Library Faculty Research Fund Guidelines

• Overview
• What kinds of projects are fundable?
• Who is eligible?
• How to apply?
• Criteria for evaluating proposals
• How can funds be used? How can funds not be used?
• Responsibilities of award recipients
• Information on awards process

This fund is established to promote, stimulate, encourage, and support the research of library faculty. The proposed research must contribute to the field of librarianship and information science broadly conceived.

Proposals for the Library Faculty Research Fund are evaluated by a committee consisting of four library faculty members, elected at large by and from the library faculty.

This committee also develops policies and procedures that are consistent with the above criteria for eligibility and the nature of the proposed research. Funds from the Library Faculty Research Fund will be awarded for costs related to conducting research. These funds cannot be used to cover travel and expenses related to presenting research results. Individual awards will usually not total more than half of available funds.

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The major considerations are that the research must enhance the scholarly, intellectual, and research activities of the scholarly community and be related to librarianship, information studies, or information science. Many library faculty have ties to subject disciplines in addition to these areas, but research in those subject disciplines is not acceptable unless it can be interpreted as broadly impacting on librarianship and related fields. Several examples may explain this point: compiling a bibliography on Shakespeare is acceptable but not doing a literary analysis of a Shakespearean play; analyzing the literature of an interdisciplinary area bibliometrically (because it has implications for collection development and information access); conducting a study of faculty attitudes in particular disciplines toward a centralized electronic depository of research articles (helps to understand scholarly communication which libraries support); testing the usability of a specialized portal to information resources for faculty in a subject area (affects information access, albeit it in a specific subject area). The project may be related to normal work activities but must move beyond regular work assignments.

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All full- or part-time permanent-status track library faculty who have demonstrated better than satisfactory job performance.

Preference will be given to:

• Faculty without permanent status
• Faculty who have not received a grant from this source within the two previous years.
• Collaborative projects between junior and senior faculty
• Seed proposals for external grant proposals.

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Applications should be submitted electronically to the Review Committee email. The application packet should contain a 3-4 page single-spaced proposal that covers the elements outlined below plus a letter from the applicant's supervisor attesting to the quality of his/her job performance. These letters should be submitted under separate cover by the supervisor to the Library Faculty Research Fund Review Committee.

For collaborative projects, a single application can be submitted with the collaborators clearly indicated. Each collaborator's supervisor should submit a letter attesting to the quality of performance of the employee under his/her supervision.

The application proposal should include:

• Introduction [one paragraph summary of the proposal]
• Description of the Research
  • Scope and purpose of project
  • Research questions to be addressed
  • Goals and objectives
  • Significance of the research
  • Place of research within a larger project or goal
• Statement of the contributions and /or impact on librarianship
• Brief Literature Review
• Statement of Qualifications [applicant's qualifications for doing the research project]
• Methodology
  • Statement of approach
  • Rationale for that approach
  • Measures that will be taken to ensure appropriate activities
  • List of staff and their roles
  • Timetable for activities, outcomes or milestones
  • Evaluation methodology
  • Plans for disseminating results of the research project
  • If a seed proposal, likely plans for further development
• Budget
  • Costs (both time and money) for travel, assistance, supplies, services, etc.
  • Explanation of impact on your other work responsibilities
• Appendices [only if necessary and applicable]

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Proposals will be reviewed and funds will be awarded based on the following criteria:

• Importance of research question(s) to the field
• Appropriateness of methodology
• Feasibility of research project
• Quality of the written proposal

The Library Faculty Research Fund Review Committee reserves the right to not award funds in any given year if proposals submitted are of insufficient quality.

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Funds awarded may be used for research-related expenses, including:

• Costs of collecting data (surveys, etc)
• Travel for collecting data
• Programmer assistance
• Student assistants
• Postage, photocopying, etc.
• Software/hardware
• Consultation on statistical analysis

Funds may not be used for:

• Travel to present research findings
• Buy-outs**

**Research funds may not be used for "buying-out" time. Such allocation of funds is an administrative decision. Upon receiving a request from a librarian and after consulting with the LEC and the librarian’s supervisor, the Dean of Libraries may allocate funds for "buy-out" purposes, but only individuals with funded research are eligible to be considered. Receiving such funds should not be considered a certainty. The research (not the buy-out) may be funded by the Library Faculty Research Fund, MITH, or another source that grants funds on a competitive basis.

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Funds need to be expended within 12 months of award. At the end of the 12 months, recipients will be asked to submit a project status report. Additionally, recipients are required to submit an abstract of their research project for posting on the Committee's web site.

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Research Funds Available: approximately $8000.

Timeline

• April 29: Deadline for submission of applications (first cycle)
• May 15: Announcement of awards (first cycle)
• July 1: Funds available
• November 15: Deadline for submission of applications (second cycle)
• December 10: Announcement of awards (second cycle)
• January 1: Funds available

Email submissions to: libresearchfund@umd.edu

Further information

The Budget Advisor will provide assistance in preparing budget proposals if desired. She should be consulted if you are planning to ask for funds for student assistance.

Ann Hanlon (Chair)
Svetla Baykoucheva
Eric Lindquist
Connie Mayer
Denise Wright, Budget Advisor

August 23, 2007