Ricardo Ramírez Madera and Karla Morones, both students in the iSchool’s MLIS program, received the California Library Association Scholarship for Minority Students in Memory of Edna Yelland. Congratulations!

Encouraging minority students to pursue library and information studies and their “commitment to the improvement of library services to ethnic minority communities” is the goal of the California Library Association (CLA) Scholarship for Minority Students in Memory of Edna Yelland.

The CLA awards a maximum of three Edna Yelland scholarships annually, and two of the 2015 scholarship recipients are graduate students in the award-winning Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree program at the San José State University (SJSU) School of Information (iSchool): Ricardo Ramírez Madera and Karla Morones.

“I am very excited and honored to have been selected for the CLA Edna Yelland Scholarship,” stated Ramírez, who is currently working as a senior library assistant specializing in youth and Spanish services at the Butte County Library in Chico, California. Finishing his MLIS degree this semester, Ramírez is looking forward to putting his ideas into practice. “My time at the iSchool has been invigorating,” he said, “and I am very fortunate to have been able to put theory to action in my workplace and in my various volunteer and outreach projects.”

Ramírez is passionate about increasing library services to communities where access to traditional library resources is very limited. Since January, 2014, he has served on the REFORMA Children in Crisis Task Force, which delivers books, backpacks, and school supplies to unaccompanied refugee children. Ramírez credits his mentors from the iSchool, REFORMA, and the Butte County Library for helping support his vision of expanding library and literacy services to underrepresented groups. “I look forward to increasing my advocacy in this area as my career progresses,” he added.

Morones is also eager to use the skills learned at the iSchool to help promote library services in her community. At the Anaheim Public Library, where she works part time as a library technician, she conducts bi-lingual story times, hosts community events, and holds workshops on topics such as financial literacy and essential computer skills. Morones stated that she was “honored” to be selected as an Edna Yelland Scholarship recipient, remarking “I hope to support and encourage the Latino community when I become a librarian.”

Recipients of the CLA Scholarship for Minority Students in Memory of Edna Yelland are each awarded $2,500, a one-year student membership to CLA, and a certificate of recognition. Scholarship recipients will be honored at the awards ceremony during the professional associations’ annual conference, which will take place November 5-8, 2015, in Pasadena, California. CLA also encourages scholarship recipients to enroll in CLA’s mentoring program.

Ramírez and Morones are the latest iSchool students to receive scholarships. For more information on scholarships awarded by both the professional community and the iSchool, or to donate to the iSchool scholarship fund, please visit the Scholarship, Award, and Grant Information web page.