Elsevier Foundation Announces over $500,000 in New Grants

["Menefee, Daviess (ELS-NYC)" <D.Menefee@elsevier.com>]

Amsterdam, January 26, 2009 - The Elsevier Foundation has 
announced today that it has committed a total of $555,000 in 
grants to ten institutions from around the world in support of 
initiatives that promote the work of libraries and scholars in 
science, technology and medicine. The winning proposals were 
selected from over 165 applicants worldwide for their innovation 
and potential for impact in the developing world, nursing 
community and academic workplace.  This year's grants also 
include the newly launched Nurse Faculty Mentored Leadership 
Development Program.

The winning proposals for the Innovative Libraries in Developing 
Countries grant are:

*Collaborative Digital Reference Service System (CDRSS) for 
University Libraries in China: An Exploratory Study, Shanghai 
Jiao Tong University

*Information and Library Needs Assessment to support the Orotta 
School of Medicine, Physicians for Peace and GWU Medical Center 
Training project in Eritrea, George Washington University 
Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library

*Building on an operational health network to develop a health 
information library network in Cameroon Centre International de 
Reference "Chantal Biya" (CIRCB)

*Creating an Integrated Library System (ILS) Using Open Source 
Software KOHA for BRAC, University Library, Aysha Abed Library 
BRAC University

Within the New Scholars program, the Elsevier Foundation has 
awarded five grants to enable scholars to balance childcare and 
family responsibilities during the early stages of their 
demanding careers in science and technology. The grant winners 
represent a range of international institutions pioneering new 
approaches to childcare, mentoring and networking.=20

The winning proposals for the New Scholars grant are:

*AWIS Leading Women to create their own Personal Work/life 
Balance, Association for Women in Science (AWIS)

*Committee on the Status of Women in Physics, American Physical 
Society

*Child Care & Mentoring Support at the Annual Evolution 
Conference, University of the Pacific, Stockton California and 
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington New Zealand

*Childcare at the EMBO Meeting, European Molecular Biology 
Organization (EMBO)

*A Program for the Personal and Professional Development of Women 
Scientists in Georgia, Maternal and Childcare Union Tbilisi 
Georgia

The newly launched Nurse Faculty Mentored Leadership Development 
Program is a three-year partnership. The program seeks to create 
a new model for mentoring new nurse faculty in partnership with 
Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI), the leading global 
professional nurse organization. Mentoring has been found to be a 
critical factor in the retention and advancement of nursing 
faculty (for both mentors and mentees). The program will focus on 
the Assistant Professor level and strive to establish new 
standards and competencies for nurse leaders.

"This year's Foundation grant recipients have proposed extremely 
promising programs that will have both immediate and long-lasting 
impacts on different parts of the research and scientific 
communities," said Y.S. Chi, Vice Chairman of Elsevier.  "Guided 
by our mission to make genuine contributions to science and 
health communities, Elsevier is proud to partner with these 
organizations and support their efforts."

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