(via Gwen Gregory, University of Illinois at Chicago)
ACRL is pleased to announce the launch of the new Academic Library Impact Research Grants. The ACRL Board of Directors has allocated $20,000 in fiscal year 2018 to offer research grants of up to $3,000 each. These grants will enable librarians to carry out new research, particularly in areas suggested by ACRL’s 2017 report Academic Library Impact: Improving Practice and Essential Areas to Research (prepared for ACRL by OCLC Research and available for download or purchase).
ACRL invites practicing librarians and information professionals employed in academic and research libraries to apply for funding for research that will demonstrate library contributions to student learning and success. Each proposed project should aim to build on the foundations of the Academic Library Impact report and fill gaps in existing literature. As the report’s authors write, it is intended to act “as a catalyst for the study of college and university student learning and success,” highlighting questions for further investigation as well as tools and methods that can be applied to them or any number of related topics.
This program is one of several developed by ACRL’s Value of Academic Libraries (VAL) Committee to support librarians in their efforts to demonstrate the impact of their work to a wider audience. “These new grants will advance research in key areas” says committee chair Alan Carbery. The goal is to “demonstrate the myriad positive impacts libraries can have on student learning and success, and to share those findings to the benefit of the library field and higher education.”
Applications are due by Sunday, April 1, 2018. ACRL expects to announce future rounds of research grants in 2019. Complete details of the Academic Library Impact Research Grants, including how to apply, are available on the ACRL website at http://www.ala.org/acrl/awards/researchawards/impactgrants