Scholarships

We’re offering scholarships of up to $1,000 for PLAN-member library staff. These funds can be used to attend workshops, webinars, conferences, and other professional development events.

Important points to consider:

  • Libraries with professional development budgets are asked to utilize those funds before seeking support from PLAN.
  • Scholarship applicants must be employees of a PLAN-member library; both part-time and full-time employees are eligible.
  • If the training is canceled for any reason, please let us know as soon as possible. Also, please understand that we cannot reimburse any expenses incurred if the training is not attended. We recommend making refundable travel arrangements or purchasing travel insurance.
  • Scholarships are awarded to a library, not an individual, and must be used while the recipient is employed at the library.
  • Scholarships may be transferred from one staff member to another at the same library at the request of the library director.
  • The maximum number of scholarships a PLAN-member organization may receive is three per fiscal year; online courses that cost less than $400 do not count towards this maximum. Exceptions may be made at the discretion of PLAN staff depending on funds available and specific training needs.
  • Due to grant fund restrictions, we’re unable to award scholarships for continuing education related to the American Library Association, including its state chapters (such as the Florida Library Association) and affiliated divisions. If you are unsure if an organization is affiliated with the ALA, please check the following sites:
  • Instead of setting application deadlines for major conferences as we have done in the past, this year we ask that you submit your scholarship application at least three weeks prior to the event.

Factors that are considered in awarding scholarships include:

  • Availability of funding
  • Suitability of training to support your library
  • Distribution of available scholarship funding among as many PLAN members as possible

Download Scholarship Application
We recommend you download the application and open it with Adobe Acrobat Pro or Adobe Acrobat Reader; if you open it in your web browser, the e-signature fields will not be available.

After the event:

Scholarship recipients must complete a survey and then submit a Certificate of Attendance and Request for Payment Form after the training event to receive their scholarship funds. Please do not submit receipts with this form; our scholarships are awarded and paid as a lump sum.