The Public Library Staff Education Program is a tuition reimbursement program developed by the California State Library to assist California public and county law libraries with staff professional development. Funding for credentialed training is provided to enable library staff to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to support valuable programs and services in their communities.

1. Public Library Staff
Education Program

2. About the Program
 The PLSEP is a competitive tuition reimbursement
program for library staff pursuing credentialed
training in librarianship.
Up to $5000 per year in tuition reimbursement for
staff pursuing their Master in Library and
Information Science
Up to $3000 per year in tuition reimbursement for
staff pursuing a Library Support Staff Certification
through the ALA-APA
Need to have worked in a California public library
or county law library for at least 1 year and be
enrolled in an MLIS or LSSC program

3. Administered by CLSA Systems
 Applicants can apply through their local cooperative
library systems:
49-99 Cooperative Library System
Black Gold Cooperative Library System
Inland Library System
Pacific Library Partnership
NorthNet Library System
San Joaquin Valley Library System
Santiago Library System
Serra Library System
Southern California Library Cooperative

4. Funding Supports Pursuit of Degrees
 Master in Library and
Information Science
from ALA-accredited
library school
 Library Support Staff
Certification from ALA-
APA

5. 2015/16 Recipients
 For 2015/16, a total of 92 California public and county
law library employees were awarded tuition
reimbursement. The 92 library employees are
comprised of
48 continuing PLSEP students
6 LSST students, and
38 new PLSEP students
• Complete recipient list can be found here

6. The Review Process
 Applications are reviewed by a panel of library
leaders for…
Library interest and passion
Leadership potential
Including other factors
 Another layer of review is by state library staff
Consideration for staff from rural libraries/areas
Hardship

7. How Tuition Reimbursement Works
 For PLSEP:
Take courses that count towards MLIS degree
Get a grade of B- or better
Send proof of course grade to cooperative system
for reimbursement
 For LSST:
Take LSSC-approved courses
Courses successfully completed during the grant
year are eligible for reimbursement
Application fee reimbursable

8. Questions?
 More information can be found at this website:
http://www.library.ca.gov/grants/lsta/educ_prog.html
 Or contact your local cooperative library system here
 Or state library project coordinator:
Lena Pham
Library Programs Consultant
916-651-0376
Lena.Pham@library.ca.gov