About the Ramsay and Reid Scholarships

The Scholarships are named in honour of Margery C Ramsay and Barrett Reid. These two eminent Victorians held senior positions at the State Library of Victoria and made an outstanding contribution to the development of public library services in this state over several decades.

Aims of the Scholarships

The Scholarships are funded by the Library Board of Victoria as part of the Statewide Public Library Development Projects. They reflect the Board's responsibility to exercise leadership and promote high standards in the provision of library and information services. They aim to:

• directly support the career development of the Scholarship recipient
• benefit the community that the staff member and their employing library serve through an enhanced level of service provision
• maximise the collective benefits of the Scholarships by sharing the knowledge gained from the Scholarship project with Victorian library industry staff.

Benefits

The Scholarships are awarded biennially (alternating each year) and are valued at $30,000 each year. They provide the successful recipient with the means to fund expenses associated with a range of professional development activities. In addition, the home library of each recipient benefits from the knowledge, skills and leadership resulting from the Scholarship project. The requirement that project knowledge and outcomes are shared with other public library staff means libraries throughout Victoria benefit too.

Eligibility to apply

Applicants must:

• be employed within the Victorian public library industry (but not necessarily as a qualified librarian or manager)
• have a proven record of motivation, interest in and commitment to the values of librarianship and public libraries.

Applicants who have previously applied unsuccessfully may apply again or re-submit previous applications. Past recipients must wait five years from the date of their award before applying again.

Key dates

The call for applications commences in July and closes in August, with an official Scholarship presentation scheduled later in the year.

The closing date for 2008 applications is 4pm, Friday 29 August.

Testimonial

I am immensely grateful to the Library Board of Victoria for awarding me the Margery C Ramsay Scholarship in 2005 to undertake my study of reader development in the UK. I have never felt so passionately about anything in my working life before and it has opened so many doors for me. Through the scholarship and my research, I have greatly extended my knowledge in this area and established strong networks with reader development professionals - nationally and internationally. This has allowed me to implement innovative projects in my library service and on a statewide basis through my work at the State Library on the Reading Victoria program.

I urge any of you who have a particular enthusiasm in your work to make an application - if you are successful, it gives you a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Shirley Prescott, recipient of the 2005 Margery C Ramsay Scholarship