DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: CLOSED

A key goal of the NEXT Library Conference is to build an international community of library innovators who are imagining and creating public libraries that serve people’s learning and information needs in the 21^st century. To ensure that NEXT includes robust and diverse participation from throughout the world, scholarship support is available to support travel and conference registration fees for one week of conference attendance in Chicago.

Scholarship award winners will be invited to arrive in Chicago on Wednesday, June 18th and depart on Thursday, June 26th. Attendees may choose to continue to the Annual Conference of the American Library Association (ALA) held immediately following in Las Vegas, Nevada from June 26 to July 1.

Applicant Eligibility:

Scholarships will be awarded on a competitive basis. Applicants must meet the following requirements:

• Be a library professional from an under-resourced country with 3 to 8 years of work experience.
• Are currently employed full-time in a public library or library support organization.
• Be an emerging leader who will contribute to and benefit from the NEXT conference as well as remain active in the international NEXT Library community of practice following the conference.
• Can contribute actively to the rich discussion, experimentation and hands-on activities.
• Have sufficient English language skills to fully participate in conference activities.
• Can demonstrate how they will share what they have learned to strengthen their public library and community.
• Provide a written endorsement from library and/or community leadership.

Scholarship Support

Each scholar will be awarded up to USD $4,500.00 based on need and anticipated cost of international airfare from the home country. In extraordinary cases, all travel costs may be supported. Preference will be given to candidates who are living and working in under-resourced countries.

Apply Now

Download the Scholarship Application. Please email your completed Scholarship Application to: nextscholarships@urbanlibraries.org. If you are unable to email the application, please send the completed application by mail to:

Sheila Murphy
Urban Libraries Council
125 S. Wacker Drive, Suite 1050
Chicago, IL 60606--‐4477
 

Applications deadline has passed.