Link to IMLS grant funded activities survey

 If you received funding for a learning activity that was charged to our IMLS learning grant, you must complete the survey below so that we can provide accurate information on the grant report.  Thanks.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/IMLS2026

ALA and MLA conference funding deadlines

 Here are some upcoming conference application deadlines:

ALA Annual Conference funding requests are due by March 7, 2024.

MLA Annual Conference funding requests are due by March 14, 2025.

Emails with funding amounts and other information will be coming soon.

Upcoming Conference dates and deadlines

 

Instructions for funding applications are on the Vine on the Forms page of the SD&T blog.  If you have questions, please contact SD&T.

LibLearnX     January 19-22, 2024 in Baltimore

registration opens 10/16

deadline to EPFL staff to complete requests is November 24, 2024

Computers in Libraries      March 12-14, 2024 in Arlington, VA

registration is open

deadline to EPFL staff to complete requests is February 2, 2024

PLA     April 3-5, 2024 in Columbus, OH

registration opens 10/11

deadline to EPFL staff to complete requests is February 16, 2024

PLA members please apply by January 1, 2024 to get early discount

ALA Annual Conference Deadline is Wednesday, March 22, 2023

 Registration for the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago is now open.   If you wish to attend the conference, submit your signed and completed paperwork to the SD&T Office by the end of the day on March 22, 2023.

To request funding, please complete and submit the 354 (request for funding), the ALA 2023 information page, and a  copy of the registration form.    All of these forms are attached to this email, and are also on the shared drive in Shared (S:) > Training > ALA 2023

Conference information can be found here:  https://2023.alaannual.org/

Unfortunately the conference brochure is not available at this time, but I will send out the link once it is posted.  

The hotel allowance for the conference is $275/night, and the food allowance will be $25 for travel days and $50 for conference days.  We are also providing up to $60 for transport to and from the airport in Chicago.  We will not be covering pre-conference or conference events this year.   

If you have any questions about these forms, please contact SD&T.

MLA Annual Conference Funding Deadline is March 10, 2023

 

Registration for the MLA/DLA 2023 conference is now open.  If you wish to attend the conference, submit your signed and completed paperwork to the SD&T Office by the end of the day on Friday, March 10, 2023.

To request funding, please complete and submit the 354 (request for funding), the MLA 2023 information page, and a  copy of the registration form.    All of these forms have been saved for you on the shared drive in Shared (S:) > Training > MLA 2023

The conference information can be found here https://www.mladlacon.com/

You can view the conference brochure here  https://bit.ly/mladla2023

The breakout session for Ellen Oh is missing from this version of the brochure, but it will be on Thursday from 3-4.  I will send out the corrected brochure link when it becomes available.

The hotel allowance for the conference is $225/night, and the food allowance will be $25 for travel days and $50 for conference days.  You may also request a ticket for one of the conference meal events, such as the author breakfast on Thursday.  Please include this amount in the registration column on your 354.

If you have any questions about these forms, please contact SD&T.

A Quick Guide to MLA funding for this year

 If you are requesting funds to attend the MLA/DLA annual conference this year, here is some information you will need.

The correct hotel amount is $210.30 per night.  This total will not be reflected in your original reservation information, but it includes the resort fees and omits the relevant taxes.  We will provide the hotel with the names of the staff who are attending and they will ensure that the tax free information is applied to your final bill. 

The food allowance is at the usual rate:  $25 for travel days and $50 for full conference days.

The library will pay for one conference food event on Thursday, either the Author Award Luncheon or the Keynote dinner, in addition to the usual food allowance.  

If you wish to attend one of the pre-conference events, you should include a separate justification for this expense in your goals and intentions statement.  How will the library benefit from your participation?

Send a completed registration form with your request, but do not include any personal details in the payment section (e.g. credit card numbers for your hotel deposit ).  Your registration will be paid directly to MLA and then you will be able to make your hotel reservations.

Please indicate which sessions you plan to attend as part of your goals statement, and also if you are serving on a committee related to the conference and/or if you are presenting at the conference.

Please include your home address on the goals statement if it is different from the address on your registration form.  Please include your MLA number if you are a member.

Just a reminder -- your completed forms are due prior to March 11.

Thank you, and please call us if you have any questions.

Funding for MLA is supported in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act Administered by the Maryland State Library.

ALA’s eLearning Catalog

The ALA eLearning website offers courses, webinars, and eLearning content for "library and information workers in all types of libraries and related organizations."  This site brings together learning content from all divisions of ALA  and new content is added on a regular basis.  The site offers free training opportunities as well as those requiring payment.

https://elearning.ala.org/

Funding is available for those programs with a cost.  Just submit a "Request for Authorization for Leave and-or Expenses to Attend Conference, Seminar, Workshop, Etc." form #354 to SD&T.

Browse by Event Format

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PLA Conference Funding Deadline is January 1, 2022

If you wish to attend the PLA conference in March, your signed/approved funding request needs to be received by SD&T before January 1, 2022. 

Be sure to include all needed information so your registration can be completed, especially your ALA membership number if you have one.

ALA Annual registration information

 ALA Conference Registration Opens March 1, 2021

If you wish to participate in the virtual conference, SD&T must receive your completed and signed funding requests by  

5 p.m. on Friday, April 8, 2021

Visit the ALA website to view registration rates and get more information about the virtual conference.  You can also register for email updates on this page.

https://2021.alaannual.org/registration/registration-rates

The conference program is not complete at this time, so try to be as specific as you can in your goals statement without this information.  What is your overall goal of participating?  What do you expect to learn?  What do you hope to do with the knowledge you receive?

Supervisor signatures can be provided by email if you are not currently working on site.  Contact SD&T if you have any questions.

Top Five Qualities of a Successful Goals and Intentions Statement

Your Goals and Intentions Statement doesn't have to be long, but it does need to have all of the necessary information.  Here are the top five aspects of a well-written Goals and Intentions Statement:

1. The statement briefly describes the event, its intended audience, and its purpose (2-3 sentences maximum)
2. The requesting staff member clearly demonstrates their interest in the event/program and why they wish to attend.
3. A clear connection is made between the purpose of the training/conference and the position of the staff member.
4. The statement includes information about what the staff member hopes to learn at the program.
5. The staff member explains what she/he/they want to do with the information learned at the event once they return to the library.

Here's what it might look like all together:

I would like to attend the MLA/DLA Joint Library Conference in Cambridge, MD from May 1-3, 2019  The MLA conference brings together library staff from across Maryland to discuss relevant topics and issues. 

There are many programs offered at this year’s conference that would benefit the library, the HR department, and the SD&T office.  On Wednesday morning, there is a pre-conference on making sense of library management.  This program will be very helpful when we start to plan the new EPFL leadership program.   

On Thursday, there are programs supporting inclusion at the library, as well as creating engaging multimedia and updates on statewide MLA programs.  There is also a program discussing methods for teaching adults, which might offer new information that would support our program offerings.  

On Friday, there is a program about teaching online, which is something I’d like to start doing in the future to expand SD&T programming, as well as a program on getting staff to advocate for their library.

The sessions offered at the MLA conference this year will support and contribute to the programs offered by SD&T in the upcoming year.  I will also be sharing the leadership program information with other HR staff at an upcoming meeting, and updating them on various state-wide issues we've been discussing this year.

ALA sponsored scholarships

ALA also has a number of scholarship opportunities.   Please see the following link for an announcement about their graduate program scholarship opportunities: 

http://www.ala.org/news/member-news/2019/09/accepting-scholarship-applications. 

The deadline for applications is March 1, 2020.

ALSC conference funding deadline

Any staff member who is requesting funding to attend the ALSC conference in September must submit signed and completed paperwork to SD&T by June 8.  

If you have questions about completing your paperwork, please contact us.

Goals and Intentions Statements - Guidelines and Suggestions

If you are going to request funding for a conference or outside learning event, you need to submit the "Request for Authorization for Leave and-or Expenses to Attend" form (354).  Along with this form, you must submit a "Goals and Intentions Statement," that explains why you want to attend this event.

Your statement may be brief, but should include the following:

1.)    What is the purpose/focus of the conference or training?  Who is the intended audience?  Put this in your own words and connect it to the library, don’t just copy and paste from the website (1-2 sentences are usually fine).  

2.)    Why do you wish to attend the event?   How is it relevant to your job and/or the library?  How will the library benefit from your attendance?  What skills/ideas do you expect to gain from attendance that will improve your job performance and/or customer service? (this section should be the longest and contain the most detail).  Avoid statements that would be true of any attendee at any conference (e.g. “at this conference I’ll represent the Pratt library”) and focus on why YOU should attend this particular event.

You might include:

• Experiences/information gained from prior years' attendance that you have used in your job.  If this is your first time attending you might include information you received from others who attended or what you expect to bring back from the event.
• Specific information/training offered at the event that you cannot receive elsewhere.
• Lists of specific sessions at the event which are relevant to your job, or which prompted your request to attend.
• If committee service is part of your request, you need clearly describe the committee and its goals, and explain how service on this committee benefits the library, the staff, or our customers. 
• If you are a member of the sponsoring organization, or have a membership that entitles you to a discount in registration or other fees, include this information and your membership number in your statement. 

Remember that the goal of this statement is to give the reasons why you wish to attend the conference and how the library staff or customers will benefit from your attendance.   Be specific.  

If you have any questions about your statement,

please contact Staff Development and Training before you submit your paperwork.

Copies, Copies, Copies

Just a friendly reminder, that you should keep copies of all paperwork you send to SD&T, especially conference requests.  These all go through several offices before they come to us, and somethings things get lost along the way.  If you need to recreate any paperwork it's easier to start from a copy then from nothing.