No doubt many medical librarians throughout the Greater Midwest Region (GMR) are dreaming of beaches and beautiful sunsets thanks to this year’s Medical Library Association (MLA) conference being held in Hawaii (May 15-20, 2009). Others may be dreaming of the recently announced funding opportunities in the GMR (http://nnlm.gov/gmr/funding/). Some may be dreaming of both.

If you are in the “both” category, perhaps you missed a great MLA News article from March 2009 entitled Seeking Grant Funding for Consumer Health Projects. Although the GMR does not fund grants per se (our subcontracts and awards work on a cost-reimbursement basis), the information in the article available online to MLA members after signing in to the MLA News website has some great pointers that are useful to anyone looking to secure funding for a great consumer health or other project.

The author, Brenda R. Pfannenstiel AHIP, editor, Consumer Health Column of MLA News, shares information from successful funding recipients to help you if you are writing a first time proposal or could use some support as you venture into new funding territory. Planning, persistence, promotion and practicality all figure in when putting your proposal together. Also mentioned are resources for funding of consumer health, health literacy and other projects.

Among these resources and funders mentioned is the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM). NN/LM GMR teaches a Grant Writing class and offers funding opportunities to its members. The grant writing class is currently going through an update. Information regarding availability of the revised version will be announced here in The Cornflower. GMR funding opportunities are posted on the GMR’s website, linked from the Funding tab on any page. See a recent blog post by the GMR’s Associate Director, Ruth Holst, for current funding opportunities: Year 4 Funding Announced. For those interested in Consumer Health, the GMR has subcontracts for consumer health in the $40,000 and $14,000 levels.

If you have any questions regarding funding opportunities in the GMR or need assistance with a proposal, contact the GMR. We can’t send you to Hawaii, but we can help fund your outreach dreams.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 11:36 am and is filed under Consumer Health, From the GMR. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.