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2008 Elsevier Foundation awards support libraries and scholars across the globe
Ylann Schemm
In January, we announced the recipients of
the 2008 Elsevier Foundation awards for the
Libraries in Developing Countries (ILDC)
and New Scholars grant programs. An
additional $200,000 was given to the
foundation's newly launched Nursing
Faculty Mentored Leadership Development
program. This three-year partnership will
enable the Honor Society of Nursing,
Sigma Theta Tau International, as the
leading global professional nursing
organization, to work closely with the
Elsevier Foundation on creating a new
model for mentoring nurse faculty to
address the global nursing shortage.
All of the top ILDC proposals concentrated on creating innovative ways to advance development.
So how did we choose the 2008 Innovative Libraries and New Scholars winners? By reading, judging, agonizing over and culling proposals from libraries, universities, associations and hospitals from Africa to America. The scope of the projects ranged from simple digitization, to building an integrated HIV/AIDS Library Information System, to fighting the attrition of talented women scientists in the academic pipeline.
Director of Corporate Relations Shira Tabachnikoff and I carefully weighed the pros and cons of the 171 received proposals and selected 30-40 finalists for each program. We then reached out to eight external reviewers with expertise in academic diversity, development or libraries, or with experience working with the World Health Organization. Even Elsevier's own internal expert, Global Director for Institutional Relations Daviess Menefee, was drafted into a rigorous examination of 20 innovative library projects.
We then scrutinized the finalists again, assessing their potential for maximum sustainability, impact and the ability to serve as international models and reach beyond any single institution into new networks and regions. All of the top ILDC proposals concentrated on creating innovative ways to advance development by addressing important library and information needs in countries where resources are severely constrained. The New Scholars proposals focused largely on academic mentorship, professional skills development, relocation and childcare support at major society conferences.
Our final recommendations were handed to the Elsevier Foundation Board and the rest is history: $355,000 in grants to nine amazing projects. We've also gained a great deal from the experience, with expert reviewers willing to brave the adventure again and a definite sense of pride in helping libraries in developing countries create state-of-the-art systems and benefit from strong partnerships within the developed world. Not tomention supporting young academics master that ever-elusive work-life balance.
We can'twait for the next round of Innovative
Libraries and New Scholars proposals to
begin arriving. Don't forget to send us
your proposals by August 1, 2009! 
foundation@elsevier.com
www.elsevierfoundation.org
www.nursingsociety.org
Established in 2002, the Elsevier Foundation currently is welcoming proposals for the 2009 Innovative Libraries in Developing Countries and New Scholars programs.
Proposal deadline: August 1, 2009
Awards announcement: December 2009
- BRAC University Ayesha Abed Library
Creating an integrated library system using Open Source software KOHA for BRAC University Library in Bangladesh. - Centre International de Reference Chantal Biya (CIRCB)
Developing a central library system to collect, document and disseminate HIV/AIDS research from the CIRCB hub in Yaoundé, Cameroon, to outlying health institutes with extremely limited access to information. - George Washington University (GWU) Himmelfarb
Health Sciences Library
Assessing the present Eritrean clinical, medical and health information infrastructure and producing a plan to build an integrated information system grounded in evidence-based practice decisions. Supporting the Orotta School of Medicine, Physicians for Peace and GWU Medical Center Training Project in Eritrea. - Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Developing China's first real-time virtual reference system and offering universities an opportunity to share information resources and staff expertise across CALIS, a consortium of 1,000 Chinese university libraries.
- Association for Women in Science (AWIS)
Developing an educational support program to enable the 51 AWIS chapters around the US to help early-to-mid-career women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics learn to manage effectively their personal and professional lives. - American Physical Society (APS)
Providing childcare grants to young physicist parents at the large annual APS spring meetings in the US. - University of the Pacific, Stockton, California, and Museum
of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand
Providing an integrated approach to childcare and mentoring needs at the annual Evolution conference and so helping ensure young women researchers can attend this critical conference and helping reduce their attrition in the field of biology. - European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
Subsidizing multilingual onsite childcare services at the 2009 EMBO Meeting in Amsterdam, the first annual life sciences meeting organized by the European Molecular Biology Organization. - Maternal and Childcare Union, Tbilisi, Georgia
Creating a framework of national issues, capacities, mentoring and support for women scientists in the nation of Georgia.
