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Occidental Alumna Wins Spectrum Scholarship
Daisy Larios ’07 has been selected as a Spectrum Scholar by the American Library Assn.
Larios, a history major from Inglewood, works as a career services and information services library assistant at Drexel University’s Hagerty Library in Philadelphia. She participated in the Mellon Library Recruitment Program while a student at Oxy and was a library intern her senior year. (The Mellon program provides in-depth exposure to the library field for selected students from diverse backgrounds.)
“I was ecstatic and humbled upon hearing that I was selected for a Spectrum scholarship, and I feel incredibly blessed,” Larios says. “Occidental and the opportunities it offered were absolutely instrumental in helping me get to where I am today, and for that I am ever so grateful.”
After graduating from Occidental, Larios was offered a Mellon Library Fellow position at Swarthmore College. After completing that year-long fellowship, she accepted her position at Drexel University, where she is enrolled in the master of library and information science program. She plans to become a reference librarian.
Larios is one of 50 students who received the award this year, presented by the ALA’s Office for Diversity to American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students pursuing graduate degrees in library and information studies.
Spectrum’s mission is to improve service at the local level through the development of a representative workforce that reflects the communities served by all libraries in the new millennium. Since 1997, the ALA has awarded a total of 608 Spectrum Scholarships. Nearly 70 percent of past Spectrum Scholars remain active in the ALA three years after graduation.
For more information on Spectrum, visit www.ala.org/spectrum. The application period for 2010 Spectrum Scholarships will open in late October 2009.