Student scholarship applications open

The SLA Southern California Chapter Scholarship Committee is pleased to announce that we are now accepting applications for the 2011 Karen Gersten-Sternheim Memorial Scholarship. Deadline for application receipt is June 30, 2011.

For more information please visit the Karen Gersten-Sternheim Memorial Scholarship page on the SLA-SCC website, by following the link.
Karen Gersten-Sternheim Memorial Scholarship
www.sla-scc.org
The $3,000 Karen Gersten-Sternheim Memorial Scholarship is awarded annually by, and at the discretion of, the Southern California Chapter of the Special Libraries Association [SLA], and provides assistance to a student who is pursuing a career in special librarianship.

Karen Sternheim Scholarship Fundraiser

The success of our fundraiser would not have been made possible without the help and generosity of the following volunteers and donors:

Scholarship Committee:
Rita Costello
Keith Gurtzweiler
Peter Johnson, Chair
Victoria McCargar

Fundraiser Committee:
Barbara Amago
Teresa Bailey
Belinda Beardt
Susan Eubank, Host
William Lee
Christina Mayberry
Elizabeth Sheehan
Brett VanBenschoten, MC

Corporate Donors:
Library Associates Companies and AIM Library & Information Staffing

Raffle Prizes and Silent Auction Donors:
Laurie Allen, Teresa Bailey, Belinda Beardt, David Cappoli, Frances Chu, Ann Coppin, Jeanie Frasier, Debbie Hartzman, Doris Small Helfer, Peter Johnson, Ann Shea, Allison Schulte and Sara Tompson.

A special "thank you" to our lovely host, Susan C. Eubank, raffle ticket seller, Gary Johnson, entertaining MC, Brett VanBenschoten and photographer, Sara Tompson.

Thank you all! We appreciate your support.

Karen Sternheim Scholarship Fundraiser

SLA-SCC presents the Annual Karen Sternheim Fundraiser on Saturday, September 26, 2009 at the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden

Visit Madagascar, Africa, the Desert and the Water Conservation Garden with experienced guides. Learn about plants from faraway places and consider how you can use them in your own landscaping.

Tour the Arboretum Library and learn how this unique Southern California resource is helping the public enrich their connection to plants.

* ARBORETUM & LIBRARY TOURS * WINE TASTING * DELICIOUS APPETIZERS * FABULOUS RAFFLE PRIZES * SILENT AUCTIONS * NETWORK WITH LIBRARIANS & INFO PROS IN A FUN AND CASUAL SETTING * SUPPORT A GREAT CAUSE!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

4:30pm to 8:00pm

Los Angeles County Arboretum
301 North Baldwin Avenue
Arcadia, CA, 91007

Cost: $50.00 / $25.00 Students


**********REGISTRATION FORM**********

Please send completed registration form (and/or donor form) and check payable to SLA-SCC to Elizabeth Sheehan, ROX Medical, 150 Calle Iglesia, Suite A, San Clemente, CA 92672.

Name: ___________________________________

Affiliation: ________________________________

Email/Phone: ______________________________

Amount Enclosed: $ __________


********** DONATION FORM **********

I will be attending and I would like to donate a tax deductible amount of $ ________ to support the Karen Sternheim Scholarship Fund.


I will not be able to attend. However, I would like to donate a tax deductible amount of $ ________ to support the Karen Sternheim Scholarship Fund.

Please be sure to note “Karen Sternheim Scholarship” in the "memo" section of your check. Amount in excess of $50 per person is tax deductible.

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We would like to thank the following donors for their generous support!

Corporate donors:
Library Associates Companies
AIM Library & Information Staffing

Member donors:
Laurie Allen
Teresa Bailey
Belinda Beardt
David Cappoli
Frances Chu
Ann Coppin
Jeanie Frasier
Debbie Hartzman
Doris Small Helfer
Peter Johnson
Sara Tompson

Proceeds to benefit the KAREN STERNHEIM MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

The 2009 Karen Sternheim Memorial Scholarship

We have the pleasure to announce that this year's Karen Sternheim Memorial Scholarship has been awarded to Michelle Gorospe and Allison Schulte (click to read their statement), two students who have distinguished themselves in meaningful, and quite different, ways that exemplify the very best in our profession.

The Scholarship Committee came away from this year's judging process convinced that the profession is in very good hands. Together, all of the applicants and their essays revealed a new generation of librarians who are not only forward-reaching in their thinking, but aware that they are building on a long tradition of good scholarship.

But two in particular stood out, equally so, and for very different reasons; the judges finally decided on a split decision -- something that has happened only once before in the history of the Sternheim Scholarship.

Allison and Michelle focused on issues of profound importance to 21st century librarians; although their topics were quite different, we felt that each demonstrated a deep passion for her subject, and that this holds the promise of bringing these messages to the wider profession as these two students pursue their careers.

Michelle, who works full-time as the Stacks Supervisor at UCLA Law Library while taking a full class load in the UCLA MLIS program, listed her special librarianship areas of interest as "law libraries and special collections in general, and preservation and collection development in particular." For her, the issues of assuring authenticity and integrity in digital documents is one of the greatest challenges facing special librarians today, regardless of their domain.

Allison, a full-time student in the SLIS program at SJSU, a clerk for Los Angeles Public Library, and the librarian at the Tom of Finland Foundation (Tom was a renowned artist of gay male erotica), finds her passion "in providing information to under served communities and preserving archives that are often culturally devalued and go unprotected." For her, the difficult balance between assuring freedom of access to information amid community-imposed limitations is more pressing than ever.

These issues, and many others, will require thoughtful professionals not only to raise awareness, but to guide best practice and help special libraries navigate them in the coming years. The judges were convinced that in Michelle and Allison, special libraries will have two very special advocates.

Allison and Michelle will recieve their awards this fall at the SCC-SLA chapter awards dinner, a date for which is expected to be announced soon. They also will be recognized at the chapter's annual Sternheim Scholarship fundraiser, scheduled from 4:30-8 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Los Angeles County Arboretum.

Please join us in congratulating Allison and Michelle. We extend our thanks and gratitude to all the candidates, as well as to the committee members:

Peter Johnson, Chair, Scholarship Committee

Rita Costello, Director, UCLA Rosenfeld Management Library

Keith Gurtzweiler, Vice President, Recruiting, Library Associates,

Vicky McCargar, Archivist, Mount St. Mary's College

Please mark the fundraiser date -- Sept. 26, 2009 -- on your calendars, and plan to attend what promises to be a fun and entertaining gathering.

Personal Statement from the 2008 Sternheim Scholarship Winner

Personal statement by Brett VanBenschoten in support of his application for the 2008 Karen Sternheim Memorial Scholarship.

Editor's note: Brett was presented with the Scholarship at SLA Southern California's Spring Membership meeting and Awards Dinner (see entry from May 2008)

I want to be a librarian because I want to make a difference. I have always chosen jobs that would allow me to do so and believe that this field will give me the best opportunity to continue that effort. Libraries ensure access to information, without which learning is impossible. They are of vital importance in this increasingly digital world in which people must sift through an overload of information and try to understand what is and is not valuable to them. A career as a librarian would allow me to teach individuals to do just that. Achieving my Master's in Library and Information Science is vital to doing so.

In the past year, while working as the Library Associate at California Hospital Medical Center, I have discovered that this work can make an even more immediate difference than I realized. When I field an urgent patient care request for a woman with necrotizing fasciitis, I'm doing more than just provide information; I am helping to save someone's life. This level of involvement has made the importance of learning all I can about my field and earning my degree much more germane. My "discovery" of special libraries truly changed the way I look at this field and in the process showed me just how exciting and vibrant it can be.

Previously my experience was limited to the academic library. I worked as the Reference Assistant at the Occidental College Library, having been promoted from a student assistant and including a summer internship with the Mellon Foundation Grant Librarian Recruitment Program. Within these positions I first gained experience with reference, collection development, providing web-based services, and developing new service tools. These experiences also showed me how to put my technical skills to use in a library, introducing me to Systems Librarianship. Computers now comprise a major aspect of the library profession, and my knowledge of information technology, graphic and database design, and social informatics can easily be applied to information access, library marketing, and information services development.

Since starting my position here I have been exposed to budgets, administration, database and systems maintenance, marketing campaigns, and the joy of working as a solo "librarian" in the hospital. While I believe I have successfully taken on the challenge of this job, I am not so blind as to realize that there is much I still have to learn. The support of the Karen Sternheim Memorial Scholarship would be invaluable in ensuring that I have all of the knowledge and skills I need to provide complete, informed, and accurate information to the medical, nursing, and other staff of the hospital.

As a librarian, I can make a difference in the lives of others, and also a difference in my own. I will always be exposed to new ideas and opportunities for learning. Libraries are bastions of knowledge and sites of educational democracy, where anyone can learn the tools of personal growth. Working as a librarian allows me to continue my own growth while helping others to bring about their own. I can think of no better career to continue what has already become my life's work.

Chapter Award Winners

At the annual membership dinner held on May 13, 2008, at the L.A. Police Academy, former Chapter President, and current Nominations Chair and Ethics Ambassador, Sue Brewsaugh was presented with the Billie Connor Award which honors a Chapter member who has gone beyond the normal in support of the Chapter over a lengthy period of time. And Brett VanBenschoten was presented with the chapter's Karen Sternheim Memorial Scholarship.

L to R: David Cappoli, Chapter President, Sue Brewsaugh, Brett VanBenschoten, and Peter Johnson, Chair of the Sternheim Scholarship Committee.

Sue and Brett.

David and Sue.

Sue with her Boeing colleagues.