Ashley Sands: hello, my name is Ashley sands and i'm a senior program officer in the office of library services at mls.
Ashley Sands: Today, we would like to briefly go over mls and its strategic priorities, as well as provide an overview of the LG and lb 21 grant programs.
Ashley Sands: We will also review eligibility criteria project types take you through the application process and provide you with some tips to help make your application complete and competitive.
Ashley Sands: I mls is an independent grant making agency, and as the primary source of federal support for the nation's libraries and museums.
Ashley Sands: i'm unless helps ensure that all Americans have access to museum library and information services, you can read our mission and vision on this slide as well as on our website I mls.gov.
Ashley Sands: The ios strategic plan lays out several goals for our agencies work and the first strategic goal unless supports learning opportunities for people of all ages through museums and libraries, as well as the training and professional development of the museum or library workforce.
Ashley Sands: And our second strategic goal, I must strengthens Community collaboration and inclusive engagement across diverse audiences.
Ashley Sands: In our third strategic goal unless make strategic investments that support collections care and management i'm unless also seeks to promote access to museum and library collections.
Ashley Sands: You can find a strategic plan and more information on our website also.
Ashley Sands: So today we're going to be talking about two of our grant programs, both of which have a deadline of September 21 2022.
Ashley Sands: The first one we're going to discuss is the national leadership grants for libraries program, otherwise known as an LG.
Ashley Sands: Now this grant program supports projects and national impact that address critical needs of the library and archives fields, and that has also the potential to advance practice in these professions to strengthen library and archival services for the American public.
Ashley Sands: Projects are expected to have far reaching impact address a current issue facing libraries and archives incorporate collaboration and show relevant expertise about the topic at hand.
Ashley Sands: Now it's a, it is particularly important to note the importance of this far reaching impact and a national leadership grant application.
Ashley Sands: Applications can not only benefit a single individual or a single library or archives competitive proposals will show the potential for far reaching impact across institutions.
Ashley Sands: Please also note that we do not accept applications that are strictly for digitization and we cannot accept applications for construction.
Ashley Sands: More specifically, the goals for the analogy program or to generate projects of national impact that build a workforce and institutional capacity for managing the national information infrastructure and serving the information, education needs the public.
Ashley Sands: build the capacity of libraries and archives to leading contribute to efforts that have your well being and the strength and civic engagement.
Ashley Sands: improve the ability of libraries and archives, to provide broad access to and use of information and collections, with an emphasis on collaboration to avoid duplication and maximize REACH.
Ashley Sands: Yes, can strengthen the ability of libraries to provide services to effective communities in the event of an emergency or disaster or strengthen the ability of libraries, archives and museums, to work collaboratively for the benefit of the communities they serve.
Ashley Sands: So each application should align your proposed project with one of these five program goals and one or more of the associated objectives, this goal and objective choice should be clearly identified in your narrative.
Ashley Sands: The other program we will be discussing today is the Laura Bush 21st century librarian program or we say lb 21 for sure this program is designed to support the development of like a diverse workforce of Librarians and archivists in order to meet the information needs of their communities.
Ashley Sands: Now, like I don't cheat these projects are expected to propose far reaching impact this is addressing current issue facing libraries and archives, they should include collaborative elements and show relevant expertise about the topic of hand.
Ashley Sands: and broaden participation in the library and archives profession, through the recruitment education and our retention of a diverse workforce.
Ashley Sands: Again, like an algae it's important to know this far reaching impact component of an lb 21 application, generally speaking, applications can not only benefit a single individual or single library archives.
Ashley Sands: Competitive proposals show the potential for far reaching impact across institutions.
Ashley Sands: Again, for both and algae and i'll be 21 please keep in mind that Sep tember 21st will be the only deadline for submitting preliminary proposals and fiscal year 2023.
Ashley Sands: Some more specifics on the Laura Bush program the goals for this program or to generate projects have far reaching impact that.
Ashley Sands: recruit train development retaining diverse workforce of library and archives professionals.
Ashley Sands: develop faculty library archives leaders, by increasing the institutional capacity of libraries, archives and graduate programs related to library information science.
Ashley Sands: or enhance the training and professional development of the library and archival workforce to meet the needs of their communities.
Ashley Sands: Again, each APP pinch, the liner proposed project was one of these three goals and one or more of the associated objectives again this goal and objective choice should be clearly identified in the narrative.
Ashley Sands: You may be asking which program should I apply to here's some guidance for those of you who are unsure whether your ideas, a better fit for energy or i'll be 21.
Ashley Sands: If your project is primarily about education and training of information professionals, whether that's formal or informal education, you should probably apply to all be 21.
Ashley Sands: If you are a non tenure, but tenure track faculty Member interested in research funding you're going to want to look at the early career research development category and i'll be 21.
Ashley Sands: Otherwise, any other work of national significance to libraries, archives and information science will likely fall under the analog Program.
Ashley Sands: Please make sure you read through the notice of money opportunity carefully to ensure your project is aligned with the correct grant program and that you meet eligibility criteria.
Ashley Sands: Now if you're unsure please feel free to reach out to one of us here at I mls for guidance.
Ashley Sands: You can also find information on our website, we have landing pages for each of the two programs now if you're on this webinar it's likely you've already visited one or both these pages.
Ashley Sands: They provide an overview of the programs links to the full, nurses, the funding opportunities or who say no photos and also the relevant webinar recordings So if you want to refer back to this webinar later that's what you will be able to find it.
Ashley Sands: In addition, on each page, you can find a list of the relevant program staff that you can contact with questions about the brand programs and the application process.
Ashley Sands: Now if you're unsure who to contact, please just reach out to any one of us and we'll make sure you get connected to the program officer, whose expertise best aligns with your project idea.
Ashley Sands: We also highly suggest you reach out to one of us and in advance of the preliminary proposal deadline.
Ashley Sands: Eligibility so your organization is eligible to apply if you are one a unit of state or local government or a 501 C three nonprofit.
Ashley Sands: To if you're located in one of the 50 states or territories and three if you're one of the six types of organizations which we will list on this next slide.
Ashley Sands: Please also note that in the Laura Bush program there are additional eligibility restrictions for the early career research development puzzles so again if you're interested in that Please pay close attention to that and then notice a funding opportunity.
Ashley Sands: In addition to the criteria from the previous slide your organization is eligible to apply if you're one of these six types of organizations.
Ashley Sands: This includes a library or a parent organization of a library an academic or administrative unit additional library or library agency consortium association or or organization.
Ashley Sands: But again, if you have any questions about eligibility, please reach out to someone on our program staff.
Ashley Sands: Now you are not eligible to apply to the energy and lb 21 programs, if you are a federally operated institution a for profit institution an individual or a foreign country organization.
Ashley Sands: Now a federally operated institution does not mean an institution that receives other federal grants, it means that you are a federal agency so, for example, the library of Congress, the smithsonian we cannot fund you.
Ashley Sands: But if you are an ineligible or institution we do encourage you to partner with an eligible institution, so, while you may not be able to be the lead applicant, you can apply through this partnership with an eligible institution and you may be able to receive funding in that matter.
Ashley Sands: More information about this is provided in the guidelines on our website, but the point here is that it's really important to figure out early if you're eligible to apply to the program that's of interest to you.
Ashley Sands: To ensure that you can submit your application on time, please ensure the fine registrations are in place at your institution.
Ashley Sands: First, an applicant organization must have a you eat I you a unique entity identifier.
Ashley Sands: that's part of a current active system for award management Sam registration and an active grants.gov registration with an approved authorized organization, but representative or ar.
Ashley Sands: We strongly recommend that you check these registrations immediately to ensure that they're accurate current an active as it can take a long time to update or renew each one.
Ashley Sands: So your institution must be registered with Sam it's important to keep in mind that your Sam registration is good for only one year, at a time, and so it has to be renewed annually.
Ashley Sands: That is something you do not want to be doing right before the deadline so we really recommend checking your status early on.
Ashley Sands: Now if it's not your job to keep track of things like the Sam registration, we recommend you contact the person at your organization, whose job it is so that you can make sure this is in place.
Ashley Sands: you'll also need an account@grants.gov that's the portal, through which you will submit your application.
Ashley Sands: Please allow at least two weeks here for the registration process, and even if you know you're registered, you may want to make sure you know who is authorized at your institution to make sure they know their login information.
Ashley Sands: So, in fact, if you're not absolutely for sure about all these registrations and mother and they're in place right now.
Ashley Sands: We really recommend checking on it as soon as we're done with this webinar today again it's not something you want to be trying to accomplish anywhere close to the deadline.
Ashley Sands: Alright let's get back into the.
Ashley Sands: piece all applicants to both programs will need to select a project type.
Ashley Sands: These categories each have different limits regarding the period of performance of the grant you see that here in this table so planning grants.
Ashley Sands: grants are for preliminary project activities, many people think about this as planning for our larger grant but that's not a requirement.
Ashley Sands: planning activities may include conducting preliminary research collecting environmental scan rapidly prototyping a new program or service or working on creating the partnerships to support larger feature activities.
Ashley Sands: forum granta for convening experts and stakeholders around an issue and national significance this could be to support one large meeting or perhaps several smaller meetings focused on a particular area in order to establish a shared agenda or understanding.
Ashley Sands: Planning grants and forum grants will be for one to two years.
Ashley Sands: Implementation brands and applied research grants they support product implementation or development activities or investigations of key research questions and library an article practice, these are limited to one to three years.
Ashley Sands: Now i'll be 21 program also offers the early career research development category this supports the research of an untimely but tenure track library and information science faculty Member and is also from one to three years.
Ashley Sands: To give you a better sense of the scale here are the maximum dollar amounts, you may request, based on the project type that you select so in an LG and i'll be 21 the minimum dollar request is 50,000.
Ashley Sands: Now you'll see there's flexibility within these funding levels, we should keep in mind that we have limited funding and both programs are highly competitive we fund very few million dollar projects.
Ashley Sands: there's a value proposition that comes into play, the higher the amount you're asking for the more compelling your cases to be for how your work will impact the entire field and represent or significant return on investment.
Ashley Sands: The notice of funding opportunities of course spell out the funding paths, along with the corresponding costs share requirements.
Ashley Sands: Speaking of crusher crusher is not considered in the peer review of applications, but it is an eligibility criteria, again, this is spelled out in the nose.
Ashley Sands: Generally, a one on one posture is required for both programs, with a few exceptions.
Ashley Sands: applicants in the applied research and the early career research development project tights as well as those requesting less than 240 $9,999 are exempt from the cost a requirement.
Ashley Sands: Additionally, lb 21 Africans are not required to kosher the funds budgeted for students support.
Ashley Sands: Please remember that if a cost of an allowable for analyst funds is also an allowable for cost share.
Ashley Sands: Now.
Ashley Sands: Each application must include three forms that are generated within grants.gov as well as a two page preliminary proposal narrative, which includes the budget summary no other documents will be accepted.
Ashley Sands: applications must be submitted through grants.gov before midnight Eastern time on September 21 2022.
Ashley Sands: Please also know that grants.gov is adopted a workspace feature which you may be required to use to submit your proposal again, we recommend you give yourself ample time to familiarize yourself with the system.
Ashley Sands: I will, this is internal system for receiving applications from grants.gov will only accept documents and PDF.
Ashley Sands: Any applications that including non PDF document will be bounced back by our system and will be considered not submitted.
Ashley Sands: So we recommend ensuring all documents are in PDF priors the middle and Please submit early you really do not want to wait until 11pm on the night of the deadline to submit.
Ashley Sands: So after proposals are submitted through grants.gov i'm a less staff screaming for completeness and eligibility.
Ashley Sands: After that proposals undergo peer review following peer review all applicants will receive reviewer comments and feedback than the most competitive applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal for further consideration.
Ashley Sands: So those applicants who are are invited to submit for proposals will need to submit those by March 17 2023.
Ashley Sands: The required components for full proposals are much more extensive and are listed in the notices of funding opportunity.
Ashley Sands: These applications are also submitted through grants.gov and similarly will under a peer review process.
Ashley Sands: Full proposal applicants will be provided reviewer comments and feedback, regardless of whether the project is selected for funding or not.
Ashley Sands: The I mls director makes final funding sessions which will be announced in July 2023 and of course that's always pending the availability of funds and the discretion of the director.
Ashley Sands: So for the final part of this webinar go over some tips for for preparing a competitive application at this first phase of the proposal process.
Ashley Sands: You should think about the preliminary proposal as a movie trailer you're providing the highlights of what a full proposal would include.
Ashley Sands: Now we recognize this is quite a challenge getting all this information about your project into two pages so you'll want to be both a succinct and as specific as possible.
Ashley Sands: Please note that the search awarded grants section of the analysts website has the full and preliminary proposals associated with it it'll be 21 animal G projects that have been funded over the past few years, this could be really helpful to review as you start to work on your proposal.
Ashley Sands: preliminary proposal should follow the general second sections of a full proposal narrative and address the project justification project work plan and project results and impact in the Laura Bush program and must also include a diversity plan.
Ashley Sands: So some elements that you may want to address in your preliminary proposal include clearly identifying the project director and any product partners.
Ashley Sands: This can be done easily and quickly in the first sentence, the institution X and institution wine or partner together to make a or accomplish, be they request Z dollars from i'm Alex.
Ashley Sands: We really recommend for going lengthy introductions and get in directly into the meat of what your process is about in the first sentence or two.
Ashley Sands: Then, in your project justification you'll want to ground your project and current and relevant research and practice you'll want to give an outline of your proposed work plan you know what will it look like and how will it be accomplished.
Ashley Sands: If it's a research proposal, you must articulate specific research questions and describe your data collection and analysis methods.
Ashley Sands: You should make clear the relevance of your project to the program goal, and also to demonstrate the potential for far reaching impact and projected outcomes of your work.
Ashley Sands: Note again that budget summary is required within all preliminary proposal narratives.
Ashley Sands: That budget summary must include the total anticipated cost of the project, including cost share that's required, and it should include a breakdown of how the funds will be allocated into different costs categories.
Ashley Sands: Please note that proposals that do not include this information will be rejected, without review.
Ashley Sands: Now I mls program officers are available to discuss your project ideas with you and also to look over one draft of your preliminary proposal.
Ashley Sands: If you'd like a program officer to take a look at the draft please email it to one of us by Sep tember second 2023 funding it even earlier is preferred but September 2 will be the last day we're allowed to accept drafts.
Ashley Sands: One of us will take a look at it, and then we can schedule a call with you to discuss your draft and to answer any questions you might have.
Ashley Sands: Please refer to the list at the end of this presentation to identify the program officer, whose expertise best aligns with the subject matter in your proposal.
Ashley Sands: Now, while we can continue to answer questions you may have about the application process, we can read and provide feedback on only one draft submission for each proposal.
Ashley Sands: i'm the last one structure viewers, to consider the following review criteria when they're evaluating the preliminary proposals so applicants are going to want to keep these in mind when you're writing your to patient narrative.
Ashley Sands: Project justification, you know how well does the proposal align with the intent of the grant program as articulated in the program goals and objectives, how well does it address current far reaching and significant needs challenges or opportunities or feel.
Ashley Sands: Project work plan what elements are in place and what elements are missing successful execution of the proposed project what recommendations, do you have for improving the proposal.
Ashley Sands: results and impact, considering the topic project type selection amount of funds requested and scope of potential impact should the applicant be invited to submit a proposal at the full proposal at this time we're not why or why not.
Ashley Sands: And for the word wish program reviewers will also be asked to consider the diversity plan.
Ashley Sands: So what degree, will the project, strengthen the fields commitment to diversity equity and inclusion practices and contribute to the recruitment development and our retention of a diverse workforce of library archives professionals.
Ashley Sands: But notice is a funding opportunity also have specific guidance for applications in the applied research and early career research development categories.
Ashley Sands: This slide list some of the questions we asked you to consider this includes thinking about the research questions theoretical framing research methods and other aspects of your proposed project.
Ashley Sands: Please know that applied research and early career research development preliminary proposals must include research questions in their narrative.
Ashley Sands: So as a summary, here are some things you can do to help ensure you're submitting your your most competitive proposal first you've already accomplished by watching this webinar.
Ashley Sands: Next you're gonna want to choose the grant program and goal that best fits with your proposal idea.
Ashley Sands: Some other tips or that you should read through the funded preliminary proposal narratives from last year and some ideas of what was successful and how they use that limited two pages of space and their narrative.
Ashley Sands: you're going to want to articulate your project goals as quickly as possible in the preliminary proposal.
Ashley Sands: you're going to need to make sure you include a budget paragraph and, of course, be sure that you're submitting all the completed and required documents in PDF format.
Ashley Sands: We also highly recommend having a colleague unfamiliar with your project or read through your proposal prior to submission, we all have really close to our work, and this will help ensure that the proposal you're submitting clearly communicates your project idea.
Ashley Sands: So here is to simply the important dates, you need to be aware of this year's application cycle of most importance right now course is the optional draft proposal deadline and the preliminary proposal that line.
Ashley Sands: So again, please read through the notices of funding opportunity carefully to ensure your meeting eligibility criteria and have fulfilled all application requirements.
Ashley Sands: And as we've already mentioned, but I want to hit home again program staff and i'm less are available to assist with any questions you have about the proposal process.
Ashley Sands: Here you see some of the topical areas reflect on each program officers expertise and funding portfolio now this table is not intended to be comprehensive.
Ashley Sands: But more so, is intended to give you a sense of the best person to reach out to that being said again we're a close group so if you believe.
Ashley Sands: We may believe one of our colleagues actually has better expertise to discuss your project and so will ensure that the personal the closest expertise gets back to you.
Ashley Sands: Again don't forget that program staff are available to discuss your project ideas with you and to look over a draft of your preliminary proposal take advantage of this opportunity, you must email address to your proposal no later than the end of the day, Friday September 2.
Ashley Sands: Once draft submission one draft submission is the limit for each proposal you're more than welcome even encouraged to email or contact us well in advance of that deadline.
Ashley Sands: Now, thank you for joining us for this presentation and we look forward to hearing from you soon.