Jefferson city, Missouri – Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan announced today another round of scholarships will be awarded to qualified Missourians pursuing graduate and undergraduate degrees as professional librarians.

The Missouri State Library, a division of Carnahan’s office, is now accepting new applications for the Fall 2005 semester. The program developed as an effort to address Missouri’s increasing need for qualified school, public and academic librarians, is now entering its third academic year. National studies and projection indicate the demand for librarians far exceeds supply, as the percentage of librarians reaching retirement age will increase to about one fifth of all those employed during 2010 – 2014. Thirty-four students have received support through the program. Five have graduated from the program and are pursuing full-time careers in publicly funded libraries in Missouri.

"Our public libraries are an important part of educating our citizens and keeping our communities vibrant and strong," Carnahan said. "I am pleased that we can provide these scholarships because investing in our future librarians means investing in the future of our communities."

Missouri State Library scholarships cover tuition and applicable fees at colleges and universities in Missouri. Scholarship recipients must commit to work in a publicly funded Missouri library upon graduation. The work commitment is one month of full-time employment in return for each credit hour of academic course work supported by the scholarship. A student who receives a scholarship for a 12-credit hour semester would agree to work in a publicly funded Missouri library for at least 12 months upon graduation. Scholarship recipients are selected based on the strength of their applications, transcripts, references and interviews. The deadline to apply is April 1.

The Missouri State Library Graduate and Undergraduate Scholarship program is supported by funds from the federal Library Services and Technology Act. Applicant criteria and application forms are available at http://www.sos.mo.gov/library/scholarship .

For more information regarding the Missouri State Library Graduate and Undergraduate scholarships, contact Brenda Sites at 573-522-1477.