ESU/CILIP Travelling Librarian Award: On return, the successful candidate will be expected to give some presentations and produce a short report.
Past recipients have found the study tour a rewarding personal and professional experience which has often helped advance their career.
Dr Joe Hendry, former LA President, recalled his experiences in a letter to Jeanne Huse, ESU, Librarian in 2003:
“Receiving the Travelling Fellowship to the United States was one of the defining situations in my personal and professional life. To see so many snapshots of America and American lives was a real education, as were the visits I made to Public Library Services in the urban centres of America’s great cities: America’s industrial heartland.
What I did not realise until many years afterwards, when I began to research my doctorate on the regeneration of cities through educational and cultural services, was what I witnessed in the United States during my 1979 visit. That was the bigger picture and context of my own Public Library theme. So I do hope that the scholarships continue and go from strength to strength. The ESU does quite a special and remarkable job.......
Incidentally, I can still remember my interview as clearly as if it were yesterday. Mrs Thatcher had won the 1979 Election on the Thursday, and the results were still coming through when I was making my way through London’s West End on my way to Dartmouth House [ ESU offices]. They were toasting Maggie outside all the pubs. Having left Glasgow’s peripheral housing schemes the night before, it made me all the more determined to win that scholarship. I did. You phoned me on the Saturday. I was going to America. Thank you and the ESU. “
2004 Winner
Last year, the travel grant was awarded to Simon Bevan, Information Systems Manager, Cranfield University. Simon toured a number of selected US libraries to study the expanding area of Institutional Repositories.
Advocacy was an important part of his study tour. “How to persuade academic staff to contribute to such repositories. This is an area where many US institutions have considerable experience” said Simon who will gave a presentation on his study tour at the ESU in London on Thursday 10 March.
2003 winner
The 2003 travel grant was awarded to Anne Peoples, Assistant Chief Librarian, Western Education and Library Board. The main focus of Anne's study tour was to see how public library services were integrating new technologies to develop libraries for the 21 st century. During her two weeks of travel Anne visited selected libraries in Arizona, Pennsylvania and New York.
Public Libraries for the Future: Report to ESU and CILIP by Anne Peoples
Public Libraries for the Future in New York, Arizona and Pennsylvania - Powerpoint presentation by Anne Peoples
2001 winner
Robert Atkinson ESU/LA Travelling Librarian winner 2001.
Tales of a Travelling Librarian
Updated: 30 January 2007