Since grants, in general, tend to fund new-and-improved services, it’s not surprising that there are options designed to help your library address a particular need. The Loleta D. Fyan award is a great example. Its purpose is “…the development and improvement of public libraries and the services they provide.” The award funds something replicable or otherwise applicable beyond the local level that is innovative and future-oriented, and it’s worth up to $5,000.00. If you think that sounds current and trendy, you’ll be impressed to know that Fyan was ALA president in the early 1950s. A less intuitive option is the H.W. Wilson Library Staff Development Grant. This requires a fairly typical grant application with objectives, a budget, project timeline, and evaluation plan so this would take a bit of planning. However, if you have ambitious staff-development goals, this could help to pay for group materials, a consultant, or other expenses.

As mentioned above, there are several grants that will pay a flat amount toward attending ALA’s Annual Conference. One of the most general is the EBSCO ALA Conference Sponsorship which is open to any degreed librarian who doesn’t supervise other librarians; it reimburses actual expenses up to $1,000.00. Other conference grants may have varying specific requirements, including the Shirley Olofson Memorial Award and the MANGO/NMRT Professional Development Grant, both of which require membership in the New Members Round Table. The Baker and Taylor Conference Grant is open only to librarians who work directly with young adults.

In addition to scoping out the list of grants and fellowships, you might also want to see if you or your library has a recent accomplishment fit for a professional recognition award. If that you are short on time, try visiting the web pages of the specific ALA divisions or round tables most of interest to you. The site’s left side bar will likely have a category that includes the subject, “Awards,” which will link only to the awards given by that group. Also, check out ALA’s Public Programs Office. This office awards programming opportunities, including traveling exhibitions, through a competitive process.

These grants and awards can be just the thing to help you break out of a rut, grow your staff, make a new project a possibility, or recognize the progress you’ve made.

The post ALA’s Awards and Grants Can Give Your Library a Boost first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

FCPL is a pilot site for a newly developed program by SirsiDynix. According to Justin Swain, end user services consultant for SirsiDynix, FCPL was one of the library systems chosen to try the pilot program because of its openness to innovative services. “FCPL stays ahead of the game when it comes to providing new and unique services to their patrons,” says Swain. FCPL initially offered the dual use card just at their main branch but rolled out the program to all locations in the beginning of September.

I Love My Library Card is a Visa® prepaid card that has few additional fees for the cardholder, compared to many of the traditional options out there. Currently, about sixty cards have been given out at FCPL and about a third of the recipients have registered to use the debit side of the program. There’s hope those numbers will expand as the community becomes more aware of the platform.

“Customers have plenty of choices for prepaid debit cards, but this one offers a couple perks. For one, customers know that a portion of their fees are donated back to the library. For two, the card offers ‘Linkable,’ which is a rewards program that allows customers to get special deals from local and national businesses,” says Marie Slaby, FCPL’s interim manager of community and corporate partnerships office.

Swain agrees. He adds that patron privacy is upheld. It is up to library card customers to sign up for the debit card services. Library card information is not shared with the producers of the debit card and vice versa. “We ensure that all of our products comply with the most stringent privacy standards,” says Swain.

A third perk of the card is the involvement of the library with financial literacy programming. The card can be part of a larger lesson on financial responsibility. There are a number of “unbanked” individuals in the country and in Frederick County. Lower fees allow struggling patrons, who may lack the financial resources and knowledge many of us take for granted, to use the card. Also, no credit check is required.

It can be a bit of a challenge to educate library staff on the positives of this program. Although libraries and fundraising often go hand in hand, staff can be reluctant to understand the value of such a card. Slaby says, “Librarians are wary of offering any product that has a cost. We’ve offered things for sale before—t-shirts, used books, tote bags—but never a financial product. We are having to do a lot of education so that librarians know what prepaid debit cards are and how our card compares favorably to others that are available. But librarians often rise to the challenge of learning new roles in their communities.”

Swain says he is working with libraries in Mississippi and Illinois to implement similar programs, with the hope that other library systems will come on board in the future.

For a more in-depth article on this partnership, visit here.

The post I Love My Library Card: A Dual Use Library/Debit Card first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

In these days of tighter budgets, public libraries are reaching out more than ever to their communities for support and are relying on creative ways to fund raise and strengthen development activities. Join PLA and instructors Peter Pearson and Sue Hall from Library Strategies and The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library for a three-part webinar series tackling the many sides of development and fundraising—from understanding the differences between Friends and foundations to knowing where to start with a strategic development plan. Register for the entire series or for individual webinars.  Go here for more information.

·         Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Webinar 1: Fundraising 101

·         Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Webinar 2: Friends & Foundations: What They Do and How to Make the Most of Them

·         Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Webinar 3: It’s All in the Planning: Getting Started on Strategic and Development Plans

To register for the series with a credit card, click here to begin the online registration process. To register for the series with a purchase order or by mail, click here to download the registration form (PDF, 1 pg.). Full series registration includes one-year’s access to archived recordings of each webinar, whether or not you’ve attended the live event.

More information email plawebinars@ala.org or call 800-545-2433 ext. 5PLA (5752)

The post Does Your Library’s Fundraising or Friends Program Need A Reboot? first appeared on Public Libraries Online.