Megan Glidden has been awarded a scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in library and information science through the University of North Texas’s distance program. She will begin classes this fall with other students from the Rocky Mountain region. Glidden’s $14,400 scholarship will go toward the cost of tuition at the University of North Texas’s College of Information. She will attend most classes online and will also travel to meet with her cohort twice during the two-year program for in-person orientation and instruction. After graduation, as part of the scholarship requirements, Glidden will work for at least two years as a professional librarian in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, or South Dakota. She also will continue her membership in the Montana Library Association and attend the annual conference. Glidden currently works at both the Columbia Falls Branch Library and in the Children’s Department at the Main Library in Kalispell. She is enthusiastic about helping our communities with literacy and learning, and is excited to explore the variety of experiences available as a librarian. When asked about specific career goals, Glidden answered, “Someday I would love to manage a branch library, which would allow me to do a little bit of everything.”
Glidden’s scholarship award is the result of an application she made in April 2010 to the SWIM Regional Collaborative Library Education Project, which is designed to increase the number of professional librarians working in the SWIM (South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana) region. At that time, she was selected by the SWIM Advisory Council as an alternate to receive a scholarship and was placed on a waiting list. The SWIM project received additional funding this month, which made it possible for Glidden to receive the scholarship. SWIM is funded through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program.
