Library Jobs and Scholarships

Undergraduate students and graduate assistants (GAs) employed by the Sherrod Library for at least one semester can 

apply for the Undergraduate Student Worker Scholarship or

apply for the Outstanding Graduate Assistant (GA) Scholarship

offered annually in the Spring semester. Each scholarship is funded by the generosity of donors. 

Scholarship Awards​

• Each scholarship award is $500 for one semester and is directly deposited into the student's account using their payroll ID.

• Scholarship winners are expected to attend the Scholarship Award Celebration in April to accept their award.

• Scholarship winners agree to allow their essay and likeness to be used in library publicity about the scholarship program.

Eligibility

To be eligible for a scholarship, the student employee must be

• an undergraduate | graduate student,  currently enrolled at ETSU, with a current grade point average (GPA) at or above 3.0;
• employed by Sherrod Library for at least one full semester before applying; and
• currently employed by the Sherrod Library at the time of the award.

Eligible students may apply for the scholarship every year they work for the library. 

Application Guidelines & Instructions

To apply, a student employee must

1. Ask their library supervisor to complete the supervisor evaluation form for their scholarship application. (This form link will be sent to all Sherrod Library student employee supervisors by the Sherrod Library Scholarship Committee).
2. Complete the application form, including a

• current academic transcript (unofficial transcript or printed copy of online record is acceptable) and a
• 300-500 word essay, in the form of a Microsoft Word document, addressing the question:

 All  of the items listed above must be submitted before the application will be considered.  

Deadlines

Specific dates for 2018 are:

• Applications due March 2, 2018
• Supervisor evaluation forms due March 2, 2018
• All applicants notified by March 30, 2018.
• Scholarship winners recognized at the Scholarship Award Celebration in April 2018.

Review Process

• Scholarship applications will be reviewed by the Sherrod Library Scholarship Committee.  Members of the Committee are appointed by the Dean of University Libraries. 
• Direct supervisors of student employees will not review applications of their own student employees. 
• The committee’s recommendations are forwarded to the Dean of the University Libraries who will make the final decision.

Questions? 

Undergraduate Student Worker Scholarship - email Rebecca Tolley<tolleyst@etsu.edu>

Oustanding Graduate Assistant Scholarship - email Dr. Wendy Doucette<doucettew@etsu.edu>

Overview

The Sherrod Library Graduate Student Scholarship for Excellence in Research recognizes graduate students who demonstrate research acumen and a successful, strategic search strategy in utilizing library resources to conduct research during graduate coursework. A $500 scholarship will be granted to the recipient of this award given once annually during the Fall semester.

Applicants must be

• a currently enrolled graduate student in good standing
• the sole author of a research paper (close readings, case summaries, and book or literature reviews are not eligible)
  • submitted for ETSU course credit during Fall 2017, Spring 2018, or Summer 2018.
  • between 10 and 20 pages in length
  • containing a minimum of 10 sources, more than 50% of which are peer-reviewed
• nominated by the professor of record for the course in which the paper was submitted.

All graduate coursework prior to capstone, thesis or dissertation is eligible. Chapters or sections of capstone, thesis, or dissertation will not be considered.

Nomination Process

A graduate student may ask faculty to nominate their research paper for this scholarship. Alternatively, faculty may begin the nomination process yourself by nominating a student’s paper for this award. Sherrod Library honors and respects the communication process between instructors and students and will not will not act as intermediary for this application in any way. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Papers submitted from Fall through the Summer semester will be eligible for the scholarship given the next Fall semester. For example, papers submitted from Fall 2017 through Summer 2018 will be eligible for the scholarship given in Fall 2018. Nominations for this scholarship are accepted on a rolling basis.

Application Process

Application for this scholarship can be started either by student application or faculty nomination:

Student application form is routed to the faculty contact to complete the faculty nomination portion.

• Student application must include
  • an essay of 300-500 words describing student mastery of research strategy and its successful execution using Sherrod Library resources employed in the paper. The essay must be uploaded as a file.
  • the final version of the research paper uploaded as a file.

Faculty nomination form is routed to the student to complete the student application portion.

• Faculty nomination must be provided by the professor of record for the course in which the paper or project was submitted.

An application form must have both student and faculty portions completed to be submitted for consideration.

Communication between student and faculty outside the form submission process is encouraged to avoid complications.

Once submitted online, applications cannot be edited. For the Fall 2018 scholarship, complete applications must be submitted by September 30, 2018. The recipient of the scholarship and the nominating faculty member will be notified by November 30, 2018. The recipient will be recognized within Sherrod Library and at the School of Graduate Studies Awards Ceremony and Reception.

Evaluation Criteria

A panel composed of library faculty and staff will judge entries that meet the criteria listed in the Overview above. The 300-500-word essay should address the following and must reference concrete examples of these applications in the nominated work. Describe your

• utilization of Sherrod Library online and/or physical collections to support an original argument or idea
• steps, execution and evolution of a personal research plan to locate primary and secondary research resources
• strategy for evaluating the suitability and effectiveness of resources selected
• method for surmounting unexpected roadblocks and other challenges

This thoughtful essay on which you describing your research techniques and reflect on your evolution and process of locating and applying academic research will be given the most weight in the judging process. Essays will be compared against the final version of the paper submitted by the instructor to verify that the resources referenced by the student are evident within the work.