Great Grants for Growth

As I have increased my knowledge about types of discrimination, I have begun to consider how best to address this issue. As a budding librarian, I am heavily invested in furthering knowledge, both my own and others’. With this in mind, I think doing research and developing a program to educate not only my fellow academic librarians, but also other librarians and even our patrons, would be of great benefit to librarianship. Some points to consider are:

· Identifying discrimination

· Brainstorming ways to prevent or address discriminatory episodes

· Educating others on unrecognized discriminatory behaviors, and providing an impetus to change recognized discriminatory behaviors

· Finding and researching lesser-known areas of discrimination

· Learning about the history of discrimination in Texas libraries, with a focus on academic libraries

All of these points can be addressed through developing a research project that combines them and then designing and implementing an education program for staff development. This initial program can then be tailored as needed by libraries of varying sizes as well as for the general public.

Of course, any research and program development will need funding. I have identified three programs that can potentially help fund such a project.

Program the First

The first program is the most modest and is sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA). It is the Diversity Research Grant, and it provides a $2500 award. To apply for this program, the applicant must be an ALA member and should plan to focus research on an area of diversity that is not well researched. The applicant is then expected to write, publish, and present their paper, in conjunction with ALA, to further knowledge in the field. This program has an April 15, 2018 deadline.

Program the Second

Next is an interesting program sponsored by the Summerlee Foundation. This is the Texas History Program, which has a history (ha-ha) of funding a wide range of projects. In my case, the program could focus on the history of discrimination in Texas academic libraries. It must be remembered that this is the South, and it is not so long ago that Jim Crow laws were in effect, which, in part, led to the formation of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). If that’s not an obvious example of discrimination and lack of diversity, I don’t know what is. In relation to my planned project, the $10,000 award that this funding source provides could fund not only research, but also allow for a small collection for staff and patron education. It is also possible that this could help fund program advertising and even a travel presentation for other academic libraries or pay for travel to present at a TLA convention. This program has an ongoing, moving deadline that awards funds once applications are received.

Program the Third

The final funding program I have identified is also the largest, both in time and money. It is sponsored by the Institute of Museum & Library Services. This opportunity is the Activating Community Opportunities Using Museum/Libraries as Assets – A National Leadership Grants Special Initiative. There is a very large budget behind this initiative and they expect to award up to 15 grants. This one has a 1:1 cost sharing expectation, so while it provides between $25,000 and $150,000 in monies, there is also an expected investment on my end. It is expected that the recipient of this award will work for up to two years on their project.

This project should address challenges libraries face, which in my particular case will be identifying and addressing discriminatory and diversity issues. Such challenges addressed should have the opportunity to further the field of librarianship, and the project funded should culminate in specific ways to further the field. Such ways could include development of new tools, identifying new research findings, practices or services, or provide new models or alliances in the library field. With such a large time and money investment, I see the potential to conduct research into diversity and discriminatory issues in academic libraries and not only develop a program or programs to share across the field, but also the chance to work with other academic libraries to solve this problem and advance tolerance and acceptance across the profession. Training programs could be updated to include diversity training across the many aspects of discrimination.

I find it exciting to contemplate not only researching discrimination and diversity in academic libraries, but also to consider solutions and ways to promote education, tolerance, and celebration of diversity. By learning to accept differences in how people look and behave we will

have a more relaxed work environment and be better able to provide top-notch services to our patrons. If we have this kind of work environment in an academic setting, we are also then able to convey such an atmosphere to our students as a normal environment.