The Massachusetts Library System is pleased to announce that we are working with LibraryWorks to provide our members with access to their webinars.  These webinars are free to Massachusetts library workers who register through our calendar. 

How do you go from an idea to a successful project within an academic library where resources are limited and competing priorities make certain projects unattainable? Do you know any library employees who are eager to acquire grant funds to support creative projects that otherwise could not happen without external funds? Are there questions about where and how to get started, and what steps can prevent folks from reinventing the wheel? Do you think there are enough interested library employees who want to start a coordinated grantseeking effort?

Building on 16 years of developing workflows and systems for managing all aspects of library grantseeking at the University of Arizona and University of Florida, this grant webinar shares best practices including checklist examples for guidelines and workflows, funding alerts describing funding opportunities for libraries, and templates for sharing submitted and pending proposals with library employees. Behind the scenes stories will divulge unusual ways ideas were generated for fundable projects, and how ideas developed through engagement with a diverse array of experts and assets. Stories share details of what happened after project teams received their awards, and ways by which teams managed to complete projects successfully. Featured projects highlight a variety of grant-funded activities including outreach, digitization, training, acquisition of materials, planning and collaborations with diverse partners and for diverse materials.

Outcomes:

• greater understanding of the steps involved to create successful grantseeking efforts in libraries;
• visualizations of how library grant projects originated and how they developed into fundable grant proposals; and
• knowledge of the transformative power that grant funding can have on project teams and library beneficiaries, and how this brings new energy and enthusiasm to the work of library staff.

Presenter: Bess de Farber