ILDP Grant Writing Tips

Grant narrative

Congratulations! You've completed the contact and descriptive sections of your Interlibrary Loan Development Program (ILDP) grant proposal. Now you're ready to write your grant narrative. In this section, you'll justify why your ILDP proposal merits funding.

Q 15. Why are you requesting funds for materials in this subject area? What needs will this project address in your local community? How will it improve client service?

In this response, you'll address the first question grant reviewers ask when reading your proposal: "What difference will this project make?"

It's a good idea to include statistics to support your request. And cite sources for your information whenever possible. For example, here's how one ILDP applicant prepared a successful response to question 15:

We are requesting materials in the area of alcohol and drug abuse for the following reasons:

1. Alcohol and drugs are a factor in 90 percent of the domestic violence calls in our community, according to a study by...
2. Our Emergency Medical Services (EMS) director reports that 25 percent of emergency calls are related to alcohol and drugs.
3. Of the 40 auto accidents in our community last year, 80 percent were alcohol related, according to our EMS director.

This project will enable us to directly support two programs our community has launched to address these problems: a drug prevention agency and our domestic abuse intervention project.

Q 16. How will this project improve your library's ability to provide interlibrary loan service?

Remember, the ILDP is intended to strengthen statewide interlibrary loan (ILL) performance, so stress the ILL value of your proposal.

First, check the Kansas Library Catalog to determine if the materials you plan to buy are already available in your locale. And use ILL statistics and other performance measures to justify your request. Here are three examples of successful responses:

Last week a patron requested information on XXXXX. We had nothing on this topic in our collection. Although materials on this topic are available from other libraries in Kansas, a check of the Kansas Library Catalog shows that many of these items are unavailable in our region. Of the items we found listed on the KLC, XX percent were more than five years old.

By checking the KLC, we found that the materials we plan to buy are only available at distant locations such as state colleges, universities, or the State Library...

Last year, materials in XXXXX accounted for XX percent of our interlibrary loan requests to other libraries. Adding these items to our collection will provide faster service for our patrons, reduce our reliance on ILL, and enhance the availability of these materials in our region.

Q 17. What arrangements have you made to enter materials purchased with ILDP funds onto the Kansas Library Catalog?

All materials you purchase with ILDP funds must be added to the Kansas Library Catalog (KLC), a computerized listing of holdings in libraries statewide. You can access the KLC from the Kansas Libraries section on Blue Skyways.

If your library uses OCLC, an international cataloging utility, or if your regional library system does your processing, your holdings automatically appear on the KLC.

Otherwise, you'll need to have an agreement in place to add your ILDP acquisitions to the KLC. For a detailed discussion of the many KLC data entry options available to you, see Adding Your Library's Holdings to the KLC.

Here's an example of a response from a regional library system member:

We are a member of the XXXXX Library System, which adds our holdings to the KLC automatically.

Here's a response from a library that is contracting with a processing center to add their ILDP acquisitions to the KLC:

We have contracted with the XXXXX Library System to add our holdings to the KLC. Our signed letter agreement with them is attached to this proposal.

Q 18. What plans do you have for continuing this project after your ILDP grant expires? What dollar amount do you intend to spend for purchases in this subject area in the next twelve months?

Show how much you plan to spend for continuing to develop this subject with local funding after your ILDP grant is spent. The more you plan to devote to this topic in the future, the more you'll be able to contribute to statewide ILL performance, and the stronger your proposal will be. Here are two sample responses:

Since we have identified this as a continuing area of need for our patrons, we plan to allocate at least $XXX a year from our local acquisitions budget to maintain our collection on this topic.

After the initial purchase of XXX items on this topic during the grant period, we plan to buy at least XX titles per year on this topic for the next five years.

Q 19. What steps do you plan to take to publicize this project?

Effectively publicizing your ILDP grant shows that you are a resourceful manager, and reflects well on your library. Typically, successful applicants publicize their grant awards in the local newspaper, their system newsletter, their cable TV outlet, local radio stations and KANLIB-L, the electronic mailing list for Kansas librarians.

Some grantees enclose bibliographies of their ILDP purchases with materials they loan through ILL. Many feature their ILDP purchases in prominent displays in the library as well. Finally, here are some more good ideas for promoting your grant project: publicize it to local civic organizations, and post flyers in public buildings and on community bulletin boards.

Q 20. Detail how you computed the amount requested in question 8. Whenever possible, base cost figures on standard reference sources such as \the Bowker Annual. 'You may include a list of up to five sample titles you propose to buy with grant funds.

How did you decide to ask for the amount you're requesting? In this response, your objective should be to make it clear that the amount you're proposing is based on actual price figures.

You can find pricing information in a variety of sources, including Amazon.com, Books in Print,the Bowker Annual,or vendor catalogs.

Always cite the source of the prices you use in computing your requested amount. You can also list up to five sample titles, if their inclusion helps to clarify your request. For example:

Prices shown are from Books in Print, and from the XYZ vendor's catalog. We plan to buy XXX titles, at an average cost of $XX.XX.

$XX.XX average cost per title
x n titles (n= number of titles requested in Question 6)
$X,XXX subtotal

+ XXX for adding our purchases to the KLC

$X,XXX total amount requested

Sample title listing

Title 1 $XX.XX
Title 2 $XX.XX
Title 3 $XX.XX
Title 4 $XX.XX
Title 5 $XX.XX

Signature spaces

In the first space, include a signature from an administrative official who has authority to sign on behalf of your library. Include their title in the space provided. An appropriate administrative official is whomever the library director reports to. Examples include: district media supervisor, school superintendent, library board chair or academic vice-president.

The director of the library should sign and date the application on the other spaces provided.

Congratulations! You've completed your ILDP grant application, and you're almost ready to make copies of it and send it in. Before you put your proposal in the mail, go through the questions in the ILDP check list.

Best of luck!

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