Library Scholars Grant Guidelines

Overview

The Library Scholars Grant Program, administered by the Purdue University Libraries, focuses on supporting access for promising junior faculty at Purdue, and associate professors tenured effective July 1, 2017, or later, to unique collections of information found around the country and the world. Awards of up to $5,000 will be made to for this purpose, with grant-supported activities to be completed by December 31, 2020.

The Library Scholars Grant Program is designed to provide grants to untenured tenure-track Purdue faculty members, recently tenured or hired associate professors, and clinical or research faculty in their first five years of appointment, to help them gain access to library materials necessary for research required for their continued growth as faculty members. Just as people come to Purdue to use our unique collections, the research of Purdue faculty may require visiting unique collections. The Library Scholars Grant Program offers an opportunity for promising junior faculty to receive support for expenses associated with travel to archives or collections beyond Purdue, including the cost of transportation, lodging, meals, and fees charged by the library or other collection owner for access, photocopying, scanning, etc.

Eligibility

Untenured tenure-track Purdue faculty members, clinical or research faculty in their first five years of appointment, and recently tenured or hired associate professors effective July 1, 2017, or later, in all disciplines, from the West Lafayette, Fort Wayne, Northwest, and IUPUI campuses, and the Statewide Technology Program are eligible for Library Scholars Grant Program awards. (Purdue faculty at the IUPUI campuses are those within “Purdue mission” programs; i.e., those for whom the promotions process falls under Purdue.) Grant recipients are not eligible for an award in consecutive years or more than two awards.

Proposal contents and format

1. Cover page with the following information:
   • Name
   • Rank, title
   • Date of appointment to the Purdue faculty; if Associate, date of promotion (if hired as Associate, please amend date of appointment with this information to clarify)
   • Department
   • College
   • Campus address
   • E-mail
   • Phone number
   • Name and address of Head of Department
   • Name and address of Dean of College/School
   • Name of Purdue Libraries faculty member or other Purdue Librarian from whom the applicant is submitting a letter of support (see #4)
   • Total amount of funding the applicant seeks from the Library Scholars Grant Program
   • Additional funding (grants, departmental funds, etc.), if any, available to the applicant to support the information-related activities for which a Library Scholars Grant is being sought
2. One-page narrative stating the following:
   • Area of research
   • Related information needs that require using collection(s) beyond Purdue
   • Information-related activities to be undertaken
     (Note: The award may be used for expenses associated with travel to archives or collections beyond Purdue, including the cost of transportation, lodging, meals, and fees charged by the library or other collection owner for access, photocopying, scanning, etc.);
   • Projected timeline
   • Expected outcome(s) of the information-related activities, i.e., how they would support the applicant’s research.
3. Budget: Itemizing proposed activities and their estimated costs, and showing total.
   • For U.S. General Services Administration – Domestic destinations
   • For U.S. Dept. of State – Foreign destinations
4. Letter of support
   From a Purdue Libraries faculty member, or other Purdue librarian, with whom applicant has consulted regarding the information needs and information–related activities reflected in the proposal. In the letter, the librarian should briefly state the reasons the applicant cannot meet the information needs by using Purdue collections and electronic information resources and, therefore, needs to travel to unique collections beyond Purdue.
5. Brief resume (3 pages maximum)
6. List of publications

Reporting requirements

A brief report on the information-related activities accomplished as a result of the award, their significance to the research of the recipient, and a list of expenditures, must be sent to the Dean of Libraries by February 15, 2021. Additionally, each individual awarded a Library Scholars Grant will be asked to present a seminar about the activities supported by the grant. Unless you have objections, we would like to video-tape presentations and deposit them in the Libraries e-Pubs open repository. This reporting will help the Libraries learn from recipients’ experiences in order to serve better both Purdue scholars and those from outside Purdue who visit our resources.

Funding

Awards will be in given in amounts of up to $5,000, with reimbursement, for approved expenditures, up to the amount of the award. The Libraries Business Office will coordinate reimbursement with the grant recipient’s business manager. Expenses may be reimbursed as they occur over the course of the project, with grant-supported activities to be completed by December 31, 2020. All requests for reimbursement, accompanied by appropriate documentation, must be received in the grant recipient’s departmental business office no later than February 14, 2021.

Criteria for judging proposals

Criteria used to judge the proposals will include how well the case is made that the proposed information-related activities will support the applicant’s research and that conducting these activities requires travel to unique collections beyond Purdue, the appropriateness of the budget, and the feasibility of the project within time constraints. Proposals will be evaluated by a panel chaired by a tenured member of the Libraries faculty and composed of tenured faculty and one or more previous winners, with recommendations made to the Dean of Libraries. Award recipients will be contacted in January 2020.

Proposal deadlines

All proposals must be submitted by email to libinfo@purdue.edu, with the Subject: Library Scholars Grant, no later than 5:00 pm, Monday, November 11, 2019.

Questions should be submitted to Mandi Gramelspacher, Administrative Services Manager, Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies, mandig@purdue.edu, telephone: 765-494-2902.