AMICALnet

Overview

The Mellon Foundation grant to AMICAL for 2007-2008 includes funds intended to help AMICAL staff members take advantage of professional development opportunities, and also to facilitate contact with colleagues from other institutions who may have critical expertise in an area of need at an AMICAL institution. Grant support is being made available in primarily three areas:

• General scholarship funds for training opportunities
• Support for conference participation
• Support for staff exchanges: sending local staff to learn from expertise at other institutions, or bringing individuals with relevant expertise to AMICAL institutions

Eligibility

Grants can be used to support:

• staff members from AMICAL institutions for professional development opportunities that will contribute to the development of library and information services or curricular resources
• visits by experts from outside the AMICAL institution to help develop some aspects of local library services, IT services, or curricular resources. It is expected that such visits will also add to the professional development of staff locally, through the transference of expertise.

Scope & Criteria

The following guidelines indicate the expected scope for grants, as well as some of the criteria that will be used in selecting grant proposals:

• Requests should generally fall between 500 and 4000 euros. In exceptional cases, requests outside this range may be considered.
• Grants should be used to help cover travel expenses or fees directly related to training, conferences, or other professional development opportunities. Grants may be used to support professional contact through visiting institutions with expertise needed by the AMICAL member institution. Expenses that can be covered include:
  • Flights, trains or other ticketed travel to and from the destination
  • Ground transportation for arrivals and departures
  • Hotel accommodation for the duration of the grant-supported activity
  • Conference/training fees
• The professional development opportunity should have some kind of real expected impact not just on their own professional development but on the development of library and information services or curricular resources.
• Priority will be given to professional development or exchange opportunities that fall into one or more of the following categories:
  • develop long-term professional capacities of local staff
  • are not accessible locally (e.g. requiring travel to, or requiring bringing a consultant/trainer from, another country)
  • are exceptional local opportunities that budgetary constraints make it impossible to take advantage of
  • bring exceptional expertise to the campus that is unavailable locally, in a way that will have a lasting impact on the development of local library services, IT services, or curricular resources
  • promote collaboration between library staff, IT staff and faculty members
• Activity supported should be completed before 31 December 2008.

How to Apply

Applications for an AMICAL Small Grant Award should be sent by the deadline indicated below to Nigel Butterwick (nbutterwick@fc.edu), Grant Committee Chair. Applications should be brief (1-2 pages max.), preferably in Word format, and should include at least the following:

• brief description of the activity to be supported
• background and need
• expected impact
• amount being requested
• any special requests or circumstances

Calendar

Applications will be accepted in three rounds:

Disbursement Procedures

Grant recipients should pay up front for the covered expenses, submitting original receipts for reimbursement. Reimbursement will be in euros. Advances may be possible in exceptional cases. Detailed instructions on grant disbursement will be made available to recipients.

Reporting

Grant recipients must be willing to submit a brief (approx. 1-page) report, no later than 31 December 2008, describing

• what was accomplished
• the impact of the supported activity on local professional development and/or on the quality of local library and information services or curricular resources