The American Library Association (ALA) is pleased to announce the selection of Sarah Shuai Martin of Chicago, Illinois, as the 2025 recipient of the Mary V. Gaver Scholarship.
The $3,000 scholarship was established to honor the memory of a past ALA president and Rutgers University professor, who made many contributions to library youth services. The scholarship is awarded to a person pursuing a master's degree in library and information studies, with a specialty in youth services.
Currently, Martin works as a youth library associate at the Chicago Public Library. Martin says she feels "privileged to experience the rare opportunity to work with teen librarians who have opened her eyes to the plethora of technological resources that libraries can provide." Martin also commented that her "favorite aspects of work are the opportunities to reach out and relate to a person simply as another person finding common threads."
Relating to others of diverse cultures and backgrounds is important to Martin. Teaching abroad in rural South Korea helped her to see the value of connecting with others. Martin confided that her "deepest satisfaction was gained through reciprocated connections with her students, colleagues, and fellow expatriates from around the world. Whether discussing the latest pop music, a heart-wrenching drama finale, favorite foods, or a deeply human experience, the insights sprung from the vastly differing perspectives of others had a humbly affect."
Being relatively new to the library profession, Martin says she "hopes to refine her strengths and sharpen the tools needed to tackle community engagement." She is "excited to learn how to utilize library and information sciences to connect to people beyond the library floor and to expand her understanding of wider demographics' relationships with information systems." Martin commented that she wants to be "informed, experienced, and actively supportive of the efforts of different communities to better understand others and work together across generations, classes, cultures, and languages."
Martin is an MSLIS student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.