CLiC 2010, Dan Lawrence on 'Grant Writing: Tips, Tricks, and the Deep Six'

Goals of this Workshop:

• Identify key people, processes, and structures to have in place before starting to write (or not write) a grant;
• examine key sections of a grant app, w/an emphasis on SMART objectives;

http://preventioncolorado.org/clic10/

Some General Funding Trends

• Moving from funder to investment approach
• fewer, but larger grants
• continuing to fund current grantees
• not as many grants to small organizations, but more to consotria of small organizations
• suggesting diverse funding sources (e.g. matching or fund raising requirements)

Before you commit: Read, read, read!

1. Read for guideleings, check due dates, # of awards, average size of grants, eligibility.
2. Reread: for any technical requirements of application, preapproval guidelines, needs for letters of support, etc.
3. Reread: for narrative content.

Tips for Getting Started

Impose a structure on the process early
organize a planning group, layout some tasks and get volunteers
work backward from due date to rough out timeline of deadlines (wyou will be behind)

Sample Scoring Guide - 100 pts.

Minimum Responsiveness Criteria (required)
Narrative (30 pts)
Capacity 5 pts
Action Plan 30 pts
Evaluation Plan 10 pts
Budget 25 pts

B. Narrative
Summary: Get attention and state your case
Needs Statement: define the problem (data)
Gaps: current lack of services or programs in area
Program Description: must match funder priorities, address your problem, be directly related to action plan

C. Capacity

• aka: why you can trust us with your money
• who we are
• how we're qualified - e.g. history, governing structure, mission, primary activities, relevant partners, audiences, and services.

D. Action Plan

• Use language of the strategies endorsed by funder (logic models?)
• goals and objectives reflect those of funder
• create a timeline that makes sense
• activities should be specific and in chronological order
• all activities relate to objectives

Goals vs. Objectives

Goals: Objectives

Broad Narrow

General intentions precise

intangible tangible

Abstract Concrete

Can't be validated as is Can be validated

Goal: Community members understand the value of libraries to their lives.

Objective: by june 30, 2010, 50% of the community will be able to name 3 primary library services

Objectives

Describe the steps toward accomplishing a goal

show priorities

provide targets for progress and accountability

SMART Objectives

S=Specific (who? What?)

M=Measurable: It tells you How Much change is expected

A=Achievable: It can be realisticall accomplished given current resources and constraints

R=Realistic: It addresses the scope of the plan and proposes reasonable action steps

T=Time-Phased: it provides a timeline indicating when the objective will be met.

Activites

Things you're going to do to make sure you accomplish the objective

Examples:

Convene advisory committee to discuss community perceptions of the library

(Example: Activity -- Implementation Timeframe -- Measure of accomplishment -- job title of person responsible)

E. Evaluation Plan

How will you asses what you're

F. Budget

• Complete budget sheet if provided
• Budget Narrative

1. Personnel
2. Direct Operating
3. Contractual
4. Travel
5. Indirect (if allowed)

• Double-, triple-, quadruple-check numbers match between budget sheet and narrative!

The Four P's of Preplanning

• Processes
• Permission
• Planning
• People

Processes

• Read up on Grants and writing process
• Grants for libraries; neal-schuman, 2006
• The only grant-writing book you'll ever need, 3rd ed.; basic, 2009
• grant writing for dummies, 3rd ed.; Wiley, 2009

Permissions: Know people, processes and rules for grants for your library

• Who is allowed to work on grants?
• How can you recommend a new project?
• What are your board/municipal/etc. processes for approving or receiving funds?

Planning

• 'Evergreen' file (documents and boilerplate)
• Concept Paper
• Funding Development Plan

People

• Library Director / Leadership
• Staff and Board representatives
• Grant Coordinator
• Community Advisers
• Researcher
• Writiers, editors, proofers
• Implementation team
• Subject matter experts
• partners

Researching Grant Opportunities

See Locating Grand and Funding Opportunities on pg. 6 of handout

Free basics training and access to databases at Foundation Center Cooperating Collections. See: http://foundationcenter.org/collections/ccco.html

Questions? danl@rmc.org

Library Day in the Life, 2010: Day 1

Our library and community is a very small rural community... We do it all, none of us have MLSs, and we are all part time - including our director.

I do a lot from home.... Today, that's where I am! So, you'll also be hearing some of the other things I do during the day while I work from home - MAJOR multi-tasking!

Morning Email Reading and Responding

Second Life SLL Promotion - LibNet and Alliance Library Google group

Sent out a letter from the Parents Committee of the school

Talked on the phone to my sister and mother

Made some oatmeal and watched Monsters vs. Aliens with Mr. 3.

Worked on our HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning)system's remote connection. I and two other staff members log into the system computer each day to check for any alerts within the entire building system. We need to do this each day for the first year of operation of our new green library building.

Wrote and submitted Library News article to our local paper, Mancos Times.

Spoke with the Snow Shoveling team we hired to clean the 3 feet of snow from our rooftop and garage.

Made up weekly menu and created a grocery shopping list.

Began presentation background work for CLiC Spring Workshops. Sent email to my three other co-presenters. (4 presenters!? Yes, sounds like a lot, but we're doing a half-day session in a computer lab... Our very hands-on session will provide 4 avenues for our attendees to learn!) We will be presenting on the new Colorado Libraries 2.0 Project - which is a new state-wide program to teach librarians how to use and teach their patrons about web 2.0 tools (similar to Helene Blowers' 23 Things.)

IMd in Facebook with a patron, and answered their questions about posting pics in FB.

Picked up Mr. 5 from preschool and went grocery shopping.

After that, I was pretty much in family and Mama mode...

CALCON09 Session Notes: Presentation - Matt Hamilton of Boulder Public Library

Matt Hamilton - Cloud Computing... Web-Scale... Oh my! Will OCLC Eat Me?

OCLC wants to get all libraries across the us on a the same server system to make things easily accessible. e.g. it's easier for google to add a server to their conglomorate, as opposed to a single library adding a complete system for the same effect.

Spending a lot of money trying to reconcile disparate forms of data. Cloud computing can be done on a local level, but mainly global. We want to have open data standards. For the use of soa, to wrap these pieces of data in metadata, so that it is easily recognizable.

Cloud Computing can be compared to a lump of clay or playdoh; break off a small piece, do your thing. If you need a larger piece, break that off. When you're done, put it back in larger lump so that it's readily available for the next project.

Nick Carr - "The Big Switch", book

Cloud computing is instantly scalable. You expand, and just pay for what you use. In the future, we hope to only pay for the variable costs.

Amazon has web services (AWS). Securely bridge your IT infrastructure to the AWS cloud. Cloud sites, cloud files, cloud servers. Koha ils system, LibraryThing, already using amazon's services.

http://www.opencloudmanifesto.org/

OCLC = Facebook, We and our catalogue/data = Lil Green Patch

OCLC Web-Scale Management Services
cataloging and aurthority control
worldcat local
worldcat local quick start (free if you already have a subscription to another oclc product)
inventory control (circ, license management, acquisitions, reporting/business intelligence)

CALCON09 Session Notes I: Keynote - Lee Raine of the Pew Institute

Lee Raine - New Information Ecology

Friday, 20 Nov 09 - Opening Keynote

Talked about Twitter

"Tweckle" - to abuse a speaker only to twitter followers

2000

46% adults use internet

5% get broadband @ home

50% use cell

0% connect wirelessly

<10%>

= slow stationary connections built around my computer

2009

77-79% adults use Internet

63% get broadband @ home

85% use cell

54-56% connect wirelessly

2/3 of all use cloud

=fast mobile connections built around outside servers and storage

47% adults own laptops - up from 30% in '06

How digital tech has changed things for your patrons and their networking behaviour

• Variety of information and sources of information grow
• Velocity of information increases and smart mobs emerge (Howard Rheingold, Clay Shirky)
• Venues of intersecting with information and people multiply and the availability of information expands to all hours of the day and all places we are (nielsen company)
• People's Vigilance for information changes in two directions 1. attention is truncated (Linda Stone) 2. attention is elongated (Andrew Keen; Terry Fisher) (Andrew Keen: The Cult of the Amateur - book)
• The Vibrance and immersive qualitites of media environments makes them more compelling places to hang out and interact - metaverse roadmap project 1. virtual worlds, 2. mirror worlds. 3. augmented reality (most vitality right now)
• Valence (relevance) of information improves - search and customization
• The Voice of information democratizes and the visibility of new creators is enhanced. Identitiy and privacy change

31% of adult internet users have rated a person product or service online

social networks become more vivid and meaningful. Media-making is part of social networking. 'Networked Individualism' takes hold. Barry Wellman

A Virtual Meeting for Colorado Association of Libraries

CAL SLIG will be holding a meeting at its new Second Life location on Etopia Prime Island next Tuesday, 8 September at 8pm. We will be discussing future events/meetings/programs, as well as what needs to be done in preparation for the CAL Annual Conference.

After the meeting, the owner of the Etopia Islands (who happens to reside in Boulder in RL!) will be giving us a tour of the islands and a bit of history and the purpose of this vibrant, green sustainable community.

So, put on your avatar, and come join the fun at CAL's Sustainable Living Library! SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Etopia%20Prime/69/181/24 (Note: Log into Second Life before using the SLurl).

MPL is Moving!

It has been hectic at my library, to say the least, for the last couple of months. Construction of our new library has been wrapping up, and we've been in this whirlwind of excitement; final touches such as organizing the new coffee station, ordering a parking sign for hybrid cars, deciding where artwork is to be hung, and realizing that the drop-down screen in the meeting room was not installed, have been up and forefront in all our minds.

It's Really Happening!

What we kinda forgot is that we're really moving! And I have a feeling that it won't feel very real until next week, when our current location has closed.

Our last day is the 6th of June, which makes me very happy to be the head staff person on Saturdays. We are hoping to have patrons, volunteers, and staff members to stop into the library to say goodbye and to remember the good times we've had in the building.

Saturday is also our last day of 'life as we know it'. The three weeks that we will be closed are already planned out and packed full of transitional duties. We will be moving all the items over, of course; we'll also be re-arranging furniture, organizing new workflows, and adjusting to all the change.

The 'Transition Team'

For this, we've created a 'Transitional Plan' of sorts. The first week we will be packing up, and formulating further plans for any new things that arise. The second week will kick off with a Community Moving Party - including our District's people in the process (and also giving them a 'sneak peek' of the new building).

For most of the staff, the rest of the second week will be a frenzy of deciding what to put where; for me personally, I will be learning our new technology infrastructure, installing new hardware and software, and creating new systems. My position, with regards to individual workstations, will essentially double.

During this week, we will also be conducting personal interviews with all staff members, essentially gathering information on any ideas they may have, as well as documenting any concerns or struggles that they may have with the moving process. The 'Transition Team', the Director and two staff members, will review these interviews and respond to staff individually.

The last week of the closure will focus on training and settling in. We will be going over any new procedures that will be created as a result of being in a brand-spanking-new building.

Mancos Public Library will reopen at it's new location on Tuesday, 30 June.

It Doesn't End Here

And, according to our conversations with other librarians that have moved to new libraries, the hecticness and insanity that accompanies any building project will not end that Tuesday; it will just change to a different level. We'll all be discovering all the changes that come along with anything 'new'.

So, the 'Transition Team' will not disband the moment of opening. We will be talking with staff throughout the first year, or as long as it takes, and responding to any fear or anxiety that may come along with working in a new place.

We're hoping that by creating a dedicated team for the transition will revitalize the staff and help them to know that they are valued members of our overall MPL team.

How have your libraries handled transition?

Photo: Staff and Family Signature Beam
Credit: Jack Stuart, Jaynes Corporation

Virtual Program Streamed Live into Real Life

I am excited to say that CAL's Sustainable Living Library, located in the virtual world Second Life, is hosting a green workshop on Photovoltaics - and I'll be able to extend this great program to MPL patrons!

The workshop will focus on the basics of solar electricity and how it applies to reversing the damage done to our environment due to human activity. The presenter, Phil Friedman of Solar Energy International (SEI), has been working in the solar electricity field for years, and is currently an online instructor for SEI.

You can find out more information about the program on the Sustainable Living Library's blog here.

While attending the program, helping with any technical difficulties, and answering questions about CAL's Second Life Library, I will also be streaming the program live to the Mancos Public Library's patrons in Real Life.

This is a perfect example of the benefits that virtual worlds have to offer. To learn about the ins and outs of Photovoltaics from a respected green industry worker and instructor, we won't have to drive the 350 miles to Denver - we'll be able to enjoy and learn in our small, rural area.

Photo: Patrons in CAL's Sustainable Living Library in Second Life
Credit: Plautia Corvale