Annual Report 1999/2000 

Grants and Scholarships Committee

A. Activities

• The outgoing and incoming committee and juries met on May 19, 1999, in Chicago, IL, followed by individual meetings of the committee and each jury. The major point of discussion was placement of the scholarship booth in the exhibit area as part of the MLA booth at the Chicago meeting. In 2000, the Grants and Scholarships booth will be located outside the exhibit area. Volunteers will staff the booth, and MLA staff will handle the money.
• Jacque Doyle, Board Liaison, facilitated board consideration of a motion from the EBSCO/MLA Annual Meeting Grant Jury to allow librarians with more than five years experience to be considered. The motion passed.
• During the fall, each jury designed a flyer and an action plan for publicity. Extensive publicity was provided via listservs; newsletters; posters for library schools; letters to library schools and academic library directors; and displays at local, state, and regional meetings. Additional ideas for publicity will be passed along to next year's juries. Applications ranged from one to twenty-eight.
• During December nine juries selected twelve winners from among seventy-eight applications. Jury selections were validated by the chair of the Grants and Scholarships Committee and all selections were affirmed by the board at its February meeting. Unsuccessful applicants were notified by jury chairs.
• The committee is preparing for Vancouver, BC. Jeanne Strausman and Lynn Burke are worked on premium selection with Anne Greenspan. Deborah Blecic and Deborah Sibley are scheduling and managing the booth. Sandra Franklin and Kris Alpi are creating a poster, honoring the winners, for the registration area.
• Editorial changes to the application forms were made early in the year. Updates for the Grants and Scholarships Committee Manual and Calendar are being prepared.

B. MLA Priorities
Goal 1: Professional Development; Goal 2: Advocacy; Goal 4: Research; and Goal 6: Information Technology.

• Objective: To award all of our grants and scholarships to well-qualified candidates
  Progress: Done

Goal 3: Organization
Objectives and Progress:

1. To examine the criteria for all grants and scholarships and recommend needed changes.
   See above about EBSCO/MLA Annual Meeting Grant change. It appears procedural improvements are more important at this time.
2. To publicize our grants and scholarships extensively in order to generate a rich pool of applicants.
   There was at least one qualified applicant for each award; in some
   cases, number of applications was up considerably.
3. To provide money for publicity in the May-December, 2000, time period by requesting money in the 99/00 budget.
   Budget request was submitted.
4. To provide money for photocopying and mailing in November-December, 2000, for jury chairs whose institutions cannot cover these costs.
   Budget request was submitted.
5. To consider the pro's and con's of having a free-standing booth versus one in the MLA booth in the exhibit area.
   The location of the booth has been changed for 2000.

MOTION
This report is informational and requires no action by the Board of Directors.

Grants and Scholarships Committee and Jury Chairs
Ruth E. Fenske, Chair
Kristine (Markovich) Alpi, Chair-designate
Deborah D. Blecic
Lynn Burke
Sandra G. Franklin
Deborah H. Sibley
Jeanne Strausman
Jacqueline Donaldson Doyle, Board Liaison
Anne Greenspan, Staff Liaison
Kathryn (Chmiel) Leach, Chair, CE Grant Jury
Gang (Wendy) Wu, Chair, Cunningham International Fellowship Jury
Jeanette C. McCray, Chair, EBSCOMLA Annual Meeting Grant Jury
Peggy Jones, Chair, Hospital Library Section/MLA Professional Development Grant Jury
Roger Guard, Chair, Medical Informatics Career Development Award Jury
David W. Boilard, Chair, MLA/ISI Doctoral Fellowship Jury
Carolyn K. Bridgewater, Chair, MLA Minority Scholarship Jury
Judy M. Spak, Chair, MLA Scholarship Jury
Helvi McCall, Research, Grant, and Demonstration Grant Jury
March 10, 2000