Indiana Libraries, Volume 20 Number 2 29
INVESTING IN OUR STUDENT EMPLOYEES?
FUTURES: ONE PAGE AT A TIME
by Susie Cleaver,
Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library
hen Jeanna Miller started to work as a
page at the Bittersweet Branch of the
Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library in
May 1998, she never thought that a part-
time job in a library would have such a
positive effect on her college years. But that is exactly
what the junior at Indiana University South Bend
(IUSB) found out when the Friends of the Library
awarded her a $500 scholarship last August.
According to Miller, ?I started working at the library
because I loved books and reading. I thought a job at
the library would be perfect.? The experience has been
a positive one for Miller. She achieved her initial goal of
having a part-time job that she enjoyed while saving
money for college. The icing on the cake came when
she was a scholarship recipient in August 2001. The
$500 check made payable to Indiana University South
Bend was applied directly to her tuition, and to Miller,
every cent of scholarship money that can help her earn
her degree at IUSB is greatly appreciated.
Miller is one of four students who received the first
Student Employee Scholarships given out by the
Friends of the Library for the 2001-2002 academic year.
Mathew Nix, a freshman at the University of Notre Dame
majoring in business and marketing, is another.
The idea of the Scholarship Program can be credited to
former Friends of the Library Board Member and
Liaison to Children?s Programming, Ellen West. At the
time, West?s son was a senior in high school and was
heavily involved in the scholarship process. ?I began to
notice there were a number of organizations in our
community that gave out smaller scholarships, not large
sums of money, but enough to make a difference to a
student heading off to college,? remembers West. ?And
here we were in our Friends Board meetings talking
about what to do with the money we had raised. It was
then that I asked  ... what about a scholarship fund??
Board members readily embraced the idea. A
Scholarship Committee was formed and its members
quickly took action to create the framework for the
Student Employee Scholarship Program. It was decided
early in the process that students would not be ex-
pected to take library science or related coursework.
According to West ?the program?s focus was really to
show our student employees that we (the community
and the Friends) were supportive of their continuing
education, and to thank them for their interest in
working in our library.? Members of the Scholarship
Committee and the Friends agree that although a
student?s interest in a future career with the library is
not a requirement for a scholarship, any student
expressing interest in librarianship would certainly be
encouraged!
For students planning to attend one of the colleges
nearby, the program was structured to provide an
added incentive for scholarship recipients to stay
employed by the library. If the scholarship recipient
continued to work part-time with the library while
going to school full-time, he or she could apply for a
renewal of the scholarship for up to a maximum of
three additional years.
A final tenet of the program required that the
scholarship money be used solely for tuition, fees,
books, or supplies, with the scholarship check to be
made payable directly to the educational institution.
The program became official when the guidelines were
put to paper and an application form was finalized in
time for the first group of student library employees to
apply by the deadline of June 30, 2001. Scholarship
applicants like Miller and Nix had to meet the following
requirements:
? Applicants must be seniors in high school or be
enrolled in an accredited institution of higher
education on a full-time basis on the date they
apply;
? Applicants must be current employees of the
Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library [at the
downtown or Bittersweet Branch location] at the
time of application and must have worked at the
Library for at least twelve successive months. (They
do not necessarily still need to be employed at the
library at the time the scholarship is awarded.);
? During the first semester of each year they receive a
scholarship, applicants must be full-time students
as defined by their institution; and
Indiana Libraries, Volume 20 Number 2
30
? Applicants must have maintained a 2.5 GPA (on a
4.0 scale) or a C+ average from the high school or
accredited institution of higher education in which
they are enrolled at the time of application.
The student employee?s application also had to
include a copy of a letter of acceptance from an accred-
ited institution of higher education (for high school
seniors or transfer students only), a copy of their
transcript or grade report from the most recent semes-
ter of high school or college work, showing at least a 2.5
grade point average on a 4.0 scale, or a C+ average, and
a letter of recommendation from the applicant?s direct
supervisor at the library.
The Scholarship Committee considered all appli-
cants who met the above criteria. ?We wanted to be
fair,? explains Virginia Currey, Friends of the Library
Board Secretary and a member of the first Scholarship
Committee, ? and to recognize all of the students who
had faithfully worked at the library.? No one wanted to
see the scholarship program turn into a competition
among the students.
The Scholarship Committee?s next step was to make
a final recommendation in July 2001 to the Friends of
the Library Board regarding the number of qualified
applicants and a proposed dollar amount to be granted
to each scholarship recipient. The Board approved the
Scholarship Committee?s recommendation and the first
Student Employee Scholarship Program was a reality!
To fund the scholarships, the Friends tapped into
monies raised during its four book sales a year. ?We had
to determine a way to come up with the money for the
first year?s scholarships,? explains Ellen West, ?but from
now on, the money will be there.? A special Scholarship
fund was set-up with its own bank account, and one-
third of the money raised in all book sales from that
date forward has been deposited in this Scholarship
fund. ?Now, when a patron purchases materials at one
of our book sales, they will be contributing in a small,
but important way, to the education of students in our
community,? continues West.
The Scholarship Committee?s guidelines allow for
the amount of money granted to successful applicants
to vary year to year but Friends Board President Kris
Monagle hopes there will be the money available to
grant $500 scholarships (or its future equivalent) to as
many student employees as qualify. ?Since I?ve always
felt that one of the library?s great functions is educating
the young, providing a scholarship to our student
employees is a wonderful way for the Friends to help
extend that mission,? comments Monagle.
Current scholarship recipients like Jeanna Miller
may apply to have the scholarship renewed for a
maximum of three additional years, provided the
student continues to work at the library while attending
college full-time. As with the initial scholarship, the
student must continue to maintain a 2.5 grade point
average (out of a 4.0 scale), or a C+ average.  Miller has
switched from paging to working at the Circulation
Desk of the Bittersweet Branch Library while keeping to
a full course load. Matt Nix had planned to keep his
part-time position as a page at the downtown
Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library but by December,
he found the rigors of freshman year too great to
continue off-
campus employ-
ment.
A new Scholar-
ship Committee
has formed for
the 2002-2003
academic year
and they are
busy making
sure that all
student employ-
ees of the library
who are planning to head off to college or, like Miller,
continue their college education have their application
and supporting documents to the committee by June
30. Everyone involved in the Student Employee Scholar-
ship Program is committed to keeping the program
viable for years to come. The Friends of the Mishawaka-
Penn-Harris Public Library is proving it is wise to invest
in the futures of the library?s student employees  ?
even if it is just one page at a time.
For further information, contact Susie Cleaver at
s.cleaver@mppl.lib.in.us.
Above: Miller at Circulation desk with a
patron