Medical Library Pilot Project Award

Network organizations with a health science library in the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Pacific Northwest Region (NN/LM PNR) are eligible to receive up to $15,000 to pilot innovative projects demonstrating emerging roles of medical librarians.

Medical Library Pilot Project Goals:

To support medical librarians through pilot projects that explore or demonstrate innovative roles within their institutions;
To promote library involvement in institution-wide health information initiatives;
To stimulate collaboration within the organization to address local health information problems

Examples of potential Medical Library Pilot Projects:

Increasing health literacy and/or consumer engagement through plain language initiatives;
Co-developing a knowledge-sharing project to impact healthcare safety and quality improvement;
Collaborating with clinical staff and/or patient education staff on informatics projects (such as EMRs or PHRs) that incorporate library resources and expertise;
Exploring roles for libraries in institutions that have received or are seeking NIH Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA).

Development of Training Materials

Successful applicants are expected to use or adapt existing training materials before developing new materials. Consult the Medical Library Association (MLA) Educational Clearinghouse, http://cech.mlanet.org/, prior to developing materials. Training materials developed as part of the award should be submitted to the MLA Educational Clearinghouse.

Eligibility:

Applicants must be medical libraries in hospitals, health care agencies, or institutions that are members of NNLM PNR. The member's librarian must be the project leader and must provide a letter of support from an administrative officer of the member institution.

Period of Performance:

Activities may begin on May 1, 2013 and must be completed by April 30, 2014.

Application Instructions:

Applicants should inform NN/LM PNR of their intent to apply no later than December 28, 2012 by emailing nnlm@uw.edu. The Application for Medical Library Pilot Project Award must be submitted via email attachment to Nikki Dettmar, Education and Assessment Coordinator, nnlm@uw.edu. Deadline to submit applications is February 1, 2013.

Evaluation Criteria:

Criteria for selection include: thorough description of the institutional environment and current role/status of the library and library staff; clear description of the project goal reflecting a non-traditional library role or skill; feasibility of plan and well described project activities; evidence of support from appropriate departments or individuals in the organization; appropriate evaulation plan; and appropriate budget.

Budget Guidelines:

The allowable performance period for this award is through April 30, 2014. A detailed budget and justification is required. Funding will cover: personnel, equipment, software, Internet service provider fees, supplies, travel and reproduction of materials. These are examples only and are not meant to be all-inclusive. Purchase of print materials is permitted, but must not exceed 5% of the direct costs. Food and furniture are not allowed.

If your project is funded, you will be asked to provide the following:

For IT/computer hardware under $3,000 per item: Vendor name and published pricing.
For IT/computer hardware of $3,000 or more per item: Three (3) vendor quotes (preferably valid for 60 days). Vendor quotes are necessary to determine price reasonableness for purchases. If a single item is over $3,000 and is not competed, then a sole source justification letter is required to indicate why it is the most advantageous purchase.

If personal appeal items such as cameras, MP3 players, smartphones, and laptop computers are proposed, please be prepared to submit the required elements listed on this web page upon approval of the award: [details]

Proposals must meet the following guidelines:

If NN/LM funding is used to develop web-based resources, the resources must comply with Section 508 requirements for accessibility for people with disabilities [details].
The awardee must acknowledge the support of NLM whenever publicizing the work accomplished as a result of this award [details].
If a journal article is published as a result of this project, the final peer-reviewed manuscript must be submitted to the PubMed Central digital archive in accordance with the NIH Public Access Policy [details].

Reporting Requirement:

The project leader will submit to the NNLM PNR two short reports: a mid-project and a final report. The mid-project report should include a summary of progress toward completing goals, modifications made to original project plan, information on any training activities or exhibits conducted, lessons learned, and indications of increased recognition of the library's impact within the institution. If training activities or exhibits are conducted as part of the project, please submit an Outreach Activity Data Collection Form or Exhibit Report as appropriate. These forms are linked from the Project Reporting Toolkit at http://nnlm.gov/pnr/funding/toolkit.html.

The final report must be submitted within 30 days of project completion by the awardee. The NN/LM PNR office will provide the awardee with a reporting toolkit and support. Content for the final report will include (but not be limited to): Executive Summary, Approaches and Interventions Used, Evaluation, Problems or Barriers Encountered, Impact, and Lessons Learned. Awardees must also submit an article summarizing their project for publication in the Dragonfly, the NN/LM PNR's blog.

Funding:

Maximum fixed price award is $15,000, to be paid incrementally at the time of the award and upon receipt of the mid-project and final reports.

In making awards decisions, the NNLM PNR will strive for diverse geographic distribution throughout the five states of the Northwest.

The following statement is required to be included in this solicitation to comply with regulations for annual appropriation of federal funds:

All awards issued under the NLM Contract with University of Washington are subject to the Government's availability of funds in compliance of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.232-18, Availability of Funds. No legal liability on the part of the Government for any payment may arise until funds are made available to the Contracting Officer for this contract and until the Contractor receives notice of such availability, to be confirmed in writing by the Contracting Officer.

For additional information contact:

Nikki Dettmar, Education and Assessment Coordinator, nnlm@uw.edu
Telephone: (206) 543-3409, 1-800-338-7657 (within AK, ID, MT, OR, WA)