The African and Middle Eastern Division (AMED) Fellowship

 

Sacred Soundscapes: Music, Poetry, and Aurality within African and Middle Eastern Religious Cultures

Short-term Fellowship Opportunities

The African and Middle Eastern Division (AMED) of the Library of Congress invites applications for short-term postdoctoral and senior fellowships on the theme of sacred soundscapes, defined in the broadest terms. There is no limitation regarding the time period covered but projects must relate primarily to the Library’s African, Middle Eastern, Hebraic and Central Asian collections. Researchers are encouraged to propose projects that utilize new methodologies, interdisciplinary approaches, or comparative perspectives to explore religious culture manifested in sonic traditions. Topics may include but are not limited to sacred music, poetry, spoken word, chanting, performance, mysticism and spiritual practices.

The fellowships are part of the Enhancing Public Understanding of Religious Cultures initiative, which aims in part to support innovative scholarship of some of the most understudied and misunderstood parts of the world through the collections of the Library of Congress. Four fellowships will be awarded each year on different annual themes through a competitive selection process.

This program is made possible through the generous support of the Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative at the Lilly Endowment.

Eligibility

Fellowships will be offered to individuals with doctoral degrees in the humanities or social sciences. To qualify for a Senior Scholar Fellowship, candidates must have held a doctoral or equivalent degree for at least seven years and have a strong record of publication. For an Emerging Scholar fellowship, individuals can be up to seven years beyond their doctoral or equivalent degree.

Applicants who are not U.S. residents but who otherwise meet the above academic qualifications may also apply and be considered for a fellowship, contingent upon the applicant's visa eligibility.

Stipend & Tenure

All appointments must start in 2025. Senior scholars are eligible for a stipend of $5,000 for a minimum residency of two weeks.

Emerging postdoctoral scholars are eligible for a stipend of $7,000 for a minimum residency of one month.

Deadline

All application materials must be submitted by 11:59PM EST on January 20, 2025, including 2 letters of recommendation. Successful applicants will be notified by March 15, 2025.

Apply here: https://www.loc.gov/research-centers/african-and-middle-eastern/about-this-research-center/fellowship-information/fellowship-application/

For more information visit: https://www.loc.gov/research-centers/african-and-middle-eastern/about-this-research-center/fellowship-information/

Connected Papers: A Visual Tool for Your Literature Search

Connected Papers is a visual exploration tool for researchers. Instead of traditional searches, it lets you enter a single relevant paper or search term. Connected Papers then analyzes the content of that paper/search term and generates a graph/map of similar research articles. This map helps you see the connections and trends within your field, making it easier to find important papers.

With Connected Papers, you can easily generate a research map (visual exploration), discover new research trends, filter results, and build a relevant reading list. It also provides you with a summary of articles, DOI, format, and a digital link to (Pubmed, Semantic Scholar, Google Scholar, ) for easy download.

Basic Steps to Use Connected Papers

Ø  Go to https://www.connectedpapers.com & sign up.

Ø  In the search bar, type your search term or enter the title / DOI of a paper relevant to your search.

Ø  Connected Papers will show you the results listed in the middle of the page. Each result usually includes the title of the article, author(s), journal bibliographic information, and abstract.

Ø  Click on the title that has the site link, and Connected Papers will create a map of related works that are connected to your search term /result.

Ø  Click on any of the names or years on the map, and it will show a summary of the article, other information about related articles, and their citations.

Ø  In the left panel, you will see a list of all the papers on the map. It will also give you the option to search for previous works.

IFLA ARL Attendance Grants for IFLA 2022: Call for Applications

 A. Eligibility and application procedures

1. Description

The Standing Committee of the Academic and Research Libraries Section (SC-ARL), with generous sponsorship by EX LIBRIS and SAGE, is offering three (3) Attendance Grants to the 2022 World Library and Information Congress in Dublin, Ireland, to emerging professionals from an academic and research environment.

One awardee will be selected from each of these regions:

• Africa, Latin America, Asia/Pacific region

2. Purpose of the grant

The purpose of the grant is to provide emerging professionals with the opportunity to attend the IFLA Congress, engage with other professionals across the world and to facilitate the development of networking for the advancement of librarianship at the recipient’s institution and country.

Over and above that which is stated below, the expectation is that the recipient will be an ambassador for advancement of librarianship with the possibility of mentoring other young librarians in their institution/country.

3. What does the Attendance Grant Cover?

Each grant covers the early registration fee for attending the congress of Euro 560 which expires on 5 April 2022.

The Attendance Grant will also provide support for travel and/or accommodation of up to Euro 700.

Applicants must be able to attend the Congress and will be responsible for all other costs associated with Congress attendance. Please see the Conference website for further details about the Congress.

4. What is expected from the grant holders?

The successful candidates will be required to be onsite at the Congress and participate actively for the duration of the Congress including attendance at ARL committee meetings, and the IFLA Awards session, where they will receive their certificates.

The awardees may also be required to take part in publicity events during the conference, such as events organised at the two sponsors’ exhibition stalls.

Following the Congress, awardees will be required to write a brief article (approximately 500 words) about their Congress experience. The article must be written within 3 months of the end of the Congress and will be published on the ARL Section blog. Awardee’s submission essays may also be published in advance of the conference.

5. Eligibility

1. The applicant must be a paid-up member of his/her national library association
2. The applicant must be willing to share their experience at the IFLA Congress with their national library association
3. The applicant must be eligible to obtain a visa for travel
4. The applicant must declare that he/she/they is able to fund all other costs beyond the grant that are involved in attending the Congress, e.g. all other hotel, travel and subsistence expenses NOT covered by the Grant
5. Those who have previously received this Grant (formerly known as Essay Contest) are not eligible to apply again.
6. The applicant must declare that he/she/they have the ability to attend the conference and are not being prevented to travel to Ireland. They should also declare that they apply in full knowledge of COVID restricting policies issued by either their country or institution (if applicable).

For application procedures and other information:

Visit: https://www.ifla.org/news/call-for-applications-ifla-arl-attendance-grants-for-ifla-2022/

Online Course Scholarship for Library Professionals from Developing Countries

Core: Infrastructure, Leadership and Futures, a division of the American Library Association, is now accepting applications for the Online Course Scholarship for Library Professionals from Developing Countries to participate in online Fundamentals courses  between February 28, 2022, and May 23, 2022. One free seat per session is available to librarians and information professionals from developing countries.

The goal of this program is to help library professionals from developing countries stay current with the latest trends and developments in the Core areas of focus specified below and enhance their professional knowledge and skills in librarianship and information science

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants must:

·         Have a degree in library or information science (e.g. a 4-year undergraduate degree or a master’s) or,

·         be enrolled in a library or information science program in a developing country or,

·         be working as a librarian or information professional in a developing country

• Be a legal national from a qualifying developing country (see lists of Qualifying Countries: World Bank  | United Nations) Note: Legal nationals from developing countries studying abroad are not eligible for this scholarship;
• Have working knowledge of English;
• Have technical abilities to participate in an online course: ^*

·      computer skills: be comfortable with Internet browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, etc.; a word processing program, such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs, etc., be able to send emails with attachments; copy and paste text; download and save a file, install a program or plugin; quickly learn a new program using online tutorial or Help section;

·    regular, unlimited access to a computer;

·    a reliable high-speed internet connection (Broadband/DSL, 4G cellular connection);

·     antivirus software installed and kept up-to-date on a computer;

• Have financial need due to insufficient or lack of funding for professional development from their employer.

Applications may be submitted between January 4, 2022, and February 4, 2022.

For full information about the scholarship, including eligibility criteria and a link to the application form, please see: http://www.ala.org/core/awards-scholarships/online-course-scholarship.