Tag Archives: Grant

Check it Out:

Using ClassVR in your school

So many possibilities! This information is from our VR kit application where we ask members to identify academic areas where they plan to use the VR headsets. Reserve your kit today!

If you’ve been on the fence about applying to bring one of our VR kits to your school (for FREE) maybe this information will encourage you to go for it!

Our program to bring ClassVR headsets to our school library members has been gaining steam and it’s so exciting to see all the ways our school members plan to use the devices! There are so many ways to incorporate the images, videos, and 3D models into your curriculum. Plus, when you reserve a kit, you’ll get access to an online Portal which includes worksheets and lesson plans free for you to use. Explore the available resources in this article.

You should definitely apply now (Google Form) to reserve your kits. And we’d love for you to attend our upcoming VR training program on November 5th! RSVP here. If you can’t make it to in-person training, no worries. Instructional documents can be found at the bottom of this page.

Find more information about this FREE program here, browse our FAQ, or read through our page of general ClassVR tips.

This program is funded in part with a grant from the Minnesota Department of Education using federal funding, CFDA 45.310 – Library Services and Technology Act, Grants to States Program (LS-00-19-0024-19).

Check it Out:, School Media Specialist, Tech

Apply Now! Free program! CMLE has VR kits for our member school libraries

Maybe you’ve heard the exciting news that CMLE has VR kits to share with our member school libraries! And you can apply for them RIGHT HERE!

APPLY NOW!

Thanks to an LSTA grant from the MN Department of Education, the State Library Services, with money from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS),  CMLE has purchased VR kits.

Each kit contains 8 sturdy headsets. You are able to check out one or two kits for 4 weeks. When you receive a kit, you will also gain educator access to an online Portal that contains hundreds of curriculum-aligned lesson plans that incorporates the VR/AR technology.

We are pretty excited about this for our members. Remember, you can apply right here! Right now this is just a program available for CMLE member school libraries.

Get more information on our main VR page here.

Communication, Resources, School Media Specialist

School and Rural Libraries, Check Out This Grant Opportunity!

Do you work in a school library? Do you work in a rural library? Listen up!!

We know our members all across our twelve counties are doing fantastic work in their libraries. Now think about how many more awesome things you could be doing if you had more money!! IMLS can potentially help you with their new grant program. They are accepting applications now through Feb. 25th 2019.

Find more information below and if you want to apply, please remember that CMLE is absolutely here to help you with the process! 

“The Institute of Museum and Library Services has launched a new special initiative, Accelerating Promising Practices for Small Libraries (APP), and is accepting grant applications now through February 25, 2019.

This new funding opportunity is designed specifically to strengthen the ability of small and rural libraries, archives, and related organizations to serve their communities, and awards sizes range from $10,000 to $50,000.”

There are three categories of these APP grants:

  • Transforming School Library Practice – School libraries support learning and the development of critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration skills. IMLS is interested in furthering how school library professionals can serve as integral instructional partners to classroom teachers. Grant projects could include programs and services that prepare students for success in college, career, and life, or foster early, digital, information, health, financial, media, civic, and other types of literacies.
  • Community Memory – This project category centers on engaging local communities in the collection, documentation, and preservation of their local histories, experiences, and identities.
  • Digital Inclusion – This category focuses on projects that support the role libraries play in promoting digital literacy, providing internet access, and enabling community engagement through civic data and civic technology.

Read more about the grant here. If you’re interested in learning more, IMLS is offering FREE pre-application webinars to answer questions with program staff. They will be recorded to access at any time. Find out more here.

Advocacy

Applications sought for 2018 Coretta Scott King Book Donation Grants

From the American Library Association:

Contact:

Jody Gray Director; Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services; jgray@ala.org

CHICAGO — Underfunded libraries, schools and non-traditional organizations that provide educational services to children are invited to apply to receive one of three Coretta Scott King Book Donation Grants. Every year, in the process of choosing the Coretta Scott King Book Award winners and honor books, the Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT) of the American Library Association receives multiple copies of approximately 60-100 titles by African American authors and illustrators

Awarded by the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee, the grant program provides books submitted for consideration for the Coretta Scott King Book Awards to libraries and other organizations to expand their collections.

Each year, three organizations that demonstrate need and potential benefit from receiving the collection are selected. All three libraries will receive copies of titles submitted for consideration for the 2018 awards, including a full set of the 2018 winning titles.

Applications will be accepted through January 31, 2018 and winners will be announced by late March. For more information, and to apply, please visit http://www.ala.org/rt/emiert/cskbookawards/bookgrant.

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are presented annually by the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee of the ALA’s Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT) to encourage the artistic expression of the African-American experience via literature and the graphic arts.

Advocacy

Middle and High School Libraries: Inspire Special Event Grant

From the AASL:

Overview

Through the generous donation of Marina “Marney” Welmers, an AASL member and retired middle school librarian, AASL is pleased to offer the Inspire Special Event Grant. The grant opportunity supports a special event so that an existing public middle or high school library can create new or enhance its extracurricular activities in order to increase student academic achievement at their school. The goal is to provide direct assistance funding to middle or high school libraries for special short-term projects or events that would create new or enhance educational activities in order to engage students with and in the library and to promote reading, books, literacy and authors.

The fund is $10,000 per annum. The direct assistance is capped at $2,000 per grant.

Eligibility

  • The applicant must be a publicly funded middle or high school, grades 5-12, and have an existing campus library. Each library, regardless of the variety of constituents it may serve, is limited to submission of one application.
  • The grant is awarded to individual schools, not to districts; all schools in a given district are welcome to apply if they meet the criteria, but each school must submit an application that is specific to their needs.
  • Private, parochial, independent, and home schools are not eligible. Charter schools can apply if they are publicly funded.
  • The public middle or high school library must be located in the United States, with one staff position being held by a certified school librarian.
  • If the school does not have a certified school librarian on campus staff, the applicant can still apply if there is a certified school librarian available at the district or regional level who will work with the school on the selection of materials to be purchased. Regional level may include service centers or equivalent, university faculty, or staff of neighboring school districts.
  • The school and/or the certified school librarian do not have to be a member of ALA, AASL, or any other ALA division to apply; however, the jury may take membership into consideration when determining grant awards.
  • Schools that have 85% or more of its student population qualified for Free Reduced Lunch (FRL) program should include this information in their application to receive additional consideration by the Jury.
  • The Jury may take the school’s geographic location into consideration when determining grant awards.
  • Funds can be used to fund author visits, special events, contests, Book Clubs, Summer Reading programs, displays, etc. that engage middle or high school students with and in the library.
  • Institutions represented by Inspire Special Event Jury can be eligible to apply, but committee members must recuse themselves from the discussion and voting or decline if they have a conflict of interest.
  • The school library must be a first-time recipient of the Inspire Special Event Grant.  All previous recipients are ineligible to apply.

Application

The application includes a two-page narrative that allows the applicant to describe their need and how they will use the funds. The following documentation is required with the two-page narrative: a project plan that includes a timeline, the number of students the grant will reach, a list of key staff involved in the grant plus a short biography of each, and an itemized budget.

Applicant Responsibility

The recipient must agree to deliver a final report within twelve months of receipt of the grant money. If photographs or images are part of the report, the school must include digital copies (300 dpi images or higher) of all release-signed photographs. These reports can be posted, with permission of the recipient, to the AASL website, and to any other ALA website/webpage or ALA publication as requested by ALA.

Criteria

The Inspire Special Event Fund Jury will evaluate the applicant based on the following criteria:

  • The quality of the benefits this grant will bring to the community.
  • A project plan that includes a timeline, budget, and clarity of purpose.
  • Rankings based on a rubric that correlates with the ratings sheet

Questions

Shannon Carter email icon
AASL Program Coordinator