There is a lot of “pitching” that goes on at the NHPRC each summer. But alas, I am not referring to baseball.
Summer is a particularly valuable time for us to describe our grants programs to potential applicants. What’s the same and what’s new? What does it take for an application to be really competitive? These are invaluable discussions, and this is our “season” to make AND to listen to all sorts of pitches.
Taking place August 11-17 right here in Washington, DC, the joint annual meeting of SAA/CoSA/NAGARA provides the NHPRC staff with a perfect storm of opportunities to discuss your ideas in a variety of forums. You will have lots of chances to listen to and be heard from during this week-long meeting. SO don’t be shy! Below is a schedule of activities where you can meet up with NHPRC staff during the week:
GRANT PROGRAM Information Sessions
• NHPRC Exhibit Hall Booth (#803) – stop by anytime during exhibit hours to put a name with a face, discuss ideas, set an appointment for a lengthy conversation, or pick up some literature. In addition, we have scheduled a handful of “lightning” talks and Q&A sessions throughout the day on Friday, August 15:
- Archives Leadership Institute (with Lucy Barber) – 9:45-10:15AM
- Access to Historical Records (with Alex Lorch) – 11:45AM-12:15PM
- Digital Dissemination (with Nancy Melley) – 2:15-2:45PM
- Literacy and Engagement (with Lucy Barber) – 3:15-3:45PM
• NARA Mini-Theater in Exhibit Hall – if you can’t make it to these scheduled talks, the NHPRC staff will make a presentation on our two most popular grant categories – Access and Digital Dissemination grants – at the NARA mini-theater on Friday, August 15, 10-10:30AM
• Funders’ Corner in Network Café – throughout the meeting we will use our space in the Network Café to meet one-on-one with anyone who could use some sit down time to discuss ideas, challenges, etc.
STATE and GOVERNMENT ARCHIVES Activities
• PERTTS Workshop – NHPRC staff are attending parts 1 and 2 of this workshop taking place on Tuesday, August 12 and Wednesday, August 13
• CoSA Work Session – Come visit with me or Dan Stokes, and especially come listen to Nancy Melley describe the new NHPRC State Government Electronic Records grant program on Wednesday, August 13, Noon – 5PM
• State Board (SHRAB) Brown Bag Lunch – Dan Stokes and I will team up to give an overview of new NHPRC program initiatives for state boards, and listen to your feedback and challenges, on Thursday, August 14, noon-1:15PM
• CoSA Business Meeting – an opportunity to get an overview of the past year and help us read the tea leaves for what’s coming up in the next, with Dan Stokes and myself fielding your questions and comments, on Friday, August 15, 12:30-2:30PM
SESSION/EVENT Participation
• Session #501: Taken for Granted: How Term Positions Affect New Professionals and the Repositories that Employ Them will include NHPRC grants officer Alex Lorch among the speakers on Friday, August 15, 2:45-3:45PM
• Archives Leadership Institute Practices Workshop on Sunday August 17, 9AM-1PM will include one or more NHPRC staff attending
And for my final PITCH… we have found that applicants really benefit from discussing their ideas with us during this pre-application time, so I encourage you to use the annual meeting to your advantage. We are happy to chat and meet with you!