The 1999 Spectrum Initiative Jury recognizes the considerable effort required to develop the ALA scholarship application and reference forms and the Spectrum Initiative personal statement criteria and ranking sheet. These documents were used successfully to obtain 200 Spectrum applications and to choose fifty scholarship recipients. The jury makes these recommendations in order to make the forms and the selection process even better.

Consistency: The jury recommends that the web and printed versions of each document be exactly the same and that the information in the application form be absolutely consistent with the information in the reference form. For example, the criteria and ranking alternatives at the "Spectrum Initiative: Scholarship Applicant Criteria" web page (http://www.ala.org/spectrum/app_criteria.html) should be, but are not, the same as the criteria and ranking alternatives at the "Reference Form" web page (http://www.ala.org/work/awards/refform.html).

References: Jury members sometimes found it difficult to assess whether the reference provider was qualified to provide a professional and objective evaluation. The jury recommends, to make the evaluator's qualifications be more obvious, that the reference provider's affiliation (for example, school or business) and relationship (for example, teacher, librarian, or colleague) be required on both the application and reference forms.

APPLICATION FORM

Experience: The application form does not allow enough space for experience. To obtain a more complete response, the jury recommends that the applicant be required either to attach a sheet that details experience or to attach a resume.

Native American Status: the jury recommends that Native-American applicants be required to supply proof of enrollment in a federally recognized tribe. On the application form where the applicant checks the applicable minority group, a line could be added for:

Tribal Affiliation_________________ Roll number (or other verification)___________________.

Specific Scholarships: The jury recommends that information required for a single scholarship should not be include in the general Scholarship Program forms. Specifically, the jury recommends that financial need information for the EBSCO/NMRT scholarship be requested on a separate sheet.

For a proposed application form, see: /central/staff/specappl.htm

REFERENCE FORM

Types of questions: The jury recommends that, to obtain more useful references, less emphasis in the reference form be placed on checking off ratings and more on open-ended questions.

Instructions to reference providers: The explanation and instructions in the middle of the first page are too dense and too long. The jury recommends that parts of the instructions be moved to where they are applicable. For example, the jury recommends that the instruction to check the rating sheet be placed immediately above the rating grid.

Comments versus opinion of applicant's potential: Many reference providers did not fill in the "comments" section or wrote very superficial statements. The jury recommends that, to get more useful references, instead of asking for "comments," substitute the instruction from the middle of page 1 to "give your opinion of the applicant's competence, promise, ability to do graduate study, and potential for leadership."

Specific Scholarships: To have additional information required for another scholarship (such as the LITA scholarships) about some applicants but not about others is not fair to all applicants. The jury recommends that information required for a single scholarship not be included in the general Scholarship Program Reference Form. Specifically, the jury recommends that the valuations required for the LITA scholarships be addressed on a separate sheet.

For a proposed reference form, see: /central/staff/specref.htm

Information necessary for applicants and reference providers to fill out their forms is dispersed among a number of web pages at the ALA home page. For example, the specific requirements for the Spectrum applicant's personal statement are on the fourth page of criteria and eligibility requirements for the entire range of ALA scholarships. From the personal statements that the jury read, it was apparent that many applicants never found those requirements. The jury recommends that relevant Spectrum general instructions, criteria, mission, personal statement instructions be available as a single document to which the applicant and reference provider can refer. For a proposed consolidated Spectrum Initiative: Scholarship Requirements & Expectations Web site, see: /central/staff/specrequ.htm.

PERSONAL STATEMENT

Statement criteria: Many applicants wrote general personal statements that did not address the Spectrum Initiative statement criteria. The jury recommends that these criteria be featured more prominently. Three possibilities are (1) to list the criteria on a specific Spectrum Initiative application form, (2) to require the applicant to provide the statement on a sheet that lists the criteria, or (3) to have a checklist for completing the application that includes a reminder to address the criterion: "Does your personal statement explicitly address how your life, work, and educational experiences will help you be a good librarian in a multi-ethnic society?"

Mission: Promoting service to a multi-cultural society is an important purpose of the Spectrum Initiative, but it is not the only purpose. Although the applicants should continue to be asked about their life/work/educational experience relative to a multiethnic society, the jury recommends that the personal statement not be limited to addressing that single issue as it was this year. Since the main Spectrum Initiative mission is to recruit people from underrepresented minorities to the library profession, the jury recommends that the applicants also be asked to address in the personal statement why they want to be in the library profession.

Formats: The jury questions whether information provided in a personal statement tailored to the Spectrum Initiative can be comparable to information provided in a general web page or to information provided in a video. Many applicants for scholarships may not have access to the resources or equipment necessary to produce a video, so that allowing videos for personal statements may not be fair to all applicants. The jury recommends that all applicants be required to present a personal statement tailored to the scholarship. This recommendation does not preclude applications for specific scholarships such as the LITA scholarships from having an additional requirement of providing a web site or video as appropriate.

Criteria consistency: The statement criteria provided to the applicant were not the same as the criteria used on the jury's ranking sheet. The jury recommends that, in order to be fair to all applicants, the instructions to the applicant include explicitly the specific criteria on which the statement will be evaluated.

The jury recommends that this be the text of the instructions for the personal statement:

Personal Statement: Please provide a written statement of about 250 words that addresses why you want to be a librarian and how your life, work, and educational experiences will help you be a good librarian in a multi-ethnic society. Please include specific examples of these experiences.

RANKING SHEET

Ranking criteria: The jury recommends that the ranking criteria be explicitly provided to the applicant and the reference provider. For example, the applicant should know whether specificity of examples is to be graded. The jury also recommends that, to maximize the usefulness of the references, the criteria used by the reference providers be similar to those used by the jury.

The jury recommends an additional ranking criteria: Additional or exceptional skills and experiences that add value to the candidate's potential to provide delivery of information services in a diverse society.

The jury recommends that these be the ranking categories for the personal statement part of the recommendation sheet:

A. Substance and significance of reasons given for wanting to become a librarian.

B. Substance, significance, and specificity of life, work, and educational experiences relevant to becoming a good librarian in a multi-ethnic society

Number of references: Some applicants provided three references; others provided four. The jury recommends that the ranking sheet include specific instructions about whether to add the scores of the top three for each applicant or to use another formula to deal with the different number of references?

Weight of personal statement: Since written expression is only one of fourteen characteristics that reference providers rank, the jury recommends that less weight on the ranking sheet be given to the personal statement. The current weight is 70 percent of the total; the jury recommends that the weight of the personal statement be no more than 50 percent. Since a written statement is given much weight, the jury recommends that how well the personal statement is written be ranked.

Weight of other categories: The current "overall presentation" category emphasizes following directions and being neat and accurate. The jury recommends that these characteristics receive less emphasis, and creativity, special talent, or unique perspective receive more emphasis. The jury also recommends that academic performance -grade-point average, degrees, awards - be ranked. The jury recommends that the reference forms also receive more emphasis if the content of the form is improved as suggested above.

Recommendation for weighting: The jury recommends this weighting for the ranking sheet:

I. personal statement - 50 percent

A. Substance and significance of reasons given for wanting to become a librarian - 15 percent

B. Substance, significance, and specificity of life, work, and educational experiences relevant to becoming a good librarian in a multi-ethnic society - 15 percent

C. Writing style and content of the essay- 10 percent

D. Exceptional skills, talents, or perspectives - 10 percent

II. references - 30 percent

III. education, grades, awards - 10 percent

IV. presentation - 10 percent

However, the jury recommends that the weight of the references be increased only if more emphasis is placed on open-ended questions, such as "give your opinion of the applicant's competence, promise, ability to do graduate study, and potential for leadership."

For a proposed ranking form, see: /central/staff/specrank.htm

CONCLUSION

The ALA Scholarship and Spectrum Initiative forms have served us well, but they can be improved. The jury welcomes any questions and would like to share its experience in using the forms to improve both the forms and the selection process.