Marshall Cavendish Excellence In Library Programming Award

The Marshall Cavendish Excellence In Library Programming Award consists of $2,000 and a citation of achievement.

It recognizes a school or public library which demonstrates excellence in library programming by providing programs which have community impact and respond to community needs.

Advocacy, partnerships and creativity of use of resources, regardless of the size of the library, will be taken into consideration.

Deadline: December 1, 2010.

Sara Jaffarian School Library Program Award for Exemplary Humanities Programming

The Sara Jaffarian School Library Program Award is an annual award to a school library that has conducted an exemplary program or program series in the humanities during the prior school year.

The winner gets to serve as a model program for other school libraries, a plaque to show their mother, and $4,000 in cash.

Application details here. Deadline: December 15, 2010.

Sponsored by the American Library Association Cultural Communities Fund and the National Endowment for the Humanities in cooperation with the American Association of School Librarians.

NLG Project Planning Tutorial

Though IMLS put up this tutorial to assist folks interested in developing project plans for National Leadership Grant applications, people find the tutorial useful for planning other grant projects.

Free short grantwriting training courses

FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE

The Foundation Center offers free short training courses at CT's 5 library/learning centers. Where are those, you ask?

GREENWICH PUBLIC LIBRARY
101 W. Putnam Ave.
Greenwich, CT 06830
(203) 622-7900

HARTFORD PUBLIC LIBRARY
500 Main St.
Hartford, CT 06103
(860) 695-6295

RUSSELL LIBRARY
123 Broad St.
Middletown, CT06457
(860) 347-2520

NEW HAVEN FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY
133 Elm St.
New Haven, CT 06510
(203) 946-7431

WESTPORT PUBLIC LIBRARY
Arnold Bernhard Plaza
20 Jesup Rd.
Westport, CT 06880
(203) 291-4800

Grants for Libraries: A How-To-Do-It Manual and CD-ROM

It's a book, people. It 's available at both the Willimantic and Middletown Library Service Centers.

Gerding, Stephanie & MacKellar, Pamela (2006). Grants for Libraries: A How-To-Do-It Manual and CD-ROM. Neal-Schuman.

Grant Writing Basics (LE@D) online course

This online course is available through DLD's awesome WebJunction partnership.

Description: Grants are not just free money, but require an investment in planning, resources, commitment, and sustainability.

Applying for a grant can seem like a daunting task. Certainly, there is work involved, but with the help of this tutorial, you will know the steps that are necessary and find that success is not as hard to attain as you might think. Grants also have added benefits for the library in addition to funding, such as valuable partnerships, resolved community needs, and increased community support.

This tutorial will cover each phase in the grant writing and submission process:

1. Prepare
2. Focus on Library Priorities
3. Develop the Grant Project
4. Research Funders and Find Appropriate Grants
5. Write the Grant Proposal
6. Implement, Evaluate and Continue the Process

Objectives

After completing this course, you will understand the following objectives:

* Understand the basic process of grant work
* Realize the importance of planning for grants
* Recognize the steps involved in project development
* Be encouraged and have the confidence to know that YOU can do it

The funding is out there if you want it enough.

Turning the Page: Building Your Library Community

The Public Library Association (PLA) program Turning the Page: Building Your Library Community online is an interactive advocacy training course free to members.

With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, PLA developed the tool as an advocacy training program to equip librarians and supporters with the skills, confidence and resources they need to create community partnerships, build alliances with local and regional decision makers and ultimately increase funding for their libraries.

Using Turning the Page online and completing a 10-part Advocacy Work Plan, participants become better advocates for their libraries by raising their abilities. It typically takes four-five hours to complete, but can be stopped and resumed as needed.

ALA offers Great Stories CLUB Grants

The Great Stories CLUB (Connecting Libraries, Underserved teens, and Books) is a book club program designed to reach underserved, troubled teen populations through books that are relevant to their lives.

All types of libraries working in partnership with facilities serving troubled teens are eligible. 150 libraries will be selected to develop a book discussion program for troubled teens based on the three theme-related titles and will be given copies of the books to share with participants.

Participating libraries receive access to an online toolkit to support the program. Small cash grants ($100 to $200) will be awarded to up to twenty-five sites for the support of program-related expenses. For complete information including guidelines, book titles and descriptions, application instructions, and feedback from past participants, visit the ALA web site.

Deadline: November 19, 2010

Environmental Contest for Middle and High School Students from Lexus & Scholastic

Lexus and Scholastic’s Lexus Eco Challenge is designed to inspire and empower middle and high school students to learn about the environment and take action to improve it. $500,000 in grants and scholarships is on the table.

Middle and high school teams (5-10 students + one teacher advisor) participate in one or both of the contest’s challenges. Each addresses different environmental elements — land/water and air/climate. Tams define an environmental issue that is important to them, develop an action plan to address the issue, implement the plan, and report the results.

The submission deadline for Challenge One (Land/Water) is November 3, 2010. The deadline for Challenge Two (Air/Climate) is January 19, 2011.

Each challenge identifies 16 winning teams which each receive a total of $10,000 in scholarships and grants to be shared among the students, teacher, and school. Winning teams from the first two challenges then participate in the Final Challenge, reaching beyond the local community for the remainder of the prize money.

Complete program information, competition guidelines, and educational materials are available at the Scholastic web site.

IMLS Calls for Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Grant Applications

Application Deadline: December 15, 2010

IMLS awards bazilliions of dollars ($50,000–$1,000,000 per grant) in this category of grant. It's not just for doctorate or graduate-level work, though. Applicants can apply for funding for:

* Pre-professional programs to interest future professionals in library and information science as a career
* Programs to build institutional capacity in graduate schools of library and information science by developing or enhancing programs
* Continuing education for library and archives staff

Within these categories, applicants may also decide to apply for one-year planning grants at two levels.

Much more information at the program site.

Webinars with Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Grants Staff: Learn more about the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian program at one of IMLS’s upcoming webinars. Program staff will talk about the purpose of the grants and the grant application process and answer participants’ questions during two upcoming webinars. The webinar schedule is as follows:

* October 20, 2010 at 2:00 PM Eastern Time
Webinar link: http://instmus.acrobat.com/lb21call1/

* October 28, 2010 at 2:00 PM Eastern Time
Webinar link: http://instmus.acrobat.com/lb21call2/

Duration: 1 Hour

Conference call number: 1-888-850-4523; Participant Passcode: 761243

Project Ignition’s Teen Driver Safety Service-Learning Grants

Project Ignition, from State Farm and the National Youth Leadership Council, will provide grants of $2,000 to public high schools.

Public schools addressing teen driver safety through service-learning initiatives for students in grades 9 through 12 (ages 13+) are eligible. Deadline: November 15

25 high schools will be selected to receive grants of $2,000 each to support implementation of their programs between January and April 2011.

All applications require a teacher and principal signature.

Program guidelines and application materials are available at the Project Ignition site.

The Librarian in Black’s 13 Ways and 147 tools

I read The Librarian in Black (though I frequently fall behind). I'm sure everyone in the world has already seen this, but just in case, she put up 147 Ways for libraries to save money conveniently categorized into 13 categories. Make sure you scan the comments section for the usual amount of updates, addenda, errata, etc.

Free Software for Public & Staff Computers
Free Security Software Suite
Free Staff Scheduling Software
Free Team Meeting Tools
Free Tech Support Tools
Free Audio & Video Tools
Free eLearning Tools
Free 'Contact Us' Tools to Communicate with Customers
Free Social Network & Extended Web Presence Tools
Free Website Management Tools
Free eBooks
Free Articles
and Miscellaneous Other Free Stuff

Spanish Materials Book Fair, 10/22 @ Hartford Public Library

The REFORMA Northeast Chapter Spanish Materials Book Fair is scheduled for Friday, October 22, 2010 from 12 noon to 6PM at the Hartford Public Library, Hartford, CT.

Even though budgets are tight for some, please consider attending this event and buying titles for your collection. Vendors are enthusiastic to speak with you and they will be displaying some of the latest titles in Spanish.

RSVP to Leticia Cotto at lcotto@hplct.org if you plan on attending.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us.

Book Fair Co-Chairs,

Leticia Cotto (lcotto@hplct.org) and Tess Tobin (ttobin@citytech.cuny.edu)

Peaceful Pathways: Reducing Exposure to Violence

The Peaceful Pathways: Reducing Exposure to Violence opportunity is a matching grant program that connects the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation with local grantmakers to fund new, community-based projects to improve health and health care for vulnerable populations. The Peaceful Pathways: Reducing Exposure to Violence grant seeks to fund projects aimed at reducing violence in traditionally underserved communities that are defined by race, ethnicity, tribe, gender, sexual identity or rural/frontier location.

Up to eight matching grants of between $50,000 to $200,000 each will be awarded. Applicants must be nominated by a diversity-focused funder and must be a nonprofit 501(c)(3).

Deadline: January 5, 2011; more information at the program website.