Learning Partnerships
The application period has closed for 2024/2025 Learning Partnerships!!!!! Look forward to an announcement in June!
"This fellowship was a transformational experience for us! In this era of exploding knowledge, understanding and implementing strategies for knowledge management is essential for all kinds of organizations."
– Executive Vice President and CEO, Lucinda Maine AACP, 2/2016
The purpose of the Learning Partnerships is to place experienced librarians and information professionals within leading health or research organizations in order for both partners to gain a better understanding of how best information sciences can be effectively applied in each environment. The Fund believes that this experience will facilitate a bridging of cultures resulting in a more creative and effective application of information science in the health care arena. The Sewell Fund support covers salary and incidental expenses for these twelve-month Learning Partnership fellowships.
It's our pleasure to announce the application period for health sciences organizations interested in receiving financial support to host a Sewell Fund Learning Partnership starting in 2024.
The Sewell Fund Learning Partnership program has been designed to provide funding for a medical or health sciences librarian or information scientist to spend approximately a year in the environment of a host organization.
Host organizations will present a learning environment, a series of activities, and access to organizational leaders which will allow the librarian or information scientist to more fully understand the nature of the organization's work, its decision-making processes, the clients served and the health care issues addressed. The selected applicants will participate in team settings designed to utilize the librarian's skills and knowledge in non-traditional ways. Immersion is the goal and expanded knowledge the anticipated result for both partners. Given the current COVID-19 restrictions, we are open to a partnership that takes place in a remote work environment.
As they come to identify with the host clients in a work setting, librarians will broaden their perceptions and deepen their understanding of the clients' goals, thinking, knowledge base and methodology. Client hosts will receive assistance from a skilled librarian capable of helping in both non-traditional and traditional library activities. The host will also gain insight into information management techniques and librarian capabilities. The partnership will also inform the librarian partner about health sciences topics and current research methodology or practice protocols. Both partners will learn how their skills and knowledge can be more effectively integrated to increase the quality of research or health care.
To apply for consideration as a Host Organization, applicants must meet the following criteria:
In return for hosting a Sewell Fund Fellowship, your organization will receive a grant ($100,000) to cover the salary and health benefits of the Fellow and operational expenses, such as provision of a computer, attendance at conferences and other educational opportunities. Host Organization Letters of Intent are due March 31, 2024. Host Organization applications are due April 30, 2024.
If you are a health sciences librarian or information specialist who is interested in being considered for selection as a Sewell Fund Fellow, information will be available here in June.
To read about past Learning Partnerships, click here.
Key 2024/2025 Learning Partnership Dates:
Letter of Intent Due: March 31, 2024
Host Applications Due: April 30,2024
2024/2025 Host Recipients Announced: June 2024
Host Application Process
Please submit a non-binding Letter of Intent (LOI) by March 31, 2024. The purpose of the LOI is to help the Sewell Fund gauge the number of potential Learning Partnership applicants and to provide the opportunity for early communication between the Fund and host organizations about potential partnerships.
The LOI should include the following information:
Full Proposals/Applications and all attachments must be received no later than April 30, 2024.
Download Host Requirements Document
Download Host Application for Learning Partnership
The Sewell Fund Trustees will fund one Learning Partnership to begin in 2024. Learning Partnership grants will be announced in early June 2024. Funding is for no more than a 12-month period with no ongoing funding implied.
Anticipated Outcomes from our Learning Partnerships
(1) Institute of Medicine. Crossing the quality chasm: a new health system for the 21st century. [Web document]. Washington, DC; National Academy Press, 2001. http://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25057539/).
(2) Davidoff E, Florance V. The informationist: a new health profession? [editorial] Ann Int Med 2000 Jun 20;132(12):996-8.
(3) Rankin JA, Grefsheim SF, Canto, CC. The emerging informationist specialty: a systematic review of the literature. J Med Libr Assoc 2008 Jul;96(3):194-206.
"This fellowship was a transformational experience for us! In this era of exploding knowledge, understanding and implementing strategies for knowledge management is essential for all kinds of organizations."
– Executive Vice President and CEO, Lucinda Maine AACP, 2/2016
The purpose of the Learning Partnerships is to place experienced librarians and information professionals within leading health or research organizations in order for both partners to gain a better understanding of how best information sciences can be effectively applied in each environment. The Fund believes that this experience will facilitate a bridging of cultures resulting in a more creative and effective application of information science in the health care arena. The Sewell Fund support covers salary and incidental expenses for these twelve-month Learning Partnership fellowships.
It's our pleasure to announce the application period for health sciences organizations interested in receiving financial support to host a Sewell Fund Learning Partnership starting in 2024.
The Sewell Fund Learning Partnership program has been designed to provide funding for a medical or health sciences librarian or information scientist to spend approximately a year in the environment of a host organization.
Host organizations will present a learning environment, a series of activities, and access to organizational leaders which will allow the librarian or information scientist to more fully understand the nature of the organization's work, its decision-making processes, the clients served and the health care issues addressed. The selected applicants will participate in team settings designed to utilize the librarian's skills and knowledge in non-traditional ways. Immersion is the goal and expanded knowledge the anticipated result for both partners. Given the current COVID-19 restrictions, we are open to a partnership that takes place in a remote work environment.
As they come to identify with the host clients in a work setting, librarians will broaden their perceptions and deepen their understanding of the clients' goals, thinking, knowledge base and methodology. Client hosts will receive assistance from a skilled librarian capable of helping in both non-traditional and traditional library activities. The host will also gain insight into information management techniques and librarian capabilities. The partnership will also inform the librarian partner about health sciences topics and current research methodology or practice protocols. Both partners will learn how their skills and knowledge can be more effectively integrated to increase the quality of research or health care.
To apply for consideration as a Host Organization, applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Your organization must be involved in health sciences service delivery, research or product development and can be a nonprofit organization, a public agency, or a private sector company.
- Have a project and a team of employees responsible for outcomes that would benefit from the wide range of skills of an experienced mid-career health sciences librarian or information scientist (the Sewell Fund Fellow).
- An environment which would allow the Sewell Fund Fellow to be immersed in your organization's work, learn from your leaders more about the health sciences issues of importance to your organization, and allow the Fellow to contribute in a substantive way to the success of your organization.
- Organizations that do not currently have a library or librarian(s) are especially encouraged to apply.
In return for hosting a Sewell Fund Fellowship, your organization will receive a grant ($100,000) to cover the salary and health benefits of the Fellow and operational expenses, such as provision of a computer, attendance at conferences and other educational opportunities. Host Organization Letters of Intent are due March 31, 2024. Host Organization applications are due April 30, 2024.
If you are a health sciences librarian or information specialist who is interested in being considered for selection as a Sewell Fund Fellow, information will be available here in June.
To read about past Learning Partnerships, click here.
Key 2024/2025 Learning Partnership Dates:
Letter of Intent Due: March 31, 2024
Host Applications Due: April 30,2024
2024/2025 Host Recipients Announced: June 2024
Host Application Process
Please submit a non-binding Letter of Intent (LOI) by March 31, 2024. The purpose of the LOI is to help the Sewell Fund gauge the number of potential Learning Partnership applicants and to provide the opportunity for early communication between the Fund and host organizations about potential partnerships.
The LOI should include the following information:
- Contact information (name and email address) for Host Organization & Fellow Mentor/point of contact at organization
- Contact information (name and email address) for Librarian (if known) or Librarian Organization that will assist with recruitment of the Librarian.
- Brief summary of the planned Learning Partnership.
- Brief description of how the proposed partnership is in line with the Sewell Fund’s mission.
- Brief description of how the proposed partnership would benefit the field of library information science.
Full Proposals/Applications and all attachments must be received no later than April 30, 2024.
Download Host Requirements Document
Download Host Application for Learning Partnership
The Sewell Fund Trustees will fund one Learning Partnership to begin in 2024. Learning Partnership grants will be announced in early June 2024. Funding is for no more than a 12-month period with no ongoing funding implied.
Anticipated Outcomes from our Learning Partnerships
- Librarians should identify with their clients rather than look at clients’ needs merely intellectually from the library/information services perspective.
- Librarians should be advocates for end users to the traditional library staff, assisting the latter in identifying with the clients and gaining a “We” rather than a “They” perspective.
- Librarians should be prepared to improve or extend their services in a variety of ways such as: a) Developing, promoting, and administering programs to satisfy the client’s needs in libraries or information centers, b) as experienced intermediaries, providing improved services directly to the client in any appropriate setting, c) doing research or development on methods of satisfying those needs, e.g. through artificial intelligence in advanced search engines for the client’s use, and d) becoming more comfortable with the familiar specialty could lay excellent groundwork for showing the import of having an information specialist as a member of the client’s team.
- Becoming an “informationist” in a particular area is valid for those librarians whose personalities and training are “more specialist than generalist.”(2,3)
- Hosts, besides gaining from the improved perceptions and services of the librarians, should have gained a better understanding of the many ways the librarian can facilitate their work.
- Hosts should be more facile with the newer information technologies,
- Hosts should be better able to formulate queries or analyze problems that require a search for information in their solution.
- Hosts should better understand how to analyze their own information needs as a first step in satisfying them. They should then be aware of when the next step will be turning to the library and/or a librarian.
(1) Institute of Medicine. Crossing the quality chasm: a new health system for the 21st century. [Web document]. Washington, DC; National Academy Press, 2001. http://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25057539/).
(2) Davidoff E, Florance V. The informationist: a new health profession? [editorial] Ann Int Med 2000 Jun 20;132(12):996-8.
(3) Rankin JA, Grefsheim SF, Canto, CC. The emerging informationist specialty: a systematic review of the literature. J Med Libr Assoc 2008 Jul;96(3):194-206.