The demand for e-books continues to grow in South Central Kansas Library System member public, school district, academic and special libraries. Some SCKLS member libraries have decided the best way to meet their e-book needs is to purchase e-books for their local collections and users. Other SCKLS member libraries may use shared e-book resources through the State Library of Kansas, Topeka; Overdrive Sunflower e-Library; and other new consortia. SCKLS offers new financial support for its public, school district, academic and special libraries by providing a new reimbursement grant program for those libraries that purchase e-books.
As defined by the new SCKLS E-book Reimbursement grant program, e-books are defined as books and/or audio books in digital format that are available for loan or use through a member library’s automated library system, e-book access platform or through an e-reader device loaned by the member library. E-textbooks are ineligible for a matching grant as are a member library’s participation, administrative, maintenance or other vendor fees associated with e-book purchases.
Grant applications must include copies of order(s) documenting the vendor, amount and titles of the e-books purchased and/or copy of an itemized subscription order(s). E-book vendors may include but are not limited to Amazon, Baker & Taylor, Barnes and Noble, Ebsco, Follet, Overdrive, Proquest, Recorded Books and 3M Cloud Library. The E-book Reimbursement Grant Request amount must equal the amount of e-books purchased and not exceed $3,000.
SCKLS has allocated a total of $70,000 or $35,000 for Round One 2013 and $35,000 for Round Two 2013 E-book Reimbursement Grants.
Application eligibility of school districts and/or public and special libraries with multiple branches is limited to one reimbursement grant per member library per year. Application eligibility for other public, academic and special member libraries is limited to one grant per member library per year. A member library must have updated information at the SCKLS Directory: http://directory.sckls.info/