This page lists the major programs of our 2018–2021 Mellon Foundation grant (“Building Leadership and Capacity for Digital Liberal Arts across AMICAL”), as well as other initiatives supporting AMICAL’s mission of collaboratively advancing libraries, technology and learning across our member institutions.
Contact us if you have questions about any of these activities.
Find out about our initiatives and resources in support of instructional and library continuity at member institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Table of contents
AMICAL-organised professional development events
AMICAL Conference
Our annual conference on libraries, technology and learning at international American universities, hosted by a different of member institution each year.
Events
All our events, including our in-person workshops and online events.
Funding opportunities
These programs may fund activities that support AMICAL’s mission – in particular in the following priority areas: library or technology leadership, information or digital literacies and the digital liberal arts.
They target in particular individuals who are local leaders in direct or indirect ways, and activities that are expected to have significant impact beyond the individual, reaching peers across their institution or across the consortium.
Small Grants
Aimed at individuals or small groups at member institutions, the Small Grants program funds training, staff exchanges and projects.
Workshop Grants
Financial support for the organization and delivery of thematic professional development events targeting participation by multiple member institutions.
Other programs or initiatives
Digital Liberal Arts Cohort
A learning community with training and resource support for faculty-staff teams working on digital liberal arts initiatives.
OCLC programs
Membership in the OCLC cooperative & access to core WorldCat-based library services (RESPOND program) and group pricing on other OCLC services.
Institutional research & assessment
- Cooperative participation in ECAR (EDUCAUSE) and other surveys related to technology use and information literacy.
- Coordinated studies of library user communities at member institutions, using ethnographic methods, surveys, etc.
- Collection and sharing of institutional research data for benchmarking.
- See our archive of past studies & surveys and library satisfaction surveys.
Licensed resources
Group pricing on e-resources (library databases), as well as access to other technology resources.
Community
In addition to our events, we help bridge AMICAL members across institutional, geographic and professional boundaries through AMICAL Connect, our community forum.
Digital showcases
We maintain a list of members’ digital collections and, soon, a selection of their digital projects.
Information literacy
Surveys, focus groups and other studies of information literacy instruction at member institutions.
Past projects
Library partnerships in international liberal arts education
A joint project—coordinated by Jeff Gima, AMICAL Director and Kara Malenfant, senior staff member at the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)—to support AMICAL members in sharing, with each other and with colleagues in the U.S., their experiences of library collaboration with faculty and technologists. The project resulted in the publication of a book in April 2020.