Greensheet LIBR 282-02/282-11

LIBR 282-02/282-11

Seminar in Library Management – Grant Writing and Alternative Funding Sources

Summer 2012

Patty Wong

(530) 666-8002 work

(209) 952-2798 home

Office hours: online anytime and Collaborate sessions 9-10:30 a.m. on Saturdays (except for June 23) and by appointment

D2L Information: You will be automatically enrolled in the D2L site shortly before the first day of the course. The first day of the course is June 4. A Collaborate orientation session will be held and recorded on Friday June 1, at 6 p.m. Pacific time. Students must participate in the Collaborate session or review this recorded session prior to course initiation.

Course Description: This is a hands-on introductory course in grants and alternative funding resources for all libraries, with an emphasis on public libraries. Skills developed are applicable to other organizations as well. Students will work with a real library or other organization, assess library needs and future service development, create a marketing piece that outlines organizational mission and strengths, research current and potential funders, develop an actual grant or proposal for implementation, and determine funding and management priorities for alternative resource development. Students will become familiar with various types of funding resources for libraries and program development.

Course Prerequisites: LIBR 200, 202, 204

Course Objectives

Student learning outcomes – At the end of this course, students will be able to:

  1. Create a marketing platform that outlines the mission, strengths and services of any organization
  2. Articulate ethics, confidentiality and intellectual freedom issues associated with alternative funding resource development
  3. Prepare an environmental scan for alternative resources
  4. Develop a funding priorities template
  5. Assess Library needs and future service development
  6. Research current and future prospective funding resources
  7. Prepare a grant or proposal for future funding
  8. Develop implementation and evaluation criteria
  9. Market and promote results of fund development

This course supports the following SLIS Core Competencies –

PRIMARY

D. understand the nature of research, research methods and research findings; retrieve, evaluate and synthesize scholarly and professional literature for informed decision-making by specific client groups;

G. contribute to the cultural, economic, educational and social well-being of our communities.

Required Text and Readings

Most of the work will be conducted through online research and fieldwork. The required text for the course is WINNING GRANTS by Pamela H. MacKellar and Stephanie K. Gerding, Neal-Schuman, 2010. ISBN 1-55570-7-002

Supplemental readings will be available through the King Library’s reserved reading program and distributed through the course.

The Foundation Directory is available online through SJSU SLIS Databases. Please be prepared to access the King Databases with your ID and password.

Course Requirements

Each week will focus on written and discussion board examination of the topics related to grant writing and alternative funding sources for libraries. Most of the research will be conducted through online resources and fieldwork with a library of the student’s choice. Preparation: Before enrolling, students should make contact with a library or organization this is interested in a small grants project. For more information on how to approach an organization or for suggestions on partner libraries, contact course instructor at

Students need to identify a library or organization of their choice, a key contact, and begin research with the “client” prior to the course initiation. An optional Collaborate orientation session will be held June 1 to introduce the course.

The student will be evaluated on the content of their ongoing grant proposal development, documentation to accompany the proposal, and related supporting materials as well as ongoing communication and participation, analysis and collegial support demonstrated through the Discussion Board.

Course Calendar

Subject to change with one week notice, the following calendar of coursework will be:

Week One and Two– June 4-June 17 - Welcome and introduction, goals of course, student identification of personal objectives for course, identification of one project/library to consider; grants and funding vocabulary; ethics, confidentiality, integrity of the process for the client and the funder, intellectual freedom issues, integration of mission and vision of organization with funder priorities. Environmental scan of existing and immediate local funding resources. Submit at least one funding suggestion on the Discussion Board by June 10. All DB submissions are due by Sunday of each week at 11:59 p.m.

Week Three – June 18-June 24 Know your Client: Assessing your Library needs and wants: mission, vision, existing and future programs and services. Identification of one program/project/service area to develop or enhance and identification of key potential grantors. Initiate research alternative funding sources. Begin funding priorities template.

Week Four – June 25- July 1 - Determining funder goals, learning about the funder organization, preparing for the first contact, documentation accumulation.

Week Five – July 2- July 8- Program readiness and preparation, internal Library team development, gathering supporting documents. Goals and objectives for the program including implementation and evaluation criteria. Optional Elluminate session scheduled.

Week Six: July 9- July 15 - Writing, editing and preparing the proposal/grant request/application and implementation; preparing a funding priorities template

Weeks Seven and Eight – July 16 – July 29 Analysis of results and more research; Annual IRS information; Annual reports; data mining of like organizations; partnerships and joint ventures; ingredients for success

Week Nine -July 30 - August 5- Marketing and promotion; program/project management; documentation of success; communication with funder, community and staff; evaluation and success metrics.

Week Ten – August 6 – August 10 - Alternative resources and approach priorities; building funding capacity for the future; managing success and keeping track.

FINAL GRANT DUE August 10

Grading

  1. How letter grades are determined

The standard SJSU SLIS Grading Scale is as follows:

97-100 / A
94-96 / A-
91-93 / B+
88-90 / B
85-87 / B-
82-84 / C+
79-81 / C
76-78 / C-
73-75 / D+

Extra credit options: An extra credit assignment of 2 points will be provided during Assignment 3 where students will be asked to provide feedback of their experience so the instructor can determine any course changes if needed. An additional 2 points will be awarded upon student completion of SOTES, Student Opinion of Teaching Effectiveness. If a secondary final grant application is submitted, up to 2 points of extra credit may be awarded. A final 4 points of extra credit is allowed for a presentation at the end of the semester.

  1. The assignments and discussion board participation for each of the eight units will be worth ten points (80 points) and the final grant submission is worth 20 points for a total of 100 points for the course. The written assignments are worth 8 points; the discussion board participation is worth 2 points. Students will be required to contribute to each discussion board topic by SUNDAY of each week and then respond to at least two colleagues.
  2. A one (1) point deduction will be made for every week that the assignment is late. Students must communicate with the instructor to advise her of any late work.

Academic Integrity

Your own commitment to learning, as evidenced by your enrollment at San José State University, and the University’s Academic Integrity Policy requires you to be honest in all your academic course work. Faculty members are required to report all infractions to the Office of Student Conduct and Ethical Development. The policy on academic integrity can be found at

Reasonable Accommodation of Disabilities

If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, please e-mail me as soon as possible. Presidential Directive 97-03 requires that students with disabilities register with the Disability Resource Center (DRC) to establish record of their disability. No matter where students reside, they should contact the SJSU DRC to register. The DRC Web site: