well. All gifts to ACRL for scholarships are fully tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. You may also designate gifts in memory or honor of colleagues and friends.

To contribute, please visit the ACRL website at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/donate/friendsacrl.cfm. To make an online donation, follow the link to http://www.ala.org/cfapps/donations_rsm/index.cfm. After logging in with your ALA username and password, click on the online credit card donation link, and after logging in, choose "ALA Divisions and Offices" from the menu on the left and fill in the amount of your gift in the field provided for "ACRL Friends RBMS Scholarships." After you complete the remaining steps in the donation process, you will be immediately presented with a donation receipt that you download and print.

If you would prefer to mail in your donation, you may print the donation form posted on the ACRL Friends website at: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/donate/friendsform.cfm. Be sure to indicate on the form that you wish to direct your contribution to 2009 RBMS Scholarships. Mail the completed form with a check or credit information to: The Friends of ACRL, Association of College & Research Libraries, 50 E. Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611-2795. You will receive an official acknowledgement and donation receipt for tax purposes by mail.