Elisabetta Morani Library Staff Development Grants

Open for applications: Applications may now be submitted at any time and will be reviewed as they are received.

The Elisabetta Morani Library Staff Development Fund honors the memory of Elisabetta Morani, former Head Librarian at John Cabot University, who passed away in November of 2020. The program was established by generous seed donations by former AMICAL colleagues — and close friends of Elisabetta — Karen M. Bohrer and Susan L. Perry; additional donations to the fund have been made by many other colleagues and friends.

The Elisabetta Morani Fund provides small financial awards for the professional development of library staff at AMICAL member institutions. The Fund enables staff to engage in professional development activities that update or improve their practical skills and knowledge in specific areas, in order to better do their work in their own libraries.

Table of Contents

• Elisabetta Morani (1958–2020)
• Who can apply
• Types of activities that can be funded
• Examples of fundable activities
• Award limit
• How to apply
• Review and vetting of applications
• Reporting and sharing outcomes
• Support AMICAL library staff in memory of Elisabetta: Donate to the Fund
• Donors to the Fund

Who can apply

Applications may be submitted by any library staff member from any AMICAL member institution (of any member category: Full, Affiliate, or Network). They should be working in a library role, but there is no requirement to have a masters or professional degree in library and information sciences. Faculty and IT staff are not eligible to apply.

Note that only one grant can be awarded to any one member institution in a given year (August to July). Exceptions can be considered if there are no applicants from other institutions for a given application cycle and funds remain available for that year.

Types of activities that can be funded

The type of expenses that can be covered are generally expected to be things such as event registration or training fees.

This program aims to support activities that ARE:

• focused, pragmatic staff development, such as targeted workshops and courses
• targeting skill areas that relate to any aspect of library professional practice (the targeted area does not need to relate to priorities from AMICAL’s Mellon grant or other committee-driven initiatives)

The following activities are NOT eligible for funding:

• registration fees and travel expenses for conferences or meetings of any kind (organized by AMICAL or other organizations)
• costs of doing research to result in publications including OA fees

Travel expenses (transportation and lodging, but not meals) might be exceptionally funded for activities that are organized at a different location from where the applicant is based. Staff exchange visits, especially among AMICAL members, might be funded, provided that no other cost besides travel expenses is asked for.

Examples of fundable activities

The following is a non-exhaustive list of examples of skills that could be targeted using funding from this program:

• How to structure a virtual reference service
• How to write a performance review for a direct report
• How to assess a library’s collection within a discipline
• How to use metadata in repositories
• How to structure a Research Data Management Plan
• How to enhance and improve ILL services

Applications related to e-resources are encouraged, in honor of Elisabetta’s work in this area, but are in no way restricted to this topic.

You are welcome to apply for funding for training in other skill areas besides those mentioned above, as long as the training is sufficiently practical and focused. You are also welcome to apply for training in skill areas that are not strictly related to your job description.

AMICAL members have generally had positive experiences with the training provided through Library Juice Academy, and the LJA catalog of courses includes many examples of practically focused training topics that could be eligible for funding through this program. LJA is mentioned only as an example, and other sources of practically focused training may be equally eligible.

For examples of activities that have been funded by Elisabetta Morani Grants, see the list of previous award recipients.

Award limit

Applications may request up to a maximum of €500. The amount disbursed will be based on the actual costs of the activity. Requests of larger amounts may be considered on an exceptional basis.

How to apply

Applications may be submitted at any time and will be reviewed as they are received. Responses will be sent to applications within 1 month at most, and within 2 weeks whenever possible.

Applications must be endorsed by the library director of the applicant’s institution. No endorsement required if the applicant is the library director.

Submit your application with the form linked here:

Review and vetting of applications

Applications will be reviewed by the Elisabetta Morani Fund Committee, composed of librarians representing a range of AMICAL library sizes and regional locations.

If there are more applications than funding available in a given round, we will give priority to applications that:

• are from junior librarians and paraprofessionals
• clearly demonstrate a link between the requested training and the applicant’s current or aspirational role
• are from institutions that have not received previous funding from this program, or recent funding from AMICAL generally

Reporting and sharing outcomes

Within 2 months of completing the funded activity, grant recipients must file a brief report of a few paragraphs, not exceeding 1 page, submitted as a PDF file to contact@amicalnet.org. The report should include answers to the following prompts:

• Describe what you have learned from the activity and how the activity was helpful for your job
• Would you recommend the activity to other colleagues? (Add any additional information you think may be helpful to other AMICAL members seeking training – e.g. why you would recommend this, the profile of colleagues likely to benefit most from this, etc.)
• If possible, share a brief quote: a line or two, reflecting your experience, that we may use to quote you when reporting on this consortial program

Grant recipients may also be asked to share in some way with other AMICAL members the practical skills acquired in their training, for example at the AMICAL Conference or another AMICAL events.