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CHICAGO - The executive board of the (MPLA) has voted to formally support the goals of the . MPLA will encourage academic institutions in its twelve member states (Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming) to participate in establishing residency programs for professionally underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in the library profession.

"Academic librarians play an important role in our MPLA membership, representing over 35% of our membership," said MPLA President Mickey Coalwell. "This action by the MPLA Executive Board directly supports two of the Guiding Principles from MPLA’s new Strategic Plan- pursuing outreach opportunities in the 12-state MPLA region and realizing the potential or our multi-state collaboration through leadership development, professional growth opportunities for members, and engagement with the larger library community."

MPLA will pay one-half of the institution's $500 first-year participation fee, and will pay the cost of MPLA membership for the duration of the chosen candidate's residency at the institution.

The Arizona State University Library recently became the first MPLA member institution to sign on for the MPLA/ACRL Diversity Alliance partnership.

More information about the ACRL Diversity Alliance, including a list of participating institutions, is available on the . Learn more about MPLA on the .

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The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) is the higher education association for librarians. Representing nearly 11,000 academic and research librarians and interested individuals, ACRL (a division of the 91´«Ã½) develops programs, products and services to help academic and research librarians learn, innovate and lead within the academic community. Founded in 1940, ACRL is committed to advancing learning and transforming scholarship. ACRL is on the web at , Facebook at and Twitter at .