Ana D. Cleveland MLA Scholarship

This scholarship was established in 2022 and renamed in honor of Dr. Ana Cleveland, AHIP, FMLA in 2023. For over 40 years Dr. Cleveland’s achievements spanned the roles of educator, scholar, mentor, consultant, and recruiter in the field of health sciences librarianship. She is known as a forward thinker, as reflected by her tireless efforts in integrating informatics issues into the health information curriculum at the University of North Texas. She has inspired and educated many people not just to choose to be health sciences librarians, but to advance to leadership positions in the field. Read more about Dr. Cleveland on MLANET or her inspiring 2011 Janet Doe lecture, “Miles to go before we sleep”. 

A scholarship of up to $1,000 is awarded annually by the Medical Library Association (MLA) to a student who shows excellence in scholarship and potential for accomplishment in health sciences librarianship. The scholarship is announced at the annual conference of the association, where the recipient will also receive a one-year student membership in MLA and free inclusive student registration at the association’s annual conference. This scholarship is supported by the Lucretia W. McClure endowment fund. 

Eligibility

• The applicant must be entering a master's program at an American Library Association (ALA)–accredited graduate library school or, at the time of the granting of the scholarship (March), have completed no more than one-half of the academic requirements of the graduate program.
• The applicant must be a citizen of or have permanent residence in either the United States or Canada.
• The recipient may receive only one MLA scholarship in a given year.
• Past recipients of the MLA Scholarship or the MLA Scholarship for Under-represented Students are not eligible to apply.
• Membership in MLA is not required. (discounted student membership is available)

Terms

• The online application must be completed, and all supporting documents uploaded no later than November 15.
• The disbursement of funds will not exceed one year past the date of the annual conference. Payments will be made in two equal installments.
• The first id made in June after the annual conference.
• The second payment is made after the fall semester when updated transcripts are received by MLA.
• The recipient will be notified in March before the annual conference at which the public announcement is made. The recipient assumes all costs of attending the conference and the ceremony at which the announcement is made. The association will underwrite the conference registration fees.
• Depending on the qualifications of the candidates, the jury may recommend that the scholarship not be presented in a given year.
• MLA will acknowledge applications upon receipt via email.

The Scholarship Jury will assess the application and score points based on responses to following questions:

• What would receiving a scholarship from MLA mean to you?
• What are your career and/or academic objectives? How do you plan to achieve your goals? Please describe current or future activities that support your plan. 
• How have your career or academic activities, achievements, and contributions impacted the communities you serve? Describe how these activities, achievements, and contributions impacted you personally. You may include personal, academic, work-related or advocacy examples.

Submission Checklist

• Completed application.
• Unofficial, or official, transcripts uploaded in the application from each college or university attended, including community college, undergraduate and graduate colleges.
• Copy of library school’s catalog or web page, which states the number of credits needed for a degree, uploaded to the application.

NOTE: One application serves for three MLA Scholarships. One jury reviews all submissions to all three scholarships. Duplicate submissions are not necessary. 

• Gwendolyn S. Cruzat MLA Scholarship
• Beverly Murphy MLA Scholarship for Underrepresented Students
• Ana D. Cleveland MLA Scholarship

Ready to Submit an Application?

• Choose the 2024 online application form. 
• Once saved, the form remains open for changes or to upload supporting documents until November 15, 11:59 p.m. (CDT). 
• Incomplete and late submissions will not be considered.

Scholarship Recipients

• 2023: Talin Boghosian
• 2022: Katie Dillon

Have a question? Contact MLA