ALA’s Diversity Research Grant

This annual award from the American Library Association’s Office for Diversity consists of a one-time $2,000 annual award for original research and a $500 travel grant to attend and present at ALA Annual Conference.

Eligibility: Proposals must be from current member of ALA. Applications may address any diversity topic, including the recruitment and promotion of diverse individuals within the profession or the provision of library services to diverse populations.

More information.

Deadline: April 30, 2011.

Do Something’s $500 Seed Grants

Community action projects and programs that need a little bit of funding to get them to the next level can apply for these mini grants, sponsored by American Express.

Funding can be used towards project ideas and programs that are just getting started, or to jump-start your program and realize your ideas for the first time. These grants can also be used towards projects that are already developed and sustainable, towards the next steps of your project and organization to help you as you look to expand your project and grow your impact.

Deadline: None; Do Something awards one grant a week; winner are notified two to three months after submission.

For schools - the “got breakfast?” Foundation

“got breakfast?” Foundation's Silent Hero Grant Program

The “got breakfast?” Foundation helps public, non-profit private schools ensure that all children start the school day with a nutritious breakfast in order to learn, grow, and develop to his or her fullest potential.

Summer 2011 Deadline: April 15, 2011

ALA & NEH grant: Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War

Fifty libraries across the country will be selected to participate in this scholar-led reading and discussion program for public audiences from the from the Small Grants to Libraries program.

Full details here.

Libraries selected for the project will receive the following:

1. Twenty-five sets of the three books to be read in the program.
2. A $2,500 grant from ALA, with funding provided by NEH, to be used for travel to the orientation workshop for the library project director and the local project scholar, and for project-related programming expenses (e.g., scholar honorarium, publicity, and other support materials). Indirect costs may not be charged to the grant.
3. Participation in an October 2011 workshop in Chicago, (October 13-14) designed for the library project directors and the local project scholars, offering instruction, networking opportunities, and participation in a model program.
4. A Site Support Notebook for libraries, which will offer resources to assist librarians in planning the series,setting program goals, working with the local project scholars, recruiting community partners, facilitating discussion group meetings, promoting the series, developing thematically related supplemental programs, budgeting, and evaluating the program. Promotional materials, including folders, bookmarks, and five copies of the project publicity poster, will be provided; the materials will also be available in digital format for downloading by libraries.
5. Technical and programming support from the ALA Public Programs Office throughout the programs, including participation in an online discussion list for library project directors.

Target's Early Childhood Reading Grants

Amid the range of grants offered by Target are awards to schools and libraries that support programs that promote reading in early childhood programs. The grants are intended to foster a love of reading and encourage children, preschool through third grade, to read together with their families.

Target Early Childhood Reading Grants. The application for these $2,000 grants is online only; recipients will be notified in September, 2011.

The application window is currently open; applications need to be completed by April 30, 2011.

Grant: Improving Literacy Through School Libraries

This is a program from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Eductaion's Academic Improvement and Teacher Quality Programs (hoo!).

Full details are here; the basics are below.

Local education agencies (LEAs) in which at least 20 percent of students served are from families with incomes below the poverty line are eligible to apply. Projects should improve reading achievement by providing students with increased access to up-to-date school library materials; well-equipped, technologically advanced school library media centers; and professionally certified school library media specialists.

Districts may use funds for the following activities:

• Purchase up-to-date school library media resources, including books;
• Acquire and use advanced technology that is integrated into the curricula to develop and enhance the information literacy, information retrieval, and critical-thinking skills of students;
• Facilitate Internet links and other resource-sharing networks;
• Provide professional development for school library media specialists of PK-3 students and provide activities that foster increased collaboration among library specialists, teachers, and administrators of PK-12 students; and
• Provide students with access to school libraries during nonschool hours, weekends, and summer vacations.

NEH Small Grant: The Creation and Afterlife of the King James Bible

This program of the National Endowment for the Humanities brings traveling exhibitions and other types of humanities public programming to libraries across the country.

This opportunity is to host the exhibition “Manifold Greatness: The Creation and Afterlife of the King James Bible.” Successful applicants will be awarded a grant of $2,500. Awards are normally for a period of six to twenty-four months.

The brief version follows, full details here. Receipt deadline: April 5, 2011.

“Manifold Greatness” tells the story of the origins, creation, and impact of the King James Bible, including its influence on English and American literature, and its multifaceted impact on culture and society to the present day. The year 2011 marks the four hundredth anniversary of its first printing.

The traveling exhibition content is arranged in fourteen panels that follow a chronological narrative and focus on the human side of this major cultural landmark. The exhibition consists of fourteen graphic panels printed onto seven double-sided banners. Each banner is 7-feet tall and 2.5-feet wide. The entire exhibition requires approximately six hundred square feet of space for optimal display.

What do libraries selected for the project get? This:

1. A $2,500 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for exhibition-related expenses, e.g., expenses for travel and accommodations for the exhibition coordinator’s attendance at the planning workshop and exhibition programming.
2. The traveling exhibition for a four-week loan period (shipping costs included).
3. Exhibition brochures and posters.
4. Two banners that will travel to each site for display with the exhibition.
5. Educational support materials.
6. Both print and online Site Support Notebooks with press materials, images, shipping and installation instructions, and suggestions for programming.
7. Technical and programming support from the ALA Public Programs Office throughout the tour, including participation in an online discussion list.
8. Repair of reasonable minor exhibit damages, arranged for by ALA, if the exhibit is damaged. Exhibit sites may be held responsible for extensive damages or loss of the exhibition when it is under their control. Exhibit sites are encouraged to put a rider for full exhibit value on their insurance for the exhibition display period. The exhibit value figure will be made available to all exhibit sites selected for the tour.

“Manifold Greatness: The Creation and Afterlife of the King James Bible” is a collaboration between the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, and the American Library Association Public Programs Office.