ALISE Research Grant Competition

2024 Winner: Akhilesh Yadav, Tata Institute of Social Sciences

The Research Grant Program Competition awards one grant totaling up to $5,000 to support research broadly related to education for library and information science. The Research Grant Award cannot be used to support a doctoral dissertation.

2024 Sponsor

Interested in sponsoring the ALISE Research Grant Competition? Click here to view the 2024 prospectus and claim your sponsorship!

Award Criteria

• At least one applicant in a group submitting a proposal must be a personal member of ALISE as of the deadline date.
• The proposals will be judged by the ALISE Research Committee with the assistance of additional ALISE members in those cases where the methodology warrants. The proposals will be judged on:
  • Appropriateness of the proposed project to issues in library and information science education in its broadest context
  • Significance of the problem
  • Design of the study
  • The investigator's qualifications: how likely she/he is to be successful, based on previous work and/or possession of the requisite skills
  • The appropriateness of the schedule and the likelihood that the work will be accomplished on time
  • Completeness of the application
• Submissions will be disqualified if they exhibit one or more of the following:
  • Lack of adherence to submission requirements
  • Submission of paper for the wrong award
  • Poor quality in the writing
  • Poor organization of material
  • Lack of specificity on required elements
  • Lack of appropriate instrument samples
  • Lack of appropriate theoretical framework

The committee reserves the right to select no winning proposal if in its judgment none of the proposals are considered satisfactory.

Submission Requirements

Proposals may not exceed 20 double-spaced pages, excluding CVs. If necessary, supporting information may be included in an appendix. Proposals must include the following information to be considered in the competition:

• Abstract of the project (not longer than 200 words)
• Problem statement and literature review (including justification and need for the research)
• Project objectives
• Project description
• Research design, methodology, and analysis techniques (including schedule for competition)
• Detailed budget (including institutional or departmental contributions, if any)
• Expected benefits and impact of the research
• Vita(e) of project investigator(s) may be appended
• Budget: Staff training, general operating or overhead expenses, and other indirect costs are not funded

Submission Process

Submission Deadline

March 25, 2024

Winner Responsibilities

• Present a preliminary report at the ALISE Annual Conference
• Submit written quarterly reports to the Executive Director of ALISE, who will pay the grant in periodic installments as the research progresses
• May submit the results of the funded study to the Association's Journal of Education for Library and Information Science (JELIS) for possible publication prior to submission to other publications
• Acknowledge the support of ALISE in any publicity or presentation based on the funded study
• Inform the ALISE Executive Director if research funding from other sources is obtained, in addition to those provided by ALISE
• Present a final report at the ALISE Annual Conference

Chair

Rachel Melis, University of Western Ontario; Huron UC

Members

Jie Jiang, Simmons University
Dietmar Wolfram, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Vanessa Schlais, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Board Liaison

Rong Tang, Simmons University

Committee Membership

• The Committee consists of four ALISE Members, one of whom serves as Chair 
• Members are selected by the President-Elect and serve for two years, and may be appointed to serve a second consecutive two-year term.
• The chair is selected by the President-Elect holds this position for one year, and may be appointed to serve a second consecutive one-year term.
• The Committee reports to the President-Elect

Previous Recipients

2023 - Africa Hands, University of Buffalo: Positioning LIS Students for Career Success

2022 - Lynne Bowker, University of Ottawa:  Promoting multilingual scholarly communication: Using plain language and machine translation as stepping stone

2021 - Michele Villagran and Darra Hofman, San Jose State University:  Educating for Equity?: Sexual and Gender Minority Privacy in Library and Information Studies Education

2020 - Jungwon Yoon and James Andrews:  Exploring Best Practices for Preparing Librarians in Adopting Artificial Intelligence into Libraries

2019 - Anthony Bernier, San Jose State University, Recasting First Generation Student Experience for LIS Success

2018 - Lynne Bowker, University of Ottawa, for Against the clock: Developing and testing a framework for speed training in LIS education

2017 - Kyle Jones, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, for Algorithms in the library: An investigation into academic library participation in learning analytics and related intellectual freedom and privacy issues

2016 - Leanne Bowler, University of Pittsburgh, for Mindful Makers in Libraries:  A Study to Investigate Question Prompts as a Method for Scaffolding Critical Technical Practice in Library-based Maker Spaces for Youth

2015 - Julie Marie Frye, Indiana University, and Maria Hasler-Barker, Sam Houston State University, for Understanding the Role of lenguaje and interacción in Serving Patrons in Diverse Communitites

2014 - Laurie Bonnici, University of Alabama, for Non-Verbal Communication in Information Behavior: Ischemic Stroke and Partial Facial Payalysis

2013 - Karen Gavigan and Kendra Albright, University of South Carolina, for Information Vaccine: Using Graphic Novels as an AIDS Information Vaccine for Young Adults

2012 - Carolyn Hank, McGill University, Cassidy Sugimoto, Indiana University, and Jeffrey Pomerantz, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for Teaching in the Age of Facebook and other Social Media: LIS Faculty and Students 'Friending' and 'Poking' in the Social Sphere

2011 - Gail Dickinson and Shana Pribesh, Old Dominican University, for The Impact of National Board Certification of Library Media Specialists on Student Academic Achievement/A National Study ("impact NBC")

2010 - Kyungwon Koh, Sung Jae Park, and Kathleen Burnett, Florida State University, for Online Collaborative Learning in the Web 2.0 Era

2009 - No award given

2008 - Joan Cherry, Luanne Freund, and Wendy Duff, University of Toronto, for Learning From Our Students: Accessing Student Perceptions of Information Studies Programs and The Information Professions

2007 - Eileen Abels and Denise Agosts, Drexel University, and Lorri Mon, Florida State University, for Remote Reference in Practice and the Classroom

2006 - Marcia A. Mardis, Wayne State University, for From one-to-one to one-to-many: A study of the relationship between the practicum and that transition from teacher to school library media specialist

2005 - Youngok Choi, SUNY Oswego, and Edie Rasmussen, British Columbia, for Digital Librarians: Who Are They, What Skills Do They Need, and How Can They Be Educated?

2004 - Cathy M. Perley and Rebecca Miller, Emporia State, for Performance Characteristics Required of Information Professionals Working in Competitive Business Environments

2003 - Elizabeth Yakel and Jeannette Bastian, Michigan and Simmons, for Towards the Identification of an Archival Core Curriculum

2002 - No award given

2001 - Ingrid Hsieh-Yee, Catholic, for A Delphi Study on Metadata: Curriculum Implications and Research Priorities

2000 - Don Fallis and Matin Ericke, Arizona, for Verifiable Health Information on the Internet

1999 - Karen E. Pettigrew, Michigan, and Lynne McKechnie, Western Ontario, for The Use of Theory in Library and Information Science Education and Research

Christopher Brown-Syed, Wyane State, for Social Constructs: Self-Revelation and Information Provision in Scholarly Web Pages

1998 - John V. Richardson, Jr., University of California at Los Angeles, for Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya (1969-1939): The Initiator of Soviet Education for Librarianship, 1917-1928

Terry L. Weech, Illinois, for Site Dependent and State Independent Distance Education in Library and Information Science: A Study of Their Costs and Effectiveness