I want to highlight a new grants finding tool specific to healthcare : ScanGrants. Of special interest is the number of categories they have devoted to nursing, including a category for nursing research. The following information is brought to you by :
Hope Leman
Library Technical Specialist
Murray Memorial Library
Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center
3600 NW Samaritan Drive
Corvallis OR 97330
Telephone (541) 768-6337
Fax (541) 768-5087
Email hleman@samhealth.org
www.medgrab.com
"I would be very grateful for any help in increasing use of ScanGrants. As
far as I can determine, there are few other free resources that
specifically focus on grants and other types of funding in the health
sciences.
It has been very rewarding to watch as ScanGrants has been adopted as a
resource by medical school and dental school libraries, public libraries,
offices of research administration and so on. Institutions using it include
the Michigan State University Libraries, the Alameda County Library, the
Medical College of Wisconsin, Washington University in St. Louis, the
Office of Research Information Services at the University of Washington and
so on. I am very proud, too, to see ScanGrants situated in close proximity
to such standard tools as the for-profit giants in the information sciences
and grantsmanship worlds, ScienceDirect and Community of Science, in the
database listings of the Norris Medical Library at the University of
Southern California.
ScanGrants is an example of what members of the MLA can contribute to one
another for free, increasing our ability to assist our patrons fund
research or find the money they need for continuing education in nursing or
medical school. I think all of have of us who work in medical libraries
have seen smart but impecunious young people come into our libraries hoping
to find some information about scholarships. I try very hard to list every
possible scholarship in the health sciences I come across, no matter how
small, that will assist those scrounging for every dollar they can to
become pharmacists, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, etc. It is
immensely rewarding, for instance, to be able to sit down at my desk and
enter a scholarship for $250 or $10,000 and hope that some medical
librarian somewhere will print out the listing and help someone gain the
skills he or she will use to help, say, a ALS patient breathe more easily.
Additionally, it never hurts for libraries to have more free online tools
at their disposal. ScanGrants is not only is a treasure trove of possible
funding opportunities, it is an educational tool. Many nurses, for
instance, are intrigued by the idea of conducting research projects but are
unfamiliar with the ins and outs of grant applications. ScanGrants is one
way to read actual grant announcements and to determine if they have what
it takes to make a go of a research project. I urge medical libraries to at
least consider placing a link to ScanGrants on their Web sites. The more
research generated the better, as that is what improves medical practices.
ScanGrants facilitates community outreach for medical libraries, too. I
make an effort to list grants that might benefit school nurses and high
school science teachers hoping to spur interest in the health sciences
among their pupils and to enable local nonprofits to continue their work.
I have had articles about Scangrants published in the Journal of Electronic
Resources in Medical Libraries and in Computers in Libraries. The later
article is freely available on the Web, "ScanGrants: A New Service for
Libraries, A New Role for Librarians."
Thank you all for your help. I am a proud member of the MLA and have been
helped all along the way with ScanGrants by fellow members of it. And I am
not shy about asking for your help once again!"
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