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Funding Research Opportunities Grant

Frog Committee

Since 1997 TS-SIS has joined with LSRD-SIS to provide funding for grants for law librarians to perform research on topics that will enhance technical services law librarianship. The FROG Committee is comprised of six members: the chair, a representative-at-large, two representatives from TS-SIS, and two representatives from LSRD-SIS. Each representative serves for two years.

FROG Committee Members

Purpose

The purpose of this grant is to provide support for technical services law librarians to perform research or assessment projects which will enhance our profession. The LSRD/TS FROG (Funding Research Opportunities Grant) Committee will award up to $1,000 in grants in a single year. Click here for a list of grants awarded in the past, and other possible ideas.

Eligibility

• Applicants must be ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ (ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ) members.
• Preference for grant awards will be given to current members of LSRD or TS-SIS, but shall not be limited to those SISs. Evidence that the research and subsequent publication will directly or indirectly benefit technical services law librarianship must be shown.
• Participation in this program shall not be denied to any applicant on account of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability or sexual orientation.

Terms of the Grant

• A written status report may also be requested at any time by the FROG Committee. These reports may be published in Technical Services Law Librarian (TSLL) at the discretion of the FROG Committee
• Verification of expenses may be requested by the FROG Committee
• On completion of the project, the grant recipient must furnish a copy of the final work to the FROG Committee
• If the final research product is subsequently published in any format, LSRD and TS SISs support must be acknowledged in the work.
• If the project is not completed, nor completion date extended, grant recipient must return full grant amount to the FROG Committee within 30 days of the agreed upon completion date.

Application Process and Guidelines

Grant applicants must fill out the FROG Grant Application (Word). Please email the completed application to the FROG Committee Chair. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Applicants are encouraged to apply early to ensure sufficient funds. ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ fiscal year begins on October 1 and runs through September 30.

Complete applications consist of the following pieces:

1. 1. Goals and objectives of the research/project
   2. Proposed means of disseminating the results
   3. Contact information for two references
   4. Budget
   5. FROG (Funding Research Opportunities Grant) Agreement

If you have any questions about the application process or any of the application documents, please email the FROG Committee Chair.

2024 FROG RECIPIENT

Devan Orr, Foreign and International Reference Librarian, and Kathryn Downing, Digital Collections & Archives Librarian at William & Mary Law School have been awarded an $860 FROG for their project, Abstracting with AI. This project will test the ability of artificial intelligence to create abstracts for law review articles and faculty scholarship in institutional repositories, in an effort to address the challenge of improving discoverability of publications that lack abstracts. Devan and Kathryn will share their findings from this project through publications such as Technical Services Law Librarian (TSLL) and blog entries. They also plan to submit a proposal to discuss their results at the 2025 ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ conference session.

PAST GRANT RECIPIENTS AND IDEAS FOR FUTURE GRANTS

Successful past grant recipients:

• Empirical Assessment of Law Library Collection Using a Semi-supervised Machine Learning Model
  Amount: $1,000 for research assistant
• BIBFRAME Metadata Production: A Primer
  Amount: $800 for books, software and conference registration
• Alternative Cataloging: Cataloging at Amazon.com Online Bookstore
  Amount: $231 for travel to Seattle to visit Amazon.
• Nevada Practice Materials: a Selected Annotated Bibliography
  Amount: $130 for travel back to Nevada (after moving away)
• Enhancement of LC Classification System
  Amount: $1,000
• TSLL 25 Year Index (later changed to 30 year index)
  Amount: $790 for two copies of Cindex (indexing software)
• Citation Practices of the Indiana Supreme Court and the Indiana Court of Appeals
  Amount: $540 for research assistant, paper and toner

Possible projects for future grant applications:

• Purchase a piece of software or an app to experiment with to see if it would be useful to increase work efficiency or serve end users
• Purchase access to a webinar to learn how to prepare a poster session
• Take an online skills-building course on how to design an Access database
• Pay for the registration cost to attend a conference other than ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ
• Perform a usability study

Possible uses for grant funds:

• Subscription to Zoomerang or Survey Monkey to conduct a survey
• Food and beverage to draw people to a focus group meeting
• Prizes to entice people to participate in your survey
• Hire a research assistant
• Travel to do research in libraries and other organizations
• Purchase a software package that will aid your research (statistical software, indexing software, etc.)
• Office supplies (paper, toner, etc.) needed for your project
• Fee to use an association’s mailing list to survey its members