Funding
Funding is used for travel expenses, supplies, and an honorarium for mentors.
Description of Award
The mission of the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) is to advance the progress of medicine and improve the public's health by providing U.S. researchers, health professionals, public health workforce, educators, and the public with equal access to biomedical and health information resources and data.
The NNLM Regional Medical Libraries (RMLs) and Offices rely upon partnerships. The award’s primary aims are to widen access to and awareness of health information resources, with a focus on those resources provided by the NLM. The programs are intended to help a variety of users:
- With a focus on minority and other underrepresented populations and the healthcare professionals who serve them
- Make the most effective use of information and decision-support resources to promote healthy behaviors
- Prevent costly and debilitating illness
- Improve health outcomes when disease occurs
The purpose of the Emerging Leader Award is to motivate and prepare a mid-career (at least 5 years) information professional preparing for a position of leadership in a health sciences library. With oversight from the NNLM Region 3 Directors’ Advisory Board, the awarded librarian is paired with a director who will serve as their mentor.
The volunteer mentor will introduce the award recipient to the financial and administrative roles and responsibilities of a health sciences library director. The award will include a week-long, in-person visit to mentor’s library, a virtual meeting with the South Central Academic Medical Libraries (SCAMeL) Consortium, a visit to the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, TX, the host institution for NNLM Region 3, and may also include additional supplemental activities with the mentor or the RML.
This award is intended for mid-career librarians seeking health science library directorships.
- Generally, individuals currently employed with NNLM member organizations within Region 3 are eligible to apply for professional development awards but there are exceptions to this. Contact NNLM Region 3 for specifics.
- Management experience in a health science library setting
- Demonstrated effort toward leadership within the medical library profession
- Individuals are eligible to apply. The selected individuals awarded will be required to submit a W-9 for reimbursement.
All funding is cost-reimbursement only.
Application Instructions
Please include the following information in your application and follow these formatting standards. Adherence to font size, type density, line spacing and text color requirements is necessary to ensure readability and fairness.
- Text size: 12 point
- Text color: black or other high contrast color
- Recommended fonts:
- Arial
- Georgia
- Helvetica
- Times New Roman
- 1” margins
- DOCX or PDF file format is acceptable
- Clearly formatted headings
Application Questions
- Why are you interested in applying for this award?
- How have your experiences prepared you for a leadership role in a health sciences library?
- What are you hoping to learn from your Emerging Leader mentor?
- How will this award impact your future career goals?
- How will you share the information you gained from this? Please include a well-defined plan.
Please keep responses to 300 words or less for each question.
Letter of Recommendation
The letter should be written by a direct supervisor indicating institutional support and specifically address how this candidate is well-suited for this award.
You are required to acknowledge the following statements before submitting an application:
- You will share the information gained with colleagues in your institution/RML/Office, as required by the Request for Proposal.
- You will submit regular, interim & final reports, as requested by the funding agency & stipulated in the Request for Proposal.
- Any web-based resources developed for this project will ensure accessibility to the greatest possible number of people.
- Additional documentations will need to be completed should your project be awarded. Please consult with your RML/Office for details.
In summary, your application will be comprised of the following items:
- Word document or PDF with answers to the application questions
- CVs/Resumes
- Letter of recommendation from your supervisor
The full application should be emailed to: nnlmregion3@unthsc.edu
Additional Information
For support in grant writing, please see the NNLM Proposal Writing Toolkit for tips on award applications.
NOTE: If you are creating materials or hosting a webinar/training, 508 Compliance applies.
Section 508 requires that all website content be accessible to people with disabilities. This applies to web applications, web pages and all attached files on the intranet, as well as the internet. The National Library of Medicine is a part of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Recipients of National Library of Medicine funding through the NNLM must meet all requirements under Section 508. Information on 508 Compliance.
The following reporting requirements are mandatory of award recipients
Within 10 days of the last award activity, recipients are required to submit a final report. NNLM Region 3 will provide an instrument for the recipient to complete. The report should cover a variety of topics including:
- Lessons learned from NNLM Region 3 and SCAMeL
- Lessons learned from the visit to the mentor’s library
- How this experience has influenced your perspectives on leadership and career goals
- Plans for incorporating and disseminating the knowledge gained through this award
Generally, awardees will be responsible for sharing their experiences of the professional development activity through a newsletter article, presentation, or a mutually agreed upon method with the RML.
Please check with your RML/Office/Center to confirm.
Recipients of NNLM funding are required to deposit any peer-reviewed manuscript upon acceptance for publication in PubMed Central in accordance with the NIH Public Access Policy.
To facilitate the dissemination of knowledge and information associated with the NNLM Cooperative Agreement Award, all subawardees are required to share any data or training material resulting from funding. This information must be submitted to the following collection sites as applicable:
- Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) website;
- Other websites specifically designated by the NLM as part of the Network of the National Library of Medicine (considering changes in the project and data repositories required to maintain sharing within the Network).
In addition, recipients of funding are expected to use or adapt existing training materials before developing new materials. Consult with your RML/Office and the NNLM Training Office (NTO) prior to developing materials.
Per Section 8.2.1. - Right in Data (Publication and Copyrighting) of the NIH Grants Policy Statement. The NIH must be given a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable license for the Federal government to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use any materials developed as a result of funding and to authorize others to do so for Federal purposes, i.e. the ongoing development of the Network of the National Library of Medicine. Data developed by a subawardees/consortium participants and consultants are also subject to this policy.
Any resources developed with project funds must include an acknowledgment of NIH grant support and a disclaimer. Please consult with your RML/Office for the specific acknowledgement statement to be used for your project award.
Application Review and Scoring Criteria
Review and selection of proposals - reviewers selected by the RML/Office. The Review Committee will make final recommendations for funding to the Associate/Executive Director of the RML/Office.
The application will be scored in the following areas:
- Applicant’s demonstrated experience and progression toward health science library leadership (20 points).
- Applicant’s description of how their experiences have prepared them for a leadership and management role (10 points).
- Inclusion of a well-defined plan to use the information gained from the award experience (10 points).
- Strength of the applicant’s letter of recommendation. The letter of recommendation should describe in detail why the applicant is well-suited for this award (10 points).
Scored Review Criteria: Scale: 1-50