Librarianship

Undergraduate Degrees of Librarians:

Geography (Bachelors from Rutgers University, emphasis in cultural geography) is the undergraduate degree of Melanie Chu, Outreach Librarian. This degree is from an interdisciplinary approach integrating aspects of anthropology, history, sociology, cartography, GIS, geology, and environmental science.

 

Liberal Studies (field emphasis in Linguistics) is held by Judith A. Downie, a CSUSM graduate and tenured faculty as CSUSM's Special Collections & History Librarian. This major focuses on preparing K-12 teachers for a teaching credential or master's degree which dovetails nicely with librarianship in the K-12 or public library job market. This degree is multidisciplinary which is a good fit for the wide range of topics these positions can come into contact with. This can be a difficulty in academic or specialized library jobs that generally require the BA or MA in a specific discipline.

Speech: Interpersonal & Organizational Communication undergraduate degree from CSU, Long Beach is held by Judith (Judy) Opdahl of CSU Long Beach.  She is currently an Instruction and Reference Librarian here at CSUSM.  She provides instruction to students who are taking GEL (Lifelong Learning), GEO (Oral Communication), and GEW (Writing).  Having a degree in communication has been a good fit for academic librarianship as much of instruction and reference requires being able to communicate (orally and in writing) complex concepts in a clear and concise manner to: students, faculty, staff, and community members.  

Scholarship Opportunities

ALA Spectrum Scholarships: Spectrum recruits and provides scholarships to American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students to assist individuals interested in obtaining a graduate degree and leadership positions within the profession and our organization.  Our aim is to increase the number of racially and ethnically diverse professionals working as leaders in the field of library and information science to best position libraries and institutions at the core of today’s culturally diverse communities.

Mosaic Scholarships: The Mosaic Scholarship was established by the SAA Council in August 2008 to advance SAA's Diversity Strategic Priority: To provide financial and mentoring support to minority students pursuing graduate education in archival science, to encourage students to pursue a career as an archivist, and to promote the diversification of the American archives profession. The award is given to applicants who demonstrate excellent potential for scholastic and personal achievement and who manifest a commitment both to the archives profession and to advancing diversity concerns within it.