Blog

The deadline for Round 1 of the call for proposals is just around the corner: 11 August. <p>We’ve already sent out a more detailed message about the call, but I wanted to briefly remind you of this deadline, as it’s easy to miss such things during the summer. </p> <p><strong>Submit in Round 1 to receive feedback </strong>from the Program Committee on how to strengthen your proposal. This will increase your proposal’s chances of being accepted in the Round 2, when final proposals are submitted. There won’t be another chance to revise your proposal, so while submitting to Round 1 is optional, it’s highly encouraged, especially for the longer session formats (Workshops, Discussions, Presentations). </p> <p>Proposals are welcomed on topics pertinent to libraries, technology and learning at consortium member institutions, and we encourage you to be inspired by this year’s Conference theme: “Digital transformation at international liberal arts institutions: Innovation, collaboration & sustainability.” </p> <p>More details for submitting a proposal are available on the site: </p> View the “Call for proposals” –The AMICAL 2020 Program Committee

AMICAL members: The call of proposals for AMICAL 2020 is now open! Our annual conference will take place 15–18 January at the American University of Kuwait (AUK). Over a hundred librarians, faculty members, technologists, administrators and other colleagues across the consortium will attend. As usual, the majority of the conference program is contributed by AMICAL members such as yourself. This is your chance to connect with colleagues across the consortium: to share your knowledge and insights, to celebrate successes and reflect on challenges, to build bridges and plan projects, to inspire and be inspired in return. (If you can think of colleagues that might be interested in proposing sessions, do forward them this message.) 🎯 Topics The Program Committee invites proposals relating to the theme of “Digital transformation at international liberal arts institutions: Innovation, collaboration & sustainability.” You may propose a session inspired by aspects of this theme or to other topics pertinent to libraries, technology and learning at consortium member institutions, including the following: Digital pedagogy & digital humanities Information literacy & digital literacies Innovative & effective library and technology leadership Interdisciplinary and inter-institutional collaborations Innovative & effective teaching Open learning & scholarship Civic engagement & social justice Digital collections Assessment & data These topics, as well as suggestions for proposing sessions that will resonate with the expected attendee profiles, are further developed in the call for proposals. ✌️ A two-round proposal process The Program Committee is calling for proposals in two rounds, which will allow you to revise your proposal before submitting it for the final review. In Round 1 you may submit a draft proposal for a session and receive feedback from the committee to help you strengthen it. Our goal is to help members connect with each other through their proposals on issues related to the consortium’s mission in the most interesting and useful ways possible. This first round is optional, but strongly encouraged, especially for the longer session formats (Workshops, Discussions, Presentations). In Round 2 all proposals must be submitted in their final form for the committee to consider them for inclusion in the program. Round 1 (feedback) – optional, but encouraged Opens: 8 July 2019 Deadline: 11 August 2019 Round 2 (final proposals) – required Opens: 2 September 2019 Deadline: 15 September 2019 More details about everything you need to submit a proposal are available on the event’s site. We’re looking forward to working together with you to build a great AMICAL Conference for 2020! –The AMICAL 2020 Program Committee

We are delighted to announce that we’re looking for dynamic and enthusiastic individuals from across AMICAL to join the Coordinating Committee. The first step is to nominate candidates who wish to advance the consortium’s mission through their work in the committee. We will then hold an election later this summer to identify the three new officers of the next Coordinating Committee. Their term will be from 1 October 2019 to 30 September 2021. What is the role of the Coordinating Committee? The Coordinating Committee provides financial and operational oversight by approving policies and directions for the consortium’s activities. The committee itself is comprised of five officers, four of which are elected and the other being the Consortium Director, as well as the chair of each Standing Committee. The five officers are voting members, while the chairs serve in an ex-officio advisory capacity. More details about the work of the committee are available on our site. Three of the four elected officer positions are open – Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect, Secretary, and Member-at-Large. The current Vice-Chair will take over the Chair position in order to ensure continuity, as described in the Operational Guidelines that regulate the election process. The general duties of the elected officers are: Chair (not up for election): convenes and presides over meetings of both the Members Council and the Coordinating Committee; with committee members, creates an agenda for meetings; in coordination with the Consortium Director, may act as official representative of AMICAL to external groups (other consortia, etc.). Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: assists the Chair in the performance of her/his duties; serves as Chair when requested to do so by, or in the absence of, the Chair. Secretary: is responsible for maintaining the records of meetings of the Members Council and the Coordinating Committee; ensures the availability of AMICAL documents and communications to all members; assists with maintenance of official lists of member institutions, AMICAL Representatives, AMICAL committee memberships, and other types of contact information for persons and institutions involved with AMICAL. Member-at-Large: acts as a voice of membership, ensuring that interests of the general membership are represented in the Coordinating Committee. How can I nominate myself or someone else? Nominees must be faculty or staff from a Full Member institution. They do not need to be AMICAL Representatives themselves, but they must be nominated by any AMICAL Representative, who can be from an institution of any status –whether Full, Affiliate or Network. (The consortial status of all member institutions is listed on our site.) If you would like to nominate yourself or someone else, you need to request from an AMICAL representative to submit the nomination on your behalf. (They have already received instructions for how to do so.) Note that you must confirm with candidates that they are willing to stand for election before nominating them. The deadline for representatives to submit nominees is midnight July 31. When will the elections take place? The Election Committee will prepare the online ballots and send out a voting link to all eligible representatives to begin the vote in August. This year’s Elections Committee – Nikolina Ivanova-Bell, Evi Tramantza and Fatmeh Charafeddine – will work closely with all AMICAL members to efficiently organize the election, and address any questions you may have. We are looking forward to welcome our new fellow colleagues in AMICAL’s Coordinating Committee!

AMICAL’s grant committee recently reviewed the 6 Small Grant applications submitted for the current cycle and accepted the following 5: Title Applicant Institution Category Activity dates “Digital Humanities at Oxford Summer School 2019” - Linked Data for Digital Humanities” (22-26 July 2019) Razan Zein El-Abidine American University of Beirut Professional development 22-26 July 2019 Librarian-faculty team participation in the Digital Humanities at Oxford Summer School 2019 Eleonora Moccia John Cabot University Professional development 22-26 July 2019 Diversity at FCC; Working Independently Together Maida Ali Forman Christian College Professional development 5-9 August 2019 Digital Humanities Initiative at FCCU; Employing DH practices for effective learning and teaching Ayesha Fareed Forman Christian College Professional development 22-26 July 2019 BbWorld19, Austin, US, 22-25 July 2019 Naglaa Seddiek American University in Cairo Professional development 22-25 July 2019 Responses have already been sent out to all the applicants. Next deadline: 8 September The deadline for the next round of applications is midnight 8 September. Full information about how to apply, including the scope of the program and the criteria used in reviewing applications, can be found in the Small Grant guidelines. Find out more at our Q&A sessions If you’ve read the guidelines but still have questions, we’ll be holding informal half-hour sessions where you can ask questions about your prospective application from AMICAL Administration: Tuesday 27 Aug, 14:00–14:30 (Paris time, local time) Thursday 29 Aug, 10:00–10:30 (Paris time, local time) We’ll be on hand to answer questions, listen to your feedback and provide advice for preparing your applications. (You need to register for a session to attend it, but you don’t need to do so in advance.)

We’re excited to announce that AMICAL 2020, the consortium’s 17th annual meeting and conference, will take place 15–18 January 2020 at the American University of Kuwait. The conference is open to all interested staff and faculty from AMICAL member institutions, as well as selected individuals invited by the organizers. The Call for Proposals will be announced in June and registration will open by mid-September. We’ll be posting details about the program, financial support opportunities, accommodation, and the venue over the coming months. Brief information is already posted on the event’s website. For now, mark the dates on your calendar. If you have any suggestions you’d like the Program Committee to take into account, reply to the “Suggestion box for the AMICAL 2020 program” topic on AMICAL Connect. –The AMICAL 2020 Joint Organizing CommitteeAsma Al-Kanan, Jeff Gima and Alex Armstrong

AMICAL Full and Affiliate members: AMICAL’s Small Grants program for training, staff exchanges and projects is now open for a new application cycle with a deadline of 2 June. We’ve made a few changes to the Small Grants guidelines, so potential applicants, as well as AMICAL Representatives, should definitely read on! The Small Grants guidelines have been revised to reopen Project applications but also to clarify and emphasize the strategic goals of the program – to explain what kind of activities we’re aiming to support, ideally, in order to maximize the consortium-wide impact of this program. (Big thanks to Committee members Nikolina Ivanova-Bell, Evi Tramantza, Fatmeh Charafeddine and Maha Bali for their help with revisions!) The guidelines are admittedly long and detailed, but reading them up front can mean time and frustration saved later from having to rethink and revise applications that the Grant Review Committee felt were not well aligned with the framework of the program. As this is a long post, here’s a list of what’s covered below: What’s new in the guidelines: aim, scope and review criteria What’s new in the guidelines: reporting AMICAL Representatives: your role in the Small Grants program Upcoming deadlines for applications How to find out more: Q&A sessions What’s new in the guidelines: aim, scope and review criteria We’ve given clearer focus to the aim and scope of the program. Aimed at individuals or small groups at member institutions, the Small Grants program can provide funding of €500 to €4000 for the following categories of activity: Professional Development (externally organized training and events) Staff Exchanges/Consultation (site visits by AMICAL peers or external experts) Projects (course-integrated projects, or initiatives with some level of campus-wide reach) We revised one of the review criteria to make it clear that we’re hoping applications will align with the profiles, breadth of impact, and strategic priorities targeted by AMICAL’s current Mellon grant (ideally, applications should demonstrate all of the following, but they may still be considered if one of these elements is missing): individuals who are local leaders in direct or indirect ways activities expected to have significant impact beyond the individual, reaching other peers at their institution or across the consortium activities that support one of the following: innovative & effective library & technology leadership information & digital literacies locally grounded and collaborative forms of digital liberal arts other consortially shared goals identified by AMICAL’s member structures such as committees or interest groups We introduced a criterion to recognize member institutions’ investment in the proposed activity – expressions of their priorities by providing financial or other forms of support. We look, therefore, at whether the application demonstrates any of the following (these are not required, but can strengthen the application): partial financial support from the institution endorsement by a direct manager or academic officer engagement or interest by local peers in the project/goals Nonetheless, we also made it clearer that we are open to funding initiatives at all different stages of institutional support: Initiatives that already have local administrative support but need financial support to get started or to move to a new level Initiatives that need to demonstrate viability and value before they can acquire local administrative support Initiatives that are experimental or exploratory in nature, which may or may not have a chance of winning institutional support but which are valuable for encouraging innovation and out-of-the-box thinking. What’s new in the guidelines: reporting If you’re awarded with a “Project” Small Grant, you’ll be expected to provide links to project outputs and report on the impact of AMICAL resources on the project. In sharing the project outcomes, you’ll also need to provide reference AMICAL’s support for the project, and ensure that there is a basic English description of the resource and contextual information about its significance. Any course materials produced should be made as widely available as possible (e.g. with an open license, as OER). If you’re awarded with a Small Grant for a leadership development activity, you’ll be asked to wait at least 6 months to report (to allow adequate time to apply training to leadership functions). You’ll then be asked to provide concrete information about the impact of the activity on your planning work, or on your work with your institution’s leadership or governance structures. AMICAL Representatives: your role in the Small Grants program Representatives’ roles are outlined in the Operational Guidelines for the consortium, but here are a few responsibilities that these imply specifically for Small Grants: identifying colleagues at your institution who may be interested and eligible to apply for the Small Grants program (given the program’s scope), and sharing information about the program with them ensuring that potential applicants from your institution understand the program’s scope and expectations ensuring that applicants from your institution have prepared an application that is viable according to the Small Grant guidelines Upcoming deadlines for applications Here are the deadlines: 2 June 8 September 3 November We’ll keep to roughly 2-month application cycles after that, with exact dates to be announced this fall. Responses are sent back by 2 weeks after the deadlines. How to find out more: Q&A sessions If you’ve read the guidelines but still have questions, we’ll be holding two office-hour (or half-hour…) sessions where you can ask questions of AMICAL Administration: Wednesday 22 May, 11:00–11:30 (Paris time, local time) Tuesday 28 May, 10:00–10:30 (Paris time, local time) Jeff and Alex will be on hand to answer questions, listen to your feedback, provide advice for preparing your applications, etc. No need to sign up, just follow the meeting link that will be posted a few days beforehand on our website.

Are you interested in the Digital Humanities Institute - Beirut, but you did not have a team and project to propose for the AMICAL cohort to DHI-B? Given the large number of applications we’ve received from project teams, we are unable to accept applications for the cohort from individuals. However, there are still some ways in which AMICAL may be able to help you attend DHI-B or other digital humanities events over the coming year. (AMICAL Representatives: please share this information right away with any local colleagues who might be interested.) Apply for a micro-grant to DHI-B A limited number of €500 micro-grants will be made available on a competitive basis to AMICAL colleagues wishing to participate in DHI-B. No more than 5 DHI-B micro-grants in total will be awarded, and no more than one DHI-B micro-grant will be awarded to any one institution. To apply for a DHI-B micro-grant: Review the Small Grant guidelines and the application form (for Professional Development). Ensure that you or your institution would be able to cover any costs for you participation that go beyond €500. Draft your micro-grant application according to the review criteria. Under “Describe how the activity clearly aligns with and supports your role”, be sure to answer this in terms of the specific short workshop and long workshop that you wish to attend. If there is an appropriate second choice, explain this as well, in case your first choice is canceled. Submit your Small Grant application form no later than 24 March, selecting “Professional Development” as category and indicating no more than €500 for the “Total requested amount”. You will be notified by 25 March whether your micro-grant application has been accepted. All responses will be definitive, and no revisions of applications will be possible. If your micro-grant is approved, you will need to register for the DHI-B event as an attendee by 26 March. Side note: our Small Grant guidelines normally do not allow applications related to AMICAL-sponsored events, which have their own travel support programs. However, AMICAL’s Coordinating Committee officers decided to make an exception for DHI-B, because of the strong interest in DHI-B, but also because our program to fund a DHI-B cohort provides year-long team-based project support, which makes it fundamentally different from the micro-grants proposed here for individual DHI-B attendance for training. Other forms of AMICAL support for DH projects and training Aside from DHI-B, AMICAL maintains a list of Recommended professional development events, many of which are focused on the digital humanities. If you are seeking training related to digital humanities, you may want to apply for Small Grant support to attend one of these events. If you need financial support for a digital humanities project that fits the scope of our Small Grants program, you’ll be able to apply for a Small Grant for that after the application cycle ending 7 April. AMICAL will be organizing a series of DH-themed webinars throughout the year, beginning this April. These will be open to all AMICAL members, and you’re welcome at any time to send us a suggestion for a webinar speaker, a topic, or a question or challenge to address. As part of the “Capacity-building programs for the digital liberal arts” built into our current grant from the Mellon Foundation, AMICAL will also be organizing other forms of DH-themed training, consultation and project support over the coming 2 years. More information about these opportunities will be posted on our website and in particular on AMICAL Connect (AMICAL members can create a Connect account here if you don’t have one already).

Update 15 March 2019: n earlier version of this post misidentified the awarded Small Grants. This has now been corrected. Recent Small Grants awarded AMICAL’s grant committee recently reviewed and accepted 3 Small Grant applications (including 1 revision of an earlier request): Title Applicant Institution Category ACRL Immersion Program 2019 Joyce Aways American University of Beirut Professional development ACRL Conference 2019 Moqueet Afzaal Forman Christian College Professional development Library Juice Academy Program Assia Essalih Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane Professional development Reopening now for Prof Dev & Staff Exchanges, later for Projects The Small Grants application form was unavailable for a period, but the program is now officially open for new applications for the activity categories of Professional Development and Staff Exchanges. Note that the form and review criteria are slightly different for each of these different categories. If you were hoping to apply for Small Grant funding to support a project, please note that we are still revising the guidelines for the Projects category of Small Grants. We expect to reopen for project-based applications with the June application cycle. In the meantime, if you would like to request AMICAL’s support for a project idea that you think fits into the scope of our Small Grants support framework (see the review criteria), you may send us an email at contact@amicalnet.org to let us know. We can’t promise specific kinds of support, but we can at least let you know what may be possible from AMICAL and perhaps connect you with relevant colleagues or resources. Next deadline for applications: 7 April The next round of applications will close at midnight on 7 April. A final round for this academic year (including Project applications) will close on 2 June. Responses are generally sent out within the 2 weeks that follow the deadline. For support to attend scheduled events or other date-sensitive applications, remember to apply with sufficient lead time, and draw our attention to any such time constraints with a follow-up email after you submit your applications form. Find out more Full information, including the criteria we use in evaluating applications, can be found in our Small Grants guidelines, and note that applicants must be from Full or Affiliate member institutions.

As part of AMICAL’s 2018-2021 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for “Building Leadership and Capacity for Digital Liberal Arts across AMICAL”, a cohort of approximately 15 colleagues from member institutions will be given project support over a period of months centered around group-coordinated participation in the Digital Humanities Institute - Beirut (DHI-B) 2019. We invite you to consider applying for the cohort, if possible as a team with one or two other colleagues from your institution. The cohort program follows a model similar to last year’s successful AMICAL cohort to DHSI 2018 and seeks in particular teams that: are leading projects or initiatives in digital humanities, or digital interdisciplinary scholarship or pedagogy, in liberal arts environments are composed of faculty, librarians, technologists and/or academic administrators have formed around a project that would clearly be served by participation in DHI-B See “Who should apply”, below, for categories of projects and other information about what we’re looking for. The cohort of teams will attend DHI-B with financial support from AMICAL, but they will also participate in pre-event and post-event webinars, discussions, and consultations organized by AMICAL. The pre- and post-event activities are designed to maximize the impact of cohort participation on the team’s projects, on their institution, and on AMICAL as a collaborative network. See Cohort activities & post-cohort opportunities for more detail, including a variety of AMICAL-funded programs supporting digital humanities projects that the cohort will have access to. The Chief Academic Officer of your institution will be receiving shortly a similar announcement, encouraging them to identify one or more local teams to endorse. If you have a team or project that aligns well with this cohort, get in touch with your provost or dean to let them know you’re thinking about applying. The application itself will need to be forwarded to AMICAL by the provost/dean, as explained below. Build your team and apply Here’s what you can do to get a team from your institution into the AMICAL cohort to DHI-B: Share this message with faculty, librarians, technologists and/or deans who might be interested in joining the cohort as a project-based team. Read carefully Who should apply, Expectations of participants, and the application criteria. Define your project and team. Notify your institution’s AMICAL representative that you are preparing your application. Discuss your team and project with your provost/dean. Review the DHI-B workshop offerings and the Cohort-focused elements of DHI-B. Preview the application form and draft your responses. Send your application to your provost/dean, asking them to endorse and forward your application to contact@amicalnet.org by midnight 3 March (deadline for teams; deadline for individuals will be posted later if space is available). See How to apply for a more complete guide to preparing a cohort application. Limits for cohort numbers and support Endorsement by your provost/dean does not guarantee your application will be accepted for the cohort, since our grant resources limit the numbers we can support, and since our application criteria may give higher priority to certain kinds of team or project. For applications accepted from Full and Affiliate member institutions, however, AMICAL would fully cover airfare and accommodations. The DHI-B registration fee is covered for all participants by the event sponsors. See What’s covered for more information. Keep in mind that no more than 4 individuals may be included in the applications endorsed and submitted from any one institution, and teams are limited to 3 people. Not all applicants can be accepted, but we hope to have as many AMICAL teams as possible joining the cohort. Detailed information about the target profiles for applicants is shown below. Complete information about the cohort program is posted on the AMICAL cohort to DHI-B website, but any questions can be sent to contact@amicalnet.org.

Openness in teaching and research: Broadeing our horizons for the digital future Registration for AMICAL 2019, the consortium’s 16th annual meeting and conference, has officially opened. The Conference will take place 29 March – 1 April at the beautiful campus of the American University in Cairo (AUC), which is marking its centennial. 🎯 What’s in the program? The AMICAL Conference grapples critically with issues relevant to international liberal arts institutions. This year’s program focuses on openness in all its expressions – from open access publishing, to open educational resources and practices, to openness as a liberal arts value. Anita Walz – Open Education, Copyright & Scholarly Communication Librarian at Virginia Tech – and Robin DeRosa – Director of Interdisciplinary Studies at Plymouth State University – will offer keynotes addressing open education from librarian and faculty perspectives, respectively. Cheryl Hodgkinson-Williams – Associate Professor, Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT), University of Cape Town – will offer two workshops focusing on Open Educational Resources. As always, the majority of the program is member-contributed. We used a two-round proposal process which allowed the Program Committee to offer more substantial feedback this year, making for stronger proposals, well-aligned with the Conference’s theme. Sessions proposed by AMICAL colleagues will address openness but also a variety of other topics, including: information and digital literacies; assessment and transparency; digital pedagogy and scholarship; innovations in libraries, technology, and teaching; and much more. Eschewing the traditional presentation model, most of the Conference program focuses on dynamic sessions – such as Birds of a Feather discussions, hands-on workshops, and the Community Idea Exchange, which showcases innovative local projects and initiatives. You may view the tentative schedule and list of speakers for more information about the program. 👩‍🏫 Who should attend? We encourage the staff and faculty of AMICAL institutions to attend if they are interested in the Conference theme or, more broadly, AMICAL’s mission of working together on libraries, technology and learning. Attendees include a broad cross-section of doers from member institutions, including: librarians (especially library directors and teaching librarians), faculty developers, disciplinary faculty, program chairs and coordinators, instructional technologists and designers, IT directors, and academic leadership. We enjoy seeing old friends at AMICAL, but we love seeing fresh faces. So share this announcement with your colleagues! 🌟 Financial support If you’re an AMICAL member, review the financial support page on the website to find out if you are eligible. Hotel room sharing is a requirement for some categories of support, but even if you’re not in that category, we strongly encourage you to share a hotel room with an AMICAL colleague. Room sharing supports the sustainability of our annual conferences and allows more people to participate. 🏨 Hotel accommodation During registration, Conference attendees may use the registration form to book their hotel room. More information about accommodation is available on the site. 🛠️ Full workshops For the first time, we folded the full workshops we hold during the year into the event itself, in the form of a pre-conference day (29 March): “Collaboratively designing creative solutions to challenges within AMICAL” will be offered by AUC’s Center for Learning and Teaching as a spiritual successor to the event they offered last year on teaching and learning innovation (TALIX). “Information literacy in practice: Leadership, communication, teaching” will be offered by a cohort of AMICAL members who recently attended ACRL’s Immersion Program together and combine their expertise with know-how from that program. More details about these workshops and the form to apply will be made available next week. If you wish to attend a full workshop, do not register for the Conference until you have applied for the workshop and been accepted. If you indicate on your Conference registration form that you’re attending a March 29 full workshop, but you have not been accepted for the workshop, your registration and any financial support for that day will be considered invalid. ✉️ Clarify your visa requirements Before registering, check if you need a visa and what the process of acquiring one is for your nationality. Most attendees will need a visa. If your visa application requires an invitation letter from the organizers, you can request one: In the registration form Before registering (for AMICAL members who are applying to a full workshop) by sending a request to contact@amialnet.org with your name exactly as it appears on your passport. 👍 Register by February 10 The deadline for registration is February 10. That’s less than a month away, so make sure you register in time. We say this every year – but it’s true. This will be the best AMICAL yet! Register for AMICAL 2019 Note that the this event is open to AMICAL members and individuals invited by the organizers. On behalf of the Joint Organizing and Program Committees,Alex Armstrong, Program & Technology Officer, AMICAL