Professional Instruction Award

Request for Proposals

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine Greater Midwest Region (NN/LM-GMR), under contract with the National Library of Medicine (NLM), announces the availability of Professional Instruction Awards for NN/LM GMR Full Members.

Purpose

The purpose of the award is to support a network member in the sponsorship of a workshop, technology fair or forum, or other professional educational activity that will assist network members in developing their skills and knowledge, and enhance their abilities as participants in the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM).

Up to $1,500 is available for costs associated with the activity. A minimum of two awards will be offered in the 2008/2009 contract year (May 2008-April 2009).

If you have questions or require assistance ask your GMR State Contact Librarian at 1-800-338-7657 and press one (1) for the Regional Network Office or via email sent to . Awards will be publicized on GMRLIST and in The Cornflower, the GMR blog.

Requirements

The applicant must be a Full Member of the NN/LM-GMR. The instructional activity must be held in the region and should be at least 4 hours in length. The activity must be open to other GMR network members and should offer MLA CE credit. Library associations or consortia that include network members may apply as an organization if they have a tax identifier number.

The instructional activity should be focused on enhancing the knowledge and skills of health sciences librarians and/or health information intermediaries, such as health educators and community health workers. The knowledge and skills gained should enable the participants to better manage health information services and resources; to use technologies to enhance access to health information resources; or, in general, to improve their ability to contribute to the goals of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine.

Sample instructional topics include:

Web usability and/or design
Disaster planning
Library management
Library/communication technologies
Outreach strategies

Other topics and activities will be considered.

Technical Submission Requirements

The respondent should complete the Professional Instruction Award Application online. Attachments, such as resumes and letters of support, may be sent by fax to 312-996-2226 or attached in an electronic format to an email sent to . Please make the name of your project the title of the email. Applications should be submitted at least two months in advance of the activity.

You will receive immediate electronic acknowledgement that your application was received by the GMR, and your application will be reviewed within two weeks of its receipt.

Cost Proposal Instructions

Total cost must not exceed $1,500.

Funding will be processed on a cost reimbursement basis. This award is not a grant or subcontract. Line item invoices must be submitted for reimbursement of expenditures. Reimbursement takes an average of four weeks.

The funds may be used to support:

Fees and travel expenses of instructors and/or presenters
Conference room fees and related facility expenses
Equipment and other technology expenses related to conducting and/or recording the instructional activity
Instructional handouts
Mailings and other expenses related to promoting the activity

Funding is not available for indirect costs.

Proposal Review Process

Proposals are reviewed by the GMR staff. Questions and comments may be sent to the applicant for clarification and revision of the proposal. The merits of each proposal will be carefully evaluated based on responsiveness to the RFP. Applicants must submit information sufficient to evaluate their proposals based on the criteria listed below.

Evaluation Criteria

IDENTIFICATION OF NEED
Proposal describes why the instructional activity is needed and documents how the need was identified.
30 points

METHODOLOGY & TECHNICAL APPROACH
Planning and arrangements for the instructional activity are described in sufficient detail to predict the likelihood of success for the event. Learning objectives and evaluation strategies for measuring the learning objectives are included.
35 points

EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS OF SPONSORING ORGANIZATION AND INSTRUCTORS
Documentation is provided about previous experience of the sponsoring organization to conduct instructional activities. Qualifications of the instructors and/or presenters are described sufficiently in the proposal. Resumes and letters of commitment are included.
35 points

Total Possible Points: 100

Reporting Requirements

A final report must be submitted in electronic format within 30 days of completion of the project. Recipients also will be asked to write a short article about the event for publication in the regional newsletter. Report must be submitted to .

If this project results in a manuscript that will be submitted for publication, project directors must follow the requirements outlined in the NIH Public Access Policy (http://publicaccess.nih.gov ) which mandates submission within 12 months of publication to the NIH manuscript submission (NIHMS) system (http://www.nihms.nih.gov ) at PubMed Central (PMC) the author's final manuscript, resulting from activities and/or research supported in whole or in part with direct costs from this award. PMC is the NIH digital repository of full-text, peer-reviewed biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research journals. It is a publicly-accessible, permanent, and searchable electronic archive available on the Internet at http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/ .

If a website is developed under this award, the website must adhere to Section 508 compliance. Resources for this compliance include the National Library of Medicine Web Applications/Site Development Guidelines: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/web/documentation/index.html , and Summary of Section 508 Standards: http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=11 .

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