TLA Grant Application Form

Longtime TLA member Jeanette Larson and her architect husband, Jim, established this fund to help a public library or public library branch annually acquire materials in the mystery genre to delight their customers. Application is open to any public library in the state of Texas, including individual branch libraries of a larger library system. The number and amount of awards will depend upon the net income produced by the established fund. At least one grant of $500 is awarded annually.According to the Grant Program, funds awarded will be used solely for the purchase of library material identified in the mystery genre of fiction.

This fund was established to perpetuate Christina Woll’s love of reading and commitment to providing quality literature for children. Based on the merits of individual applications, awards of up to $1,000 will be granted PRIOR to the TLA Annual Conference to Texas school or public libraries that demonstrate one or more of the following: A commitment to providing a collection of quality children’s literature. A need to develop or enhance a particular part of the overall collection. A need to develop or enhance a particular program. A need to support a particular part of the curriculum.

Provide a brief description of the public library and its service area, including staff and hours open. Include information about your library’s patrons so the reviewers have a sense of the community being served. Narrow your focus to the one particular segment of the population that the grant will address.

Discuss cooperative arrangements that your library has within your community, such as with other public libraries, school libraries, or organizations such as Rotary. Discuss how these partnerships help foster literacy and the love of reading in your community. Collaborative partnerships within the community should be the focus, not routine outreach.

Provide a detailed statement outlining the impact of the grant on the collection and the community. This may include filling gaps in the collection, adding new authors to the collection, expanding the collection to new user groups, or adding new formats to the collections. Provide evidence, such as borrowing or inter-library loan statistics, to show that the grant money is needed for the mystery genre in the library. Provide selection criteria used to compile the preliminary bibliography of titles to be purchased with the grant money. Discuss who will benefit from the inclusion of these titles in the collection. Discuss how the grant money supports your library’s mission. Make a case for why this grant money is important for the library.

Discuss in detail how the materials purchased with the grant money will be marketed to the library’s community. This may include displays, press releases, book discussion groups or other methods. PLEASE NOTE: Beginning with the 2020 grant winner, TLA requests a copy of what was used for marketing the winning grant. Pictures of the materials and any events where the materials were used are encouraged as well. The goal is to build a history and create promotional items for the grant.

Provide the name and qualifications of the library staff person or consultant who will be responsible for the selection of materials.

Provide a preliminary bibliography of materials under consideration for purchase if the grant is received. Include the author, title, date of publication, and prices for books, DVDs, audio material, or e-content, of all items. Include a discussion of how the money will be allocated so the funds have a targeted impact on the collection. Any amount over what the grant will cover should include how the overage will be covered.