Announcing the NNLM PSR BIPOC LIS Student Professional Development Award!

Posted by Cathy Burroughs on November 23rd, 2020 Posted in: Funding, News from NNLM

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We are pleased to share this guest post by Nora Franco, NNLM Pacific Southwest Region Consumer Health Librarian about a funding opportunity dedicated to Library and Information Science (LIS) students who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color (BIPOC) and who reside in any NNLM region. Please spread the word and contact psr-nnlm@library.ucla.edu for more information.

As part of the NNLM Student Engagement Initiative, the Network of the National Library of Medicine Pacific Southwest Region (NNLM PSR) librarians are excited to announce the first professional development award dedicated to Library and Information Science (LIS) students who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color (BIPOC). The NNLM, made up of eight different regions across the U.S., aims to serve these populations with equal access to health information and promoting a workforce representative of them is one way to reach this goal.

This program aims to help students meet the following objectives:

• introduce the student to medical librarianship and explore areas of interest,
• prepare them to work in a health sciences library, and
• provide them with tools to navigate the complexities and issues of working as BIPOC in a primarily white institution.

The award will pair the student in an ALA-accredited program with a BIPOC librarian working in a health sciences position or providing health information. The award provides up to $2,000 for students to participate in meetings, conference sessions, conduct a research project, and other activities designed for them to learn the importance of health information outreach and services conducted by health sciences librarians. The goal of the award is to promote awareness of health sciences librarianship to LIS students who may not be familiar with the field or conducting research within it. Award activities will be ongoing until April 31, 2021.

The PSR are also seeking BIPOC librarians to participate in the program as well. We invite people from a variety of backgrounds and different types of health science libraries to share their stories as a BIPOC, challenges, and what they love most about being medical librarians. All librarian participants will be compensated up to $300; please reach out to us at psr-nnlm@library.ucla.edu if you would like to join and/or have suggestions.

The PSR librarians created an ongoing list of references and resources, which include:

• Where are All the Librarians of Color? The Experiences of People of Color in Academia, edited by Rebecca Hankins and Miguel Juarez. Sacramento, Library Juice Press, 2015.
• Diversity and Inclusion in Libraries: A Call to Action and Strategies for Success, edited by Shannon D. Jones and Beverly Murphy. Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield, 2019.
• Microaggressions in Librarianship blog

For more information and the application form, please refer to the NNLM PSR Funding Opportunities listing for BIPOC LIS Students Professional Development Award. We are currently accepting applications on a rolling basis until funds are depleted.

Interested LIS students, please email your complete application or send any questions to psr-nnlm@library.ucla.edu.