[Libs-Or] Final reminder: Libraries Transforming Communities Small & Rural grant applications due Friday

[Stephanie Chase]

I know I've shared this a few times -- and you may have also seen a
reminder if you are an ARSL or PLA member -- but with applications due this
Friday, March 4, I wanted to send one more reminder to encourage you to
apply for* ALA's Libraries Transforming Communities grant program for small
and rural libraries* (
http://www.ala.org/tools/librariestransform/libraries-transforming-communities/focusgrants/libraries).
The
grant has a very simple application and very minimal reporting
requirements, and public, academic, and school libraries are all
eligible to apply. If you can carve out a couple of hours between now and
Friday, I think you can get it done!

Remember, to apply, a library must either serve a population of 25,000 or
less (small) or be more than 5 miles from an urbanized area of 25,000 or
more (rural). Individual branches in a system or district are eligible to
apply, as long as they meet one of the criteria above.

The premise is that, if the library is awarded the grant, a staff member
(or multiple) takes part in an online course designed for small and rural
libraries on holding a community conversation (about 4 hours), and that the
library agrees to host one community conversation, which can be virtual,
using the model. Conversations for the second round are asked to be
completed by October 31, so there's plenty of time if you hope to hold your
conversation in person, and the success of your grant isn't based on how
many people take part.

The grant provides access to the training and $3000 to spend on something
related to the conversation -- and that could be ANYTHING, from staff time
to books to a Zoom license to hotspots to circulate to a traveling
makerspace kit... I think your imagination is the only barrier. ALA has
more than double the number of grants to distribute this round than the
first. Let's give them lots of great choices!
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