In the last column, Brian mentioned that we would provide more information on research grants. By the time you read this, the proposal for the OBS/TS joint research grant should have been resubmitted to the chairs of the two SISs. Hopefully we will have more on this soon!

In regard to research grants, a natural first reaction on your part might be: But the topic that I'm interested in pursuing is not important enough to apply for a grant. Do not assume so! I don't have any hard data, but I suspect that a number of people make this same assumption and, as a result, some of these research grants may be going unawarded. Or at the very least, I bet the organizations granting them would appreciate more applicants.

There are already a suprising number of research grants out there for the taking. I have just a few examples here, although I am sure there are many more. First, on the national level:

» The Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory (LAPT) Research Award provides an annual prize of $1,000 for research in the broad areas of acquisitions, serials, publishing, and collection management. The award will be given for one proposal and administered in two parts: $500 when the proposal is selected to fund the research effort and $500 when the completed manuscript is submitted to Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory (the journal).

» The ASIS (American Society for Information Science) Research Award is given for a systematic program of research in a single area at a level beyond the single study and recognizes outstanding research contributions in the field of information science that have had a significant and recent impact on the field.

» A new grant, the Online Audiovisual Catalogers, Inc. (OLAC) Research Grant is awarded annually by the OLAC Executive Board to encourage research in the field of audiovisual cataloging. The amount is up to $2,000 annually.

On the state level, I ran across:

» The Texas Library Association's CULD Research and Grant Committee is seeking proposals for research or job enrichment grants. Research grants are designed to assist in the funding of research projects which will expand the body of knowledge in library and information science. Job enrichment grants are available to individuals interested in updating professional skills. Travel grants for professional conferences, including the TLA Conference, will be considered.

» SUNYLA (State University of New York Librarians Association) has established a small grants program for the purpose of reimbursing members for expenses associated with professional growth activities when other funding sources are not available. The program aims to reward the professional growth of individual members while giving special consideration to those applicants who demonstrate how their exposure to an activity will have broad impact on enhancing the development of other colleagues.

As you can see, some grants are focused on research in its purest form, while others are a bit broader and even cover professional development. My purpose in describing these specific grants is really to get us all thinking about grants in new ways. First, we must recognize that we each do have something to offer in terms of research. And secondly, we must realize that our work is very worthy of funding.

One of the reasons that Brian and I have been expending our energies working on this OBS/TS research grant proposal is that we strongly believe that technical services publishing is very important. Most likely no one reading this column would dispute that statement. But another way to perhaps magnify its importance is by attracting funding for carrying it out. Not to mention the fact that being awarded a grant may make the whole process easier on the researcher. I know that applying for a grant adds another layer to the overall process. But it may mean that your institution will come through with some release time. Many of you may be laughing at that seemingly naive remark, but hope does spring eternal! There is a certain amount of prestige associated with winning a research grant, and the downside of the embarrassment that could result from not following through may carry some weight. At least a grant might mean that you and/or your institution will not have to spend your own precious resources in the process--a not insignificant consideration in these tough budgetary times.

Another thing to consider is that there are more grants out there. It may be worth contacting your state library association, your AALL chapter, or even non-library associations. Think creatively! I do have more details on the ones I have mentioned in this column, so contact me (Ellen) if you are interested. Some of the announcements are quite lengthy. And these grants are given out annually, so if you miss a deadline this year, you can simply roll your planning over to the next year.

You all should have received your program announcement for the AALL annual meeting coming up in Baltimore this July. I will just point out that there is a program in it called "So You Wanna Be a Writer ..." To quote from the description, "If you have ever wanted to take an idea for an article from conception to completion but have had trouble getting started, this program is for you." As soon as you receive your preliminary program, be sure to circle that in red and I will see you all there!

Some of you who subscribe may have seen Mary Brandt Jensen's (Univ. of Mississippi) message on LAW-LIB in December asking for help in starting a discussion about the future role of the AALL Research Committee. Brian responded privately to Mary and informed her of our efforts to establish the OBS/TS research grant. He also filled her in on the interest in and the activities of the OBS/TS Research Roundtable over the past few years. Mary agreed that technical services research is very important. I would encourage all of you to chime in on the discussion along with Brian and myself.

Speaking of the Research Roundtable, I have just created a distribution list (not a listserv) which I use to pass along announcements of research opportunities to the attendees of the Research Roundtable meeting in Indianapolis last July. It is a one way list through which I simply forward items of interest regarding research. If you would like to be added to this list, please let me know (Ellen).

Another of our colleagues has published! Vianne Tang Sha (Univ. of Missouri-Columbia) has an article entitled "Cataloguing Internet Resources: The Library Approach" in Electronic Library v. 13, no. 5 (October 1995): pp. 467-476. Congratulations Vianne! There may have been many more, but since I knew I would be devoting much of the space to research grants, I did not comb the literature this time. If you know of publishing accomplished by our colleagues, please contact me or Brian just in case we miss it!

On the current research opportunity front:

» The editors of MCJOURNAL: The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship have issued a call for contributors to the next issue devoted to the topic of the acquisition, cataloging, and collection management of audiovisual and multimedia formats (including the Internet). Deadline: May 16, 1997.

» There is a new Web newsletter called Law Library Resource Xchange (http://www.llrx.com). It focuses on research, management and technology topics for legal professionals.

» The Public-Access Computer Systems Review issued a call for papers dealing with access to information on the Internet. The co-editors (Pat Ensor--PLEnsor@uh.edu and Tom Wilson--TWilson@uh.edu) are interested in exploring the theory and practice of current and potential future information organization and retrieval methods used with the Internet. Publication schedule is flexible.

http://info.lib.uh.edu/pacsrev.html

» A new electronic journal reviewing materials published in electronic form, Electronic Resources Review, is looking for reviewers and will publish signed product/title reviews particularly appropriate for academic libraries. Contact Norman Desmarais (normd@providence.edu).

» Inside a recent issue of a Haworth journal, I noticed an ad saying in big, bold letters: Book Manuscripts Welcome! Under that it went on to say that "The Haworth Press, Inc. is aggressively expanding its book publishing programs and welcomes the submission of either completed manuscripts or book outlines for consideration ... Send your complete manuscript or outline plus professional 'vita' to: Bill Palmer, Vice President, Book Division, The Haworth Press, Inc., 10 Alice St., Binghamton, NY 13904-1580 USA."