National Network of Libraries of Medicine

nnlm.gov

Dragonfly

Summer 2003 -- Volume 34, Number 3

New Express Awards Available for Planning or Follow-Up

by Linda Milgrom, Outreach Coordinator
NN/LM PNR

Still more ways to "ease" into outreach: Express Awards! Having trouble narrowing your plan or deciding which organizations will be your most natural partners? The new Express Planning Award may help. These awards provide up to $2,000 to meet with potential partners, conduct a community assessment, or to test ideas for collaboration prior to applying for full-scale grant or subcontract funding. Modeled on the RML's mini-awards for exhibiting and training, the new Express Planning awards use a simple, fill-in-the-blanks application template. RML staff will review your applications as quickly as possible, generally within two weeks. You may apply at any time; awards will be available until the funds are exhausted. When RML staff interviewed members who had completed outreach projects, several of you mentioned that overcoming inertia and taking the first steps were obstacles to engaging in outreach activities. We hope the Express Planning Awards will encourage you to seize the moment when outreach opportunities arise.

Many network members have been involved in formal or informal outreach activities over the years. Have you ever wondered what lasting impact your efforts have had? Are the people you trained still using the skills or services you provided? Has staff turnover been a problem? Would you like to return for a refresher class and to determine current needs of outreach participants? The new Express Reassessment/Impact Award can help support these efforts. Further information and links to the applications for both express awards are on the RML funding site at http://nnlm.gov/pnr/funding/miniexpress.html.

The Express Awards complement the RML mini-awards and larger Outreach Funding Award (see current RFP at http://nnlm.gov/pnr/funding/2003RFP.html), creating a continuum of funding possibilities.

Consider this hypothetical scenario:
Nettie the Librarian knows the public health clinic in town has no information services for staff or clients. Nettie approaches the medical director and is invited to give a demonstration of PubMed and MEDLINEplus. An RML mini-award for training provides $500 which she chooses to use for supplies and equipment rental. The session is a hit, and Nettie and clinic manager decide to survey the staff about their internet skills, interest in further training, and level of connectivity. An RML express planning award provides $2,000. With these results in hand, Nettie submits a strong proposal for a $25,000 outreach project award. Her supervisor is thrilled, leading to many other collaborative activities between the institutions. Additional community agencies offer to join in a larger scale project to share resources. Nettie is Principal Investigator of a subsequent NLM Internet Access to Digital Libraries grant with 10 participating sites, funded for $117,000. Residents of Nettie's town have access to high quality health information and use it to make informed decisions. The partnership flourishes.

In these times of tight budgets, it's all too easy to look inward. It is not necessary to follow Nettie's trail. You may apply for any of our awards without having previous funding. If you would like to discuss any outreach idea, please contact Linda Milgrom (lmilgrom@u.washington.edu) or any other RML staff person.

Dragonfly, Summer 2003 - Volume 34 Number 3
(posted on PNRNews on July 3, 2003)

This publication is funded in whole with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, under Contract No. N01-LM-1-3516.

NN/LM | UW HSL | NN/LM PNR | Contact us: nnlm@u.washington.edu | Revised: July 2, 2003

National Network of Libraries of Medicine

nnlm.gov

Dragonfly

Summer 2003 -- Volume 34, Number 3

New Express Awards Available for Planning or Follow-Up

URL: http://nnlm.gov/pnr/news/200307/express.html