Information services provider EBSCO, US, in co-sponsorship with the American Library Association (ALA) has awarded five librarians $1,500 scholarships to attend the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle from January 25–29, 2013. As part of the application process, librarians were asked to write an essay on the topic 'The conversation starts here: How would you lead the discussion in your library to bring about meaningful change to an existing process, service, or procedure?'
The winners outlined a fresh approach to connecting with both patrons and colleagues to drive change in his or her library. Nonetheless, all of the essays shared a common theme of making patrons' needs the central focus of the library's goals and decisions. Some strategies for achieving this objective, according to the winners, include implementing more customer-centric decisions in the library; using the power of social media to serve under-reached patron groups; and bringing together patrons and library staff to meet the challenges associated with access to exclusive content.
Applications were judged by an ALA-designated jury. The scholarship recipients will be honoured by EBSCO and ALA representatives during the conference at a breakfast on January 27, 2013.
