Colorado State Library Small/Rural 2021 Scholarships

Thank you for your interest in applying for the Colorado State Library Small/Rural 2021 Scholarship. Our goal is to develop leaders within the Colorado library community by helping staff who might not otherwise be able to attend the Association for Rural & Small Libraries 2021 Annual Conference, October 20th – 23rd in Sparks, Nevada.

Applicants must work at a small Colorado public or tribal library. Preference will be given to staff from libraries:

• with a service population of 15,000 or less
• OR that are situated more than 1 hour from the nearest town of 100,000
• OR that have less than 5 staff and a budget of less than 500,000.
• Preference will also be given to the applicants who have not previously attended an ARSL Conference.

Applicants, if selected, must be able to attend all three days of the conference in person (October 21, 22, 23, 2021), be willing to network with other conference attendees, and agree to write at least one blog post for the Colorado Virtual Library continuing education blog (https://dev.coloradovirtuallibrary.org/learning/continuing-education/).

The scholarships will reimburse conference registration fees, air travel, accommodations, and meals up to a total of $1,000.  Any expenses over $1,000 must be paid by the applicant. (Note:  Scholarship recipients must be able to pay costs in advance of and during the conference and be reimbursed in November. Scholarship recipients must fill out a CDE Vendor Packet Form that includes a W-9)

Specifically, the scholarships of up to $1000 will cover:

• Early bird in-person conference registration
• Hotel for 3 nights (Conference hotel – the Nugget Resort in Reno/Sparks totals $300)
• Breakfast and lunch on Thursday, and Friday, and brunch on Saturday are included as part of the conference registration.
• Dinners on Oct 21, 22, and 23 will be reimbursed at a rate of $28 (and dinner receipts will not be needed).
• Additional costs are reimbursable, as long as the total for everything does not exceed $1000, and there is a receipt
  • Airfare
  • Baggage fees
  • Transportation (taxi, rideshare, etc)
  • Pre-conference Workshop registration

For example, the $1000 scholarship might be spent with $275 for an early bird member-rate registration, $300 for the hotel, $84 for dinners, $301 for the air travel, and $40 for a shuttle to and from the airport. Any cost over the $1000 scholarship would not be covered.

Applications will be reviewed and scored on the following criteria:

• Enthusiasm for attending the ARSL Conference.
• Evidence that the conference schedule was viewed and considered.
• Clear communication of what you/your organization hopes to gain from attending the conference.
• Creativity in how you might share and/or apply what you learn.
• First-time ARSL Conference attendees

Applications are due by 5 pm on August 2nd, 2021.  Successful applicants will be notified by August 11th, 2021.

The scholarship application –  https://forms.gle/85ApCFoVfquoUEbS8