Melissa McDonald bio

Melissa McDonald, Biography Melissa McDonald, graduate student in the School Library Media Program, is the 2012 recipient of the Dr. Thomas R. Peters Memorial Scholarship offered by the Montgomery County Public Schools Retirees Association. Earlier this year, she was awarded the Charles Barkley Legislative District 39 Scholarship, and in 2011 she was recipient of the Montgomery County Public School Retirees Association Scholarship and Montgomery County Teachers Federal Credit Union Bill Teel Scholarship.

Lifelong learning is a priority for Melissa, and was pleased to add the Information and Diverse Populations (IDP) Concentration to her course of study. In this age of 21st century information technology, the digital divide has become wider, and the need to reach all learners is greater than ever. It is vitally important to make information accessible to all people, regardless of disability, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, age, or lack of technology.

Prior to graduating from the iSchool‟s library science program, Melissa has been named school library media specialist at two Montgomery County elementary schools – Brookhaven in Rockville, and Clopper Mill in Germantown. Both schools are Title 1 schools because of the high economic needs of their student body. Title 1 is part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The legislation provides additional funding and support to ensure that the children in schools with high economic needs achieve high standards. Melissa believes that adding the IDP concentration was the impetus that helped her rise above the other candidates.

Melissa is a member of several professional organizations, including ALA, American Association of School Librarians (AASL), Maryland Library Association (MLA), Maryland Association of School Librarians (MASL), Young Adult Library Service Association (YALSA), and Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). She has been an executive board member of ALA@UMD, the University of Maryland ALA Student Chapter, and has been actively involved in organizing a series of workshops and tours to benefit students at Maryland iSchool.

As Maryland Snapshot Day coordinator, she works with the MLA and Maryland State Department of Education‟s Division Library Development and Services to pull together statistics and digital images of „A Day in the Life of a Maryland Libraries‟ for use in advocating for Maryland library programs. For more information, please see www.mdlib.org/snapshot.

As the single parent of four children, she is proud to show her children that hard work and effective effort lead to success. “I cannot express my gratitude to the staff and faculty of Maryland‟s iSchool – they have given me the wings to fly, and helped me every step of the way to achieve my goal of becoming a school librarian.” Melissa plans to graduate in December 2012.