黑料社

Research Grants

黑料社Research Fund: An Endowment Established by LexisNexis庐

On July 17, 2000, the 黑料社 of Law Libraries (AALL) announced the formation of the 黑料社Research Fund, an endowment established with a $100,000 pledge from LexisNexis庐. The fund provides a secure financial base, enabling the LexisNexis Research Grant Jury to carry out the Association’s Research Agenda. That agenda encompasses research in the major topic areas of provision of legal information services, law library collections, legal research, the profession of law librarianship, and law library administration.

Purpose

  1. The grant will fund one or more projects of value to those professions that create, disseminate, or use legal and law-related information. The 黑料社Research Grant program aims to stimulate a diverse range of scholarship in any format.
  2. One or more grants may be awarded by the 黑料社LexisNexis Research Grant Jury twice a year. All grant applications are reviewed by the jury to identify the most meritorious projects for funding. The total amount that may be awarded for each round (not to exceed $5,000) will be determined before each application deadline. The next application deadlines are December 1, 2023 and May 1, 2024.
  3. Areas for potential research may include, but are not limited to, those described in the聽Association’s Research Agenda.

Selection Process

  1. Proposals must be submitted following the instructions on the 黑料社Research Grant Application Form (attached). The project proposal must:
    1. Demonstrate significance and originality in the context of existing literature and research;
    2. Propose appropriate strategies for conducting the research based on the topic or issue selected, including a plan for systematic analysis that will produce objective and reliable results;
    3. Show feasibility to be completed within the established time frame and budget;
    4. Include a preferred means of disseminating project results, within the requirements stated below.
  2. Criteria for selection include:
    1. The pertinence of the research question, the appropriateness of the research, and the feasibility of the work plan;
    2. The intellectual significance of the project, including its potential contribution to scholarship in librarianship, law librarianship, or legal fields, and the likelihood that it will encourage research in a new direction;
    3. The qualification, expertise, and level of commitment of the project director, and appropriateness of chosen staff;
    4. The promise of quality, usefulness, and impact on scholarship of any resulting research product;
    5. The potential for success of the project.

Applicant Eligibility

  1. Applicants should have experience with research projects, and an understanding of the creation, dissemination and/or use of legal and law-related information. Applicants may be individuals or partnerships.
  2. Preference will be given to members of AALL, working individually or in partnership with others.
  3. Applicant(s) must provide a resume and statement of their qualifications for carrying out this project. 黑料社reserves the right to request additional supporting documents.
  4. Applicant(s) currently working on an 黑料社Research Grant of any type is not eligible to apply for another research grant until the previously awarded grant is judged complete.
  5. Participation in this 黑料社research project shall not be denied to any applicant or abridged on account of race, color, religion, gender, age, national origin, disability or sexual orientation.

Terms

  1. The project should be completed within one year of receipt of the grant. Extensions of the deadline must be approved by the staff liaison.
  2. After a grant has been awarded, a check for 75 percent of the amount of the award is issued to recipient. Upon completion of the project and approval of a final report and a final product, 15 percent of the remainder is issued. The final 10 percent is issued upon acceptance of the final product for publication.
  3. Modifications to accepted projects must be approved by the staff liaison.
  4. Reimbursement of all grant monies may be required for any project that is not completed within the agreed upon time period.
  5. Although the research may be conducted in a language other than English, grant recipients must furnish a copy of the final report in English to the staff liaison.
  6. The allocation of these funds is at the discretion of the LexisNexis Research Grants Jury. The decisions of the jury are final. The jury reserves the right to make no award.
  7. Any unused grant funds must be returned at the end of the research project.

Reports

  1. Grant recipients will provide a semi-annual report and a final report to the staff liaison.
  2. Semi-annual reports must include:
    1. Activities that have been completed;
    2. Activities that must be done;
    3. Problems encountered and plans to overcome them;
    4. Expectations for results;
    5. A summary of expenses, including any proposed changes to the approved budget.
  3. Recipients will provide a written report to the staff liaison at the conclusion of their research project, as outlined in the 黑料社Research Grant Reporting Guidelines. The final written report聽may be published聽in an 黑料社publication, at the discretion of the Association.
  4. The Final Report shall provide a URL link and/or citation to the final product.

Budget

  1. The budget should include all costs that can be specifically identified in the proposal. Applicants should indicate the type and amount of contribution they expect from their institution, including in-kind allocation of time and resources. No specific financial commitments by the institution are required but, if submitted, those commitments will be weighed in the evaluation of the proposal. If the applicant is to be given leave for the research project, this should be noted. Institutional overhead is not an acceptable budget item within the parameters of the 黑料社grant, nor should overhead be listed as institutional support. (Note: 黑料社grant proposals must be submitted to the appropriate grants office of the applicant’s institution, if any, prior to submission to AALL. The grants office must accept the terms of the 黑料社Research Grant Program, and evidence of this acceptance must be included with the application materials.)If funding from sources other than the 黑料社grant and institutional contributions is anticipated, the budget should reflect the source and amount of such contributions, regardless of whether they have been solicited or received at the time of application.
  2. Possible expense categories are:
    1. Salaries and wages (e.g. salaries and/or fringe benefits for support staff or other salaried personnel, not salaries or honorarium for principal grant winners);
    2. Consultant services;
    3. Travel costs for work on the project;
    4. Supplies and materials;
    5. Other (including such costs as rental of space and/or equipment, communications, and computer services).
  3. Requests for modification of the budget must be approved by the staff liaison. Requests for modification of the budget must be accompanied by a revised budget.

Procedures

  1. Download and submit the Research Grant Application along with all the required documentation.
  2. Applicants must follow instructions on the application form.
  3. Grant recipients will submit their final report and project results by the scheduled date. 黑料社retains a right of first refusal for publication or other use of project results. If the project results are not accepted for publication in an 黑料社publication or the Association declines to make some other use of the results, the grant recipient may publish or distribute the research results in another manner. In that case, recognition of 黑料社support must be included with the research results. Ownership rights to the project results, including copyright or other intellectual property rights, are subject to negotiation between the grant recipient and AALL.
  4. For further information, contact 黑料社Director of Information Technology, Christopher Siwa.

黑料社Research Grant Reporting Guidelines

After a grant has been awarded, a check for 75 percent of the amount of the award is issued to the recipient. Upon completion of the project and approval of a final report and a final product, 15 percent of the remainder is issued. The final 10 percent is issued upon acceptance of the final product for publication.

A semi-annual report and a final report must be submitted to the staff liaison. The content of the reports are outlined below:

Semi-Annual Reports

  1. Technical Report聽(two to three pages, maximum)
    1. What activities have been completed?
    2. What remains to be done?
    3. What problems do you anticipate?
    4. How do you plan to overcome problems?
    5. At this point in your work, what do you think the results will be?
  2. Financial Report聽(one page)
    1. Categories of planned expenditure (e.g., supplies, travel).
    2. Amount to be spent in each category.
    3. Amount spent to date in each category.
    4. Amount still to be spent in each category.

Final Report

  1. Technical Report (three to five pages, maximum). Please include brief answers to the following questions:
    1. What was the original problem and research question(s)?
    2. What did you actually do and how does it differ from your original plan?
    3. What problems did you encounter and how did you deal with them?
    4. What answers do you have now for the research question(s) asked in the proposal?
    5. How has your work contributed to a solution of the original problem?
    6. What else could be done to answer the research question(s)?
    7. What are your plans for disseminating the results of your work?
  2. Financial Report (1 page)
  3. Categories of planned expenditure (e.g., supplies, travel).
    1. Final Product (approximately 15 pages)
    2. Amount you planned to spend in each category.
    3. Amount you actually spent in each category.
  4. Brief explanation of differences between B and C.
  5. Attach originals of all receipts/documentation for expenses itemized.

The final product should be a detailed report on the findings and results of the research project. The final product should be written according to the Law Library Journal (LLJ) Publication guidelines and in consultation with the LLJ editor, unless another 黑料社publication (print or web-based) or an independent standalone print or web-based publication is deemed to be more appropriate. 黑料社retains the right of first refusal as regards the final product.

If the final product is to be delivered in a format other than an LLJ 补谤迟颈肠濒别;听format must be authorized at the time of the last semi-annual report.

The final product shall prominently indicate the following: Funding for this project was provided by the 黑料社 of Law Libraries (AALL) Research Fund (an Endowment Established by LexisNexis庐).

The final product will be considered complete for the purpose of meeting the requirements of the research grant when it has been accepted for publication.

Recipients

  • 2020 - 2024

    2023-2024

    LexisNexis Research Fund Grant
    • Heather Agnew
      Enhancing Legal Research Skills Through a Puzzle-Based Approach
    • Marcelo Rodriguez
      Virtual Law Library of Territories
    • Alyson Drake and Amanda Watson
      Spaced Retrieval & Retention of Law School Learning
    • Li Zhang
      The Potential Effect of Career Path on Judicial Behavior of Circuit Judges

    2022-2023

    LexisNexis Research Fund Grant
    • Trezlen Drake
      FCIL Collections in U.S. Academic Law Libraries
    • Caroline Osborne
      Scholarly Impact and Status Using An Empirical Study of Library Directors and Law Deans
    • Thomas Striepe and Savanna Nolan
      Effectiveness of Research Plans: A Case Study

    2021-2022

    LexisNexis Research Fund Grant
    • Casandra Laskowski and Andrew Christensen
      Building Data Infrastructures for Bespoke Faculty Services
    • Erin Gow
      An Investigation of Law Librarianship Degree Requirements

    2020-2021

    LexisNexis Research Fund Grant
    • Amanda Bolles Watson, Leslie A. Street, Amanda Runyon, and Amanda Karel聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Measuring Quality in Academic Law Library Public Services
    • After evaluating all applications, the LexisNexis Research Grant Jury did not issue an award in December 2020.
    • Katarina Daniels
      Law Librarians Leading the AI Charge in Law Faculties and Across University Library Systems

  • 2010 - 2019

    2018-2019

    LexisNexis Research Fund Grant
    • John Cannan
      The New Orthodoxy: How Congress Passes Laws Now
    • Joan Bellistri, Sara Galligan, and 黑料社Government Law Libraries SIS (GLL-SIS)
      Law Library Services to Self-Represented Litigants: A Survey
    • Tina Ching
      A Comparative Legislative History of State Sanctuary Laws

    2017-2018

    LexisNexis Research Fund Grant
    • Michael J. Slinger and Sarah C. Slinger
      The Complete Periodical Literature of Law Librarianship: An Annotated Bibliographic Research Database
    • Nick Harrell and Scott Uhl
      Search Methods of Legal Scholars
    • Duane A. Strojny and Alissa Raasch
      Learning Outcomes, Assessment, and Skills Teaching In Librarian-Taught Legal Research Courses

    2016-2017

    LexisNexis Research Fund Grant
    • Alexander Jakubow and Jon Ashley
      Looking Forward by Looking Back: Insights from a Text Analysis of the Law Library Journal

    2015鈥�2016

    LexisNexis Research Fund Grant
    • Neel Agrawal
      African Drumming Laws: Colonial Governance of African Customs
    • Laura C Dabney
      Legal English Terminology (L.E.T)
    • Nisha Mistry and Alison A Shea
      Enhancing Access to Global Urban Legislation: A Case Study of the United Nations’ UbranLex Database

    2014鈥�2015

    LexisNexis Research Fund Grant
    • Amy Taylor
      Internet Sources in U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs: A Citation Analysis
    • Kristina J Alayan and Jane Bahnson
      An Empirical Study Comparing LLM Comprehension Following Live and Recorded Lecture
    • Stacy Etheredge
      The Impact for the Lewi v. Casey “actual Injury” Requirement on Litigation Involving Prison and Jail Law Libraries
    • Susan David deMaine and Benjamin J. Keele
      Access to the Justices? An Analysis on Restrictions to the Papers of the Supreme Court Justices

    2013鈥�2014

    LexisNexis Research Fund Grant
    • Melanie Knapp, Rob Wiley, and George Mason University
      Comparison of Research Speed and Accuracy Using WestlawNext and Lexis Advance
    • Andrea Alexander and Michelle Hook Dewey
      Building Bridges: Case Studies in Best Practices for Law Library and Career
    AALL/Wolters Kluwer Law & Business Research Grant
    • Phillip Gragg
      Upward Mobility and Career Prospects for the Dual Degree Librarian: A Quantitative Analysis of Our Profession and Projection of Career Opportunities Over the Next Two Decades
    • Shawn Nevers
      Research Practices of Attorneys

    2012鈥�2013

    AALL/Wolters Kluwer Law & Business Research Grant Fund
    • Brian Anderson
      Determining the Role of Law Libraries in the Republic of Rwanda: A Survey of Users, Uses, and Overall Legal Society

    2011鈥�2012

    AALL/Wolters Kluwer Law & Business Research Grant Fund
    • Julie L. Kimbrough, Leslie A. Street & Kathrine R. Everett
      Assessing Collection and Holding Patterns for Print Primary Legal Materials: A Fifty-State Database
    • Melanie Knapp, Robert Willey & the George Mason University Law Library
      Comparison of Research Speed and Accuracy Using Westlaw and WestlawNext

    2010鈥�2011

    AALL/Wolters Kluwer Law & Business Research Grant Fund
    • John Cannan
      Drupal Constitutional History Project

  • 2000 - 2009

    2008鈥�2009

    AALL/Wolters Kluwer Law & Business Research Grant Fund
    • John Doyle
      Law Review Submissions
    • Scott Frey
      A Search Engine for Law-Related Public Domain Electronic Books
    Research Fund: An Endowment Established by LexisNexis庐
    • Georgia Briscoe
      Is Quality Control in Academic Law Library Online Catalogs Decreasing?

    2007鈥�2008

    AALL/Wolters Kluwer Law & Business Research Grant Fund
    • Dr. Joel Fishman
      Index to State Judges’ Inductions, Memorials, etc. from the Official State Court Reports
    • Wendy Scott and Christine Demetros
      Merging Reference and Circulation Services: The Savior or Undoing of Reference in Academic Law Libraries
    Research Fund: An Endowment Established by LexisNexis庐
    • Jill Duffy and Elizabeth Lambert
      Dissents from the Bench: A Compilation of Oral Dissents Issued by the U.S. Supreme Court Justices
    • Karen E. Kalnins
      Oral Histories of Oklahoma Judges and Attorneys

    2006鈥�2007

    AALL/Aspen Law & Business Research Grant
    • Molly Brownfield and Dennis C. Kim-Prieto
      Assessing Information Literacy of Law Students

    2005鈥�2006

    AALL/Aspen Law & Business Research Grant
    • Timothy G. Kearley
      Justinian’s Code on the Web
    Research Fund: An Endowment Established by LexisNexis庐
    • Charles R. Dyer
      Bibliography and Essay on Cognitive Science and Linguistics for Law Librarians
    • Maria Protti
      Law Librarian to Thurgood Marshall: A Search for Primary Material on the Relationship Between Howard Jay Graham and Thurgood Marshall
    • Kathleen Sasala
      Index to Ohio Legal Periodicals

    2004鈥�2005

    AALL/Aspen Law & Business Research Grant
    • Charles Cronin
      Music Plagiarism Digital Archive at Columbia Law Library
    • Karl Gruben
      AmLaw 100 KM Survey
    • Betsy Mckenzie
      Effects on PCs and Databases on Legal Analysis Skills
    Research Fund: An Endowment Established by LexisNexis庐
    • Nancy Carol Carter
      A Research Template for Building Indian Nation Archives

    2003鈥�2004

    AALL/Aspen Law & Business Research Grant
    • Kelly Browne
      The Emotional Intelligence of Law Librarians
    • Kelly Kunsch
      Research at the Washington State Archives
    Research Fund: An Endowment Established by LexisNexis庐
    • Samuel E. Trosow
      Open Access to Scholarly Communications in the Field of Law: A Preliminary Assessment of Existing Copyright Policies

    2002鈥�2003

    AALL/Aspen Law & Business Research Grant
    • Stephanie J. Burke, Kathryn Hensiak,聽& Donna Nixon
      Assessing Information Literacy Among First-Year Students – A Survey to Measure Research Experiences and Perceptions.
    • David Selden
      Reconsidering Indians of North America – Creating a Federal Indian and Tribal Law Library Subject Headings Thesaurus.
    Research Fund: An Endowment Established by LexisNexis庐
    • Laura Orr
      Brief Encounters of the Digital Kind: Digital Court Records in an Age of Diminishing Privacy
    • Samuel E. Trosow
      The Impact of GATS on Public Law Library Service

    2001鈥�2002

    AALL/Aspen Law & Business Research Grant
    • Catherine Sanders Reach and David Whelan
      Feasibility and Viability of a Digital Law Library in 2002
    • 黑料社Government Relations Committee, Chaired by Anne E. Burnett
      Permanent Public Access of State Government Information: A State-by-State Compilation and Resource Guide
    Research Fund: An Endowment Established by LexisNexis庐
    • Pamela Melton
      Research Habits of the South Carolina Bar

    2000鈥�2001

    Research Fund: An Endowment Established by LexisNexis庐
    • Xia Chen
      Web-based Distance Learning of Principles of American Legal Bibliography
    • Kris Gilliland
      How Lawyers Do Legal Research