For Immediate Release
September 11, 2003

The Research Committee of the American Association of Law Libraries is accepting applications through Oct. 27 for research grants from the AALL/Aspen Publishers Grants Program, totaling up to $5,000.

The committee will award one or more grants to library professionals who want to conduct research that affects librarianship. The grants program funds small or large research projects that create, disseminate, or use legal and law-related information. Projects may range from the historical (indexes, legislative histories, bibliographies, biographies, directories) to the theoretical (trends in cataloging, publishing or new service models in libraries) to the practical (implementation models for collection, personnel or infrastructure management).

The Association's Research Agenda offers suggestions for research projects that cover the profession of law librarianship, law library patrons, law library services, legal research and bibliography, legal information resources, and law library facilities. However, projects are not limited to those described in the agenda; the committee will consider all applications and research projects. To review AALL's Research Agenda, please go to http://www.aallnet.org/committee/research/agenda.asp.

The AALL/Aspen Publishers Grant Program was established in 1996 with a generous contribution of $50,000 from Aspen Publishers, a New York-based legal publisher. Aspen Publishers considers its contribution as an investment in research that will provide a prospective look at the role of librarians, researchers and legal information providers and will yield results to which publishers can respond. Aspen's goal is to sponsor research that will have a practical impact on the law library profession and inspire products and changes in the marketplace.

To apply for the grants, all applicants must provide resumes and statements of their qualifications for carrying out their projects. The applications must demonstrate experience with research projects and an understanding of the dissemination and use of legal and law-related information. Priority will be given to practicing law librarians and AALL members, working individually or in partnership with other information professionals. The grant application and complete guidelines are available at http://www.aallnet.org/about/aspen_grant_application.asp.

The submission deadline for applications is Oct. 27, 2003. Grants will be awarded and announced in December. Allocation of the research grants will be at the sole discretion of the AALL Research Committee.
For more information about the grants, please contact Ellen McGrath, chair of the AALL Research Committee, at emcgrath@buffalo.edu

The members of the AALL Research Committee are:

• Ellen McGrath, chair, University at Buffalo
  
• Scott Childs, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  
• Edwin Greenlee, University of Pennsylvania
  
• Michael Jeffrey Slinger, Cleveland State University
  
• Trina Tinglum, University of St. Thomas
  
• Susan Tulis, Southern Illinois University