$20 million helps fund the next generation of librarians

The days of the musty oak chest containing the card catalogs are gone, replaced with Internet databases and a World Wide Web of information. Quickly disappearing as well are the overseers of the information.

With the help of first lady Laura Bush and $20 million in federal grant money, the Nevada State Library and Archives is hoping to change that.

The archives has partnered with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas libraries, the Clark County Library District and the University of North Texas School of Library Science to provide librarians with the opportunity to further their education.

The partnership received almost $700,000 in funding from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The funds will be used to support the project "Mining the 21st Century Librarian II: A collaboration to recruit and educate diverse librarians for underserved communities in the West," which aims to recruit librarians for master's degree programs and support them through the educational process.

"The program is designed to education librarians because there is an anticipated shortage. Many of the skilled librarians are expected to retire shortly, so we are trying to increase the numbers to replace them," said Sara Jones, state librarian.

Through the program, 40 students from Western states will receive about $10,000 in tuition help to complete a distance-learning master's degree in Library Science from the University of North Texas. No schools in Nevada offer master's degrees in library science.

"We want diverse students for the program, but we are also looking to recruit people living in rural communities," Jones said.

This is the second time the partnership has been awarded federal funding, having received an initial grant in 2003.

Susan Wonderly, Pahrump library director, was one applicant selected as part of the 2003 grant.

"I chose to do it because it's job security. I will be able to keep my job when it happens. Plus with the funding and the ability to do it over the Internet, there were advantages," Wonderly said.

Wonderly, 49, began classes in the fall of 2004 and is scheduled to graduate later this year.

Participants from the first grant were made up of 28 Nevadans, including students from Elko, Pahrump and Tonopah and applicants 12 from other states. The idea, said Jones, is to create more skilled librarians nationwide.

"We are trying to be proactive. With two cycles of this grant we are going to put significantly more librarians on the street than without it," Jones said.

• Contact reporter Jarid Shipley at jshipley@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1217.