Promoting Science Literacy through New England Science Boot Camp for Librarians

Promoting Science Literacy through New England Science Boot Camp for Librarians will increase accessibility to and provide sustainability for the New England Science Boot Camp for Librarians program, an immersive, two-and-a-half-day event that regularly draws between fifty-five and seventy librarians. This project seeks to expand access to the Science Boot Camp program by providing scholarships for eighteen participants-- including ten library students and early-career science librarians, and eight library staff, which will deepen their understanding of the work of science faculty and librarians--and help recruit and invest in future science and health sciences librarians. Support from this award will help to keep costs low for participants, which in turn helps to keep this event affordable to those at smaller libraries and organizations. The program is evaluated with feedback solicited after each session and after the event as a whole, and the success of the program is demonstrated by continued support from our partner institutions, through the blog posts written by our scholarship recipients, and through our attendees-both how they market the event to their peers, and whether or not they return to future Boot Camps of relevance.