Win $1K to attend YALSA's YA Literature Symposium

Registration is open now at www.ala.org/yalitsymposium for YALSA’s 2012 Young Adult Literature Symposium in St. Louis, Nov. 2-4, at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at The Arch.

Panels will cover everything from trendspotting to the changing face of young adult audience, to the new ways teens are connecting with and interacting with literature.  

YALSA is offering two stipends of up to $1,000 each to fund travel to the symposium. One will be awarded to a library staffer who works directly with young adults (with at least one year experience), and the other will go to a student enrolled in an ALA-accredited MLS program as of November 2, 2012, with a focus on young adult services.

Deadline: June 15 to ngilbert@ala.org. 

Applicants must hold a personal membership to YALSA (student membership is valid for the student stipend).

The library worker guidelines and application is here, the student guidelines and application is here. Both are Word documents.

Yale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History

Congratulations goes out to Yale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History for receiving a $145,299 grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in the 'Provision of Optimum Environment' category. 

Dr. Roger Colten, Collections Manager, Anthropology, will be in charge of the project which will improve care, preservation, and access for 8,000 Oceanic and Asian ethnographic objects by cleaning, conserving, and moving them to new museum cabinets and shelves in an environmentally controlled storage facility. These objects include weapons, tapa, headdresses, jewelry and other body ornaments, clothing, musical instruments, sculptures, and utilitarian objects such as bowls, spoons, and lime containers. The collections have great research potential as a source of information for anthropologists and other scholars studying the people and environment of the areas that have been since been impacted by outside cultures. Upgrading the storage conditions will help ensure the long-term preservation of these materials and dramatically improve accessibility for research, teaching, and exhibition.

IMLS provided 31 Conservation Project Support grants totaling $2,614,183. Recipients are matching these awards with $4,009,698 in non-federal funds. IMLS received 128 CPS applications this year, requesting a total of $9,954,623.

"Conservation Project Support grants provide much-needed assistance to museums in their efforts to protect the collections they hold in trust for the public," said IMLS Director Susan Hildreth. "This year’s CPS awards will help conserve a wide array of collections: paintings, textiles, mosaics, historic artifacts, furniture, manuscripts, photographs, digital recordings, outdoor sculptures, 500-year-old sundials, trees, even live sharks! Conserving and providing access to these and other collections helps to fuel innovation, inspire the development of new knowledge, and boost global understanding."

CT Women’s Hall of Fame Spring Library Innovation Grant

The Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame plans to award a $500 grant to the library that best integrates resources of the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame into a library program.
 
Deadline: June 15, see the site for the application and more details.

The application has only 4 questions:

1. What do you hope to achieve with this project/program? What audience(s) are you trying to reach?

2. Describe your program and surrounding activities. Which CWHF resources will you use and how? What is the format/timeframe of the program (e.g. series of events; day-long conference; single-occurrence event; panel discussion, lecture, workshop, etc.)?

3. How do you intend to market/promote the program in your community?

4. How will you evaluate the success of your program?

Touching Lives Through Theatre Grants

Pioneer Drama Service’s Touching Lives ThroughTheatre Grants create and support school theatre programs, generating positive opportunities for students and giving them a place to shine. Theatre allows children to involve themselves in an experience that brings growth, maturity, teamwork and responsibility - qualities that are relevant to all aspects of life.

 

Each grant is intended to help create a complete drama experience for students in a school and must be used to stage at least one theatrical production. Grants will range from $100 to $500 of credit at Pioneer Drama Service, which is to be used for production materials, royalty fees, texts, DVDs and makeup.

 Deadline: 06-30-2012.

Accredited public or private schools in the US and Canada with drama programs receiving $500 or less funding annually from the school or district and schools with no prior drama program are eligible to apply.

 

NEH Humanities Collections and Reference Resources grants

The National Endowment for the Humanities' Humanities Collections and Reference Resources grants program supports projects that provide an essential foundation for scholarship, education, and public programming in the humanities. 

Deadline July 19, 2012 (for Projects Beginning May 2013)

Thousands of libraries, archives, museums, and historical organizations across the country maintain important collections of books and manuscripts, photographs, sound recordings and moving images, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, art and material culture, and digital objects. Funding from this program strengthens efforts to extend the life of such materials and make their intellectual content widely accessible, often through the use of digital technology. Awards are also made to create various reference resources that facilitate use of cultural materials, from works that provide basic information quickly to tools that synthesize and codify knowledge of a subject for in-depth investigation.

National Archives Electronic Records Project Grants

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission seeks proposals that will "increase the capacity of archival repositories to create electronic records archives that preserve records of enduring historical value."

All information is on the program website.

Applications are for the following categories:

1. Start-up projects: Develop the capacity of institutions to prepare to capture and preserve electronic records, through program planning; or
2. Collaborative projects: Establish and/or improve electronic records archives by engaging in effective and innovative collaborations; or
3. Electronic Records Professional Development projects: Develop and offer professional education curricula, basic and advanced institutes, or research seminars.

Plus you probably get a link with the cool logo. If any of that sounds like fun to you, I wish you luck!

ADA Audio Conference Series: FREE

The Great Lakes ADA Center puts on a free topical audio series; the full schedule is here, upcoming sessions are listed below.

All sessions are scheduled from 1:00-2:30 p.m. (90 minute sessions) Central Time Zone and will have a written transcript as well as a archived digital recordings.

Programs are available in three formats:
•    Teleconference (for a fee)
•    Streaming Audio via the Internet (free!)
•    Real-time Captioning via the Internet (free!)

June 19, 2012: No Parking Here: Accessible parking requirements and enforcement
Speaker: Nancy Horton, Information Specialist Mid-Atlantic ADA Center
Did you know that the size of an access aisle and the number of accessible parking spaces required under the 2010 ADA Standards have changed? People with disabilities site the lack of accessible parking spaces or inadequate enforcement of who utilizes accessible parking spaces as one of their greatest frustrations. Business owners struggle with meeting their obligations and understanding the differences that often exist between local, state and federal law. Join this session as we explore the complex issues of location, type, size, number and how all of this is enforced.

July 17, 2012: ADA Anniversary Update: 22 Years Later
Speaker: Allison Nichol, US Department of Justice
Mark the 22nd anniversary of the ADA by joining this audio conference as we listen to representatives of the Federal Agencies present an update on their litigation, technical assistance and enforcement efforts over the past year. Participants will have an opportunity to pose questions to the presenters regarding issues in their own workplace or community.

August 21, 2012: Segways, Golf Cars, four-wheelers, Oh my!
Advances in technology have given rise to new power-driven devices that were not necessarily designed for people with disabilities, but are being used by some people with disabilities for mobility. The term "other power-driven mobility devices" appears in the revised ADA regulations and refers to any mobility device powered by batteries, fuel, or other engines, whether or not they are designed primarily for use by individuals with mobility disabilities for the purpose of locomotion. Examples include but are not limited to Segways® , golf carts and all-terrain vehicles. Covered entities must consider whether or not they can make "reasonable modifications" in their policy and procedure to allow individuals who use these devices to enter their premises. Join this session and learn the factors that go into determining whether or not it is "reasonable" and what is happening nationally to address this issue.

September 18, 2012» Don't forget to cast your vote! Accessibility of Polling Places
Speaker: Faith Gross, VOTE! Coordinator, The Legal Center for People with Disabilities, Denver, CO.
2012 is a presidential election year and as we reflect back to 2008 we know that 14.7 million Americans with disabilities voted in the 2008 election. This is a significant increase over the 10.9 million Americans with disabilities who voted in the 2000 presidential election. Passage of the Help America Vote Act in 2002 increased the focus and attention on the barriers faced by people with disabilities attempting to exercise their civic responsibilities. However, many polling places remain inaccessible and individuals continue to report that they do not get the supports they need in the polling place to ensure that they can vote independently and confidentially. Join this session as we explore the obligations under the various laws and regulations and strategies for working with local election officials.

If you choose to Teleconference the session, there are charges, otherwise not for profits can attend FREE via Elluminate Live Platform.


CEUs/education credits/certificates are available for many of the sessions. A certificate of attendance is available upon request once actual attendance/participation is documented.

Keep America Beautiful’s Graffiti Hurts Grant Program

The Keep America Beautiful'sGrants Program provides opportunities for KAB certified affiliates to apply for and receive over $1 million dollars in grant funding for community improvement, beautification, greening, waste reduction and recycling.

One of these opportunities is for graffiti prevention; six grants will be awarded (four cash grants of $2,500 each; two paint product grants from Sherwin-Williams valued at $2,500 each; and one FlashCAM from Q-Star Technology valued at $6,100).

Though I took that language right from the website, that looks like seven grants to me.

Proposed projects can address graffiti prevention and education, rapid removal, or help to enforce local anti-graffiti laws.  Programs that focus on graffiti prevention initiatives, including Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), and engaging and educating youth are encouraged.

See the website for more info.All libraries *should* be eligible as Nonprofit, Civic, and Community Organizations, Youth Groups/Schools, and Government Agencies can all apply.

Deadline: June 15, 2012. 

State Farm K-12 Grants

The State Farm Foundation sponsors a couple of grant opportunities of interest to libraries active in their communities. Deadlines for all types are May 31, 2012.

Safety Grants

• Auto and Roadway Safety
• Home Safety and Fire Prevention
• Disaster Preparedness
• Disaster Recovery
• Personal Financial Safety/Security

Education

We support efforts to provide all children with an education that will allow them to reach their greatest potential and prepare them to participate in a nation and economy that continues as a global leader. We fund three types of grants for K-12 public schools:

·         Teacher Development

·         Service-Learning

·         Systemic Improvement.