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Carroll Preston Baber Research Grant

Guidelines

Purpose

The Carroll Preston Baber Research Grant is given annually to one or more librarians or library educators who will conduct innovative research that could lead to an improvement in services to any specified group(s) of people. The project should aim to answer a question that is of vital importance to the library community and the researchers should plan to provide documentation of the results of their work. The Jury would welcome proposals that involve innovative uses of technology and proposals that involve cooperation between libraries, between libraries and other agencies, or between librarians and persons in other disciplines.

Eligibility

Any ALA member may apply. The Jury would welcome projects that involve both a practicing librarian and a researcher.

Criteria

The Baber Grant Jury will evaluate applications on the basis of the following criteria:

  1. Potential to address pressing library service needs which are national in scope.
  2. Originality of the research question(s).
  3. Clarity and completeness of the strategy for answering the question(s).
  4. Potential to improve library services to a specific group(s) of users.
  5. Innovative quality of the project and/or use of technology in a new way.
  6. Cooperative nature of the project.
  7. Demonstrated ability of the applicant(s) to undertake and successfully complete the project.
  8. Evidence that sufficient time and resources have been allocated to the effort.
  9. Institutional commitment to the project.
  10. Commitment to a reasonable dissemination plan.

Amount

This grant consists of an amount up to $3,000. Half of the amount will be paid within one month of the ALA Annual Conference. The remaining half will be provided approximately six months later upon the receipt of a satisfactory progress report as determined by the Carroll Preston Baber Research Grant Jury Chair and the ALA staff liaison to the Carroll Preston Baber Research Grant Jury.

How to Apply

Please send via email one completed application cover sheet and proposal with budget to the ALA Staff Liaison listed below. Email subject line should read “2010 Baber Award Proposal”. File formats accepted are MS Word 2003 or newer, and PDF. Please do not fax or mail.

Deadline

December 1, 2009

Jury Chair and Members

Listing of Baber Jury

Staff Liaison

Denise M. Davis
Director, Office of Research and Statistics
American Library Association
50 East Huron Street
Chicago, IL 60611
Phone: (800) 545-2433, ext. 1-4273
Fax: (312)280-4392
E-mail: dmdavis@ala.org

To see previous Baber Grant Winners

If you are interested in applying for this award, please read the following for more information: