Library Enhancement Grants

The M. Louis Salmon Library is a major regional library in northern Alabama and southern Tennessee. It serves students, faculty, and staff at UAH, and its collections are open to members of the local community as well as affiliates of the UA System.

Each year, the M. Louis Salmon Humanities Center Endowment provides funding for faculty-curated additions to the Salmon Library's collections. This funding is separate annual departmental library allocations and from the budget from the Salmon Library. Additions acquired with the funding serve several purposes: enhancing the diversity and depth of instructional programming at UAH; supporting the professional development of UAH faculty; enhancing the research capacities of students at UAH; and improving community access to materials that do not likely belong to the collections at public libraries.

Guidelines for Submitting a Library Enhancement Grant Proposal

1. Any tenured or tenure-track faculty member at UAH is eligible to submit a proposal.
   • Students, staff, and other faculty at UAH may collaborate with an eligible UAH faculty member to develop a proposal.
   • Community members and others interested in promoting the humanities may collaborate with an eligible UAH faculty member to develop a proposal.
2. Only proposals received during the open application window are eligible for funding.
3. Materials proposed for purchase must relate to the humanities, as defined by 20 U.S. Code § 952(a):
   • 20 U.S. Code § 952(a): "The term “humanities” includes, but is not limited to, the study and interpretation of the following: language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; archeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism, and theory of the arts; those aspects of the social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods; and the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to reflecting our diverse heritage, traditions, and history and to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life."
   • The National Endowment for the Humanities, which is the funding source for the M. Louis Salmon Humanities Center Endowment, endorses this definition.
4. Materials proposed for purchase should form a coherent theme.
   • The theme might relate to a recurring course or set of courses, a subject area within an academic discipline, a series of monographs, a designated collection, or a particular topic that spans disciplinary boundaries.
   • Themes that appear in the original proposal for the M. Louis Salmon Humanities Center Endowment are especially encouraged: Southern regional history; humanistic perspectives on technology and space exploration; women's history and literature; non-western culture; the cultural impact of the space program.
5. Materials proposed for purchase should meaningfully enhance the collections of the Salmon Library.
   • Primary sources are preferable to secondary sources.
   • Titles that already belong to the Salmon Library's holdings will not be approved for purchase.
   • Current serials or periodicals will not be approved for purchase.
   • The policy of the Salmon Library recommends the purchase of hardbacks for print materials.
   • Applicants might consider consulting with a library subject specialist to refine their proposal.
6. Each proposal should include the following information:
   • Name, rank, home department, and email address of the applicant
   • Title / theme for the proposal ("Materials for _______")
   • Total number of items proposed for purchase
   • Total amount of funding requested
   • A brief explanation of the theme for the proposal
   • A brief description of the criteria or methodology used to choose the materials proposed for purchase
   • If the materials proposed for purchase do not plainly belong to one of the categories in the definition of "humanities" from 20 U.S. Code § 952(a): a brief explanation of how the materials proposed for purchase relate to the humanities.
   • A brief explanation of how purchase of the proposed materials will meaningfully enhance the collections of the Salmon Library, with attention to the designated purposes of the M. Louis Salmon Humanities Center Endowment, and with attention to how the materials will supplement or expand the Salmon Library's current holdings
   • A statement declaring that the applicant has taken reasonable measures to verify that the Salmon Library does not own any of the titles proposed for purchase (including titles in different formats, such as e-book or paperback)
   • A spreadsheet of the materials proposed for purchase. Each item in the spreadsheet should contain bibliographic information, estimated purchase price, and an ISBN when available. (booksprint.com is a reliable site for identifying ISBNs.) If an ISBN is unavailable, the item should provide a catalogue page (or entire catalogue), pamphlet from the publisher, or any material that a library subject specialist might use to purchase the requested material.
7. Each proposal should be submitted by email to humanitiescenter@uah.edu, preferably with the subject line "Library Enhancement Grant Proposal".
8. Members of the Humanities Center Steering Committee, and the Director of the Humanities Center, are good sources of advice about Humanities Center Library Enhancement Grants.
9. Direct questions about Humanities Center Library Enhancement Grants to humanitiescenter@uah.edu

Evaluating Library Enhancement Grant Proposals

Members of the Humanities Center Steering Committee evaluate each proposal using the following criteria:

• Is the applicant a tenured or tenure-track faculty member at UAH?
• Was the proposal received during the open application window?
• Do the materials proposed for purchase relate to the humanities?
• Do the materials proposed for purchase form a coherent theme?
• If purchased, would the materials enhance the diversity and depth of instructional programming at UAH, support the professional development of UAH faculty, enhance the research capacities of students at UAH, and/or improve community access to materials that do not likely belong to the collections at public libraries?
• If purchased, would the materials supplement or expand the Salmon Library's current holdings?
• Is there adequate bibliographic and purchasing information for the materials proposed for purchase?

If the total funding requested, across all proposals satisfying the preceding criteria, exceeds the annual available budget provided by the M. Louis Salmon Humanities Center Endowment, members of the Steering Committee will rank proposals for quality and expected benefit to the humanities at UAH. Members might also contact applicants about revising or shortening the list of materials proposed for purchase.

Applicants can expect a verdict on their applications 4-6 weeks after the application window closes. Applicants who do not receive notice of a verdict in a timely fashion should contact the Director of the Humanities Center to confirm the status of their application.

Salmon Library Policy for Purchasing Materials (10/22/2019)

The library uses the ISBN that is on the request slip to determine what format (hardback, paperback or e-book) is being ordered for a title. Though current library policy recommends the purchase of the hardback format for print items, the library will order the paperback format of a title if that is preferred:

• If the request form has a hardcover ISBN then we will order the hardcover if available.
• If the request form has a paperback ISBN then we will order the paperback if available.
• If the request form has an e-book ISBN then we will order the e-book if available.
• If the requesting faculty member doesn't have the ISBN for the e-book, then he/she should put the print ISBN on the slip and note on the request that an e-book is preferred if available. Please note that e-books come with varied pricing options, therefore the ultimate cost for an e-book may prevent ordering in that format.

An important point to take into consideration is that the library's ordering procedures could affect the cost of materials since changing the format of a book can change the price to more than what has been approved.