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LSTA Grants

EDI & School Library Collections Grant

Application window for this grant is now closed

The State Library has allocated $70,000 for small grants to fund school library collection development with a focus on equity, diversity, and/or inclusion. The maximum award ranges from $10,000 to $250 based on student enrollment.

Oregon school districts, non-profit private schools, and public charter schools are eligible to apply. Except for private and charter schools, applications must be at the district level. Each district may decide how many and which schools to include, based on priorities, needs, etc.

The application period will open on Monday, April 12 and close Wednesday, April 21. Grant recipients will be notified by April 30, and a check will be issued within 30 days (hopefully sooner, but recipients can prepare orders while waiting on the check, if needed). In other words, recipients will receive funds up front instead of through a reimbursement model. All funds must be expended and invoices/receipts submitted to the State Library by August 31, 2021.

ELIGIBILITY & REQUIREMENTS

Who can apply

  • Any Oregon public school district on behalf of multiple school libraries within the district, or any Oregon non-profit private school or public charter school, that has a library facility and has some level of FTE of paid library staff at each participating library
  • Only school library staff may apply; when applying on behalf of multiple libraries within a district, designate a lead to fill out the application and reports (if there is a district-level librarian or staff who coordinates school library programs, that person would be a good designated lead)
    • Clarification: Library staff at non-profit private schools and at public charter schools may apply on behalf of their school. Library staff at individual schools in a district may not apply individually. Instead, all interested library staff at schools within a district should coordinate to determine how to share or divide potential grant funds. Each district may decide how many and which schools to include, based on priorities, needs, etc., knowing that grant funds must be used to add books to district-wide library platforms or for libraries in multiple schools. (The only exception is for small districts that only have one school.) Then designate a lead from among the library staff to apply. If a district has district-level staff who work with libraries, like a district librarian, that person would be a good designated lead. That means there can be only one application per district.

Grant recipients will be required to:

  • Adhere to the purchasing criteria (listed below)
  • Submit a simple status report via a form provided by the State Library indicating how much of the funds have been expended to date, by May 21, 2021
  • Acknowledge the funding source on any public-facing information or resources purchases made with these grant funds.
  • Expend ALL funds received by August 31, 2021
  • Submit all invoices and documentation related to grant purchases to the State Library by August 31, 2021
  • Submit a simple final report via a form provided by the State Library by September 30, 2021

ALLOWABLE ACTIVITIES & EXPENDITURES

Purchasing Criteria

  • Funds may only be used to purchase books; titles may be in print, audiobook, and/or ebook format
  • Books must be in support of one or more equity, diversity, and/or inclusion initiatives or goals; this is flexible in that it could address ebooks or audiobooks for accessibility, hi-lo books for struggling readers, materials in Spanish, books with characters or by authors that reflect the demographics of your student population, books as windows to cultures that are not heavily represented in your student population, etc.
  • Funds must be spent on school library collections, and may not be used for classroom libraries, novel sets, or textbooks
  • Books must be for students (versus for a staff professional collection, for example)
  • No more than 3 copies of the same title in all, or 3 of the same title per school if multiple schools will receive books to add to their library collections
  • Districts must use funds at the district level (such as ebooks for a shared platform) or for multiple schools; a district may not use all of the funds for one school except when the district is small and only has one school
  • These costs are NOT allowed: operational costs; prizes or incentives; internet service or internet-connected devices (unless library ensures CIPA compliance). This is not an exhaustive list; see our Allowable Cost Guide for more details.

Maximum Allowable Grant Request

Student enrollment (ODE 2020-21 data) => Maximum allowable grant request

  • 20,000 students and more => $10,000        
  • 12,500 to 19,999 students => $7,500           
  • 6,000 to 12,499 students => $5,000             
  • 3,000 to 5,999 students => $2,500                
  • 1,000 to 2,999 students => $1,000                
  • 400 to 999 students (including all non-profit private schools and public charter schools with 400 or more students) => $500     
  • 399 or fewer students (including all non-profit private schools and public charter schools with 399 or fewer students) = $250   

Example Spending Scenarios

  • District: Purchase titles to add to an ebook platform shared by all or multiple schools
  • District: Coordinate with library staff at a specific number of schools to build the print, audiobook, and/or ebook library collection at those schools
  • Non-profit private school or public charter school: Build the print, audiobook, and/or ebook library collection at your school

TIMELINE & APPLICATION PROCESS

All applicants must apply through the State Library of Oregon’s online grants portal.

  • You will need to create an account if you do not already have one.
  • You may save your work, log out, and come back to your application at any time before submitting.
  • View the applicant tutorial for details on using the system.
  • Final applications must be submitted by the deadline listed in the timeline below. Applications that are left incomplete in the system or not submitted by the deadline will be considered abandoned requests and will not be considered for funding.

Timeline

  • Applications open April 12, 2021
  • Applications close April 21, 2021
  • Applicants notified about award status April 30, 2021
  • Awardees will receive funds within approximately 30 days of award notification
  • Submit status report about funds expended to date, by May 21, 2021
  • Expend all funds by August 31, 2021
  • Submit all invoices and documentation by August 31, 2021
  • Submit final report to State Library by September 30, 2021

Evaluation

  • Preference may be given to applicants that have not received a mini-grant from the State Library in the last 12 months.
  • Preview the scoring rubric to help you as you fill out the application.