GRADUATE SCHOOL OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Day 2 - May 30

Topic and Approximate Times

8:00 - 9:00

PRELIMINARIES Collect refined list of grant objectives, redrafted concept paper, and public funding source list. Review last week's work and answer questions

9:00 - 10:30

ESTABLISHING THE NEED (PROBLEM FINDING) Context and Background (Elaboration of organizational description from Concept Paper) Need/Problem Statement (MOST IMPORTANT PART OF PROPOSAL) What is the problem that requires a solution? What will happen if the need is not addressed? What is the gap between what exists now and what ought to be? Why should grant funds be used now to solve the problem? Documentation of need Key informants (experts) Community forum (testimony at public meeting) Case studies (real examples of the need) Statistical data (data from public records) Survey data (data generated by questions to a random selection of relevant population) Studies (articles, research reports from the literature)

In-class team exercise. List several arguments demonstrating the need for each of two grant ideas. Identify what kind of documentation would be most useful to document each argument.

10:30 - 12:00

DEVELOPING OBJECTIVES (EXPECTED END RESULTS) Expected result areas Measurement indicators Performance standards Time frame Cost frame Objective format "To [action verb and statement reflecting measurement indicator] by [performance standard] by [deadline] at a cost of no more than [cost frame]" Evaluate objectives

In-class nominal group exercise. Select one argument for a grant idea from the list you just worked on and create one good measureable objective to test whether the need/problem has been solved/alleviated.

LUNCH

Three volunteers write their draft objectives on the board for class critique and an improvement on first version.

1:30 - 3:00

PUBLIC FUNDING SOURCES Federal funding sources Community of Science Web Server Access to the Federal Register, Commerce Business Daily, Federally Funded Research, Inventions and Patents, and other funding opportunities Illinois Researcher Information Service (IRIS) Funding opportunities for the University of Illinois community. Links to other granting agencies Federal Department and Agency Homepages A service of the University of Illinois at Chicago's Office of Research Services. Lists the big 7 granting agencies -- NIH, NSF, Nat'l Academy of Sciences, EPA, NASA, NEA, NEH, plus many federal departments ILINET WEB Illinois State Library Grant Programs Grant programs for automation, school libraries, networking, public library services. LSCA grants. Societies and Associations ALA's Awards, Grants and Scholarship List SLA's Goldspiel Memorial Research Grant Grants Web for the Society of Research Administrators AskEric InfoGuide - Grants to K-12 Educational Technology Contacting Government Funding Sources Letter/Visit of Inquiry Grant cycle Proposal Review Process

In-Class Team Exercise. Select a public funding source and draft a letter of inquiry. Choose one of your grant ideas and tell why you think your idea would be a good match for the agency. Request information about the application procedure.

Homework. - Due June 6. All students will have three assignments to turn in next week plus some reading.

All Students: Read Chapters 6, 9-14 of Miner & Griffith. Write need statement with at least three good arguments and at least one good behavioral objective for each argument.
Locate one or more relevant public funding sources for one of your grant ideas. If it is a federal source, provide the CFDA number, the program title, government agency, and approximate deadline date. For non-federal sources, provide name of agency, title of grant program and deadline date. Describe your search strategy and your reasons for selection.

For 1/2 unit: (1)Do reading plus need statement and behavioral objectives as described above.
(2)Locate and list one source of public funding that you think would be relevant to your proposal. Describe your search strategy and your reason for selecting source given your proposed idea.
(3)Draft letter of inquiry to the funding source.

For 1 unit: (1)Do reading plus need statement and behavorial objectives as described above.
(2)Locate and list 3 public funding sources relevant to your proposal. Provide a separate sheet for each foundation with information elements suggested above under prospect list. Append a cover sheet describing your search strategy and your reasons for selecting each of the sources.
(3)Draft a letter proposal to one of the private sources of funding identified last week.

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