CIFNAL, the Collaborative Initiative for French Language Collections/Collectif international des fonds documentaires en langue française, is pleased to announce that two stipends of $1,500 will be made available for CIFNAL institutional members to attend a conference or other information resource-related event in a francophone country. Two additional stipends of $1,500 will be made available for two professional librarians working in a francophone country to attend the American Library Association’s Annual Conference in San Francisco, California from June 25-June 30, 2015.

Staff members of libraries that are institutional members of CIFNAL are eligible to apply for the first category of stipends.  The 48 institutional members are listed here. The aim of this stipend is to enable two members of CIFNAL to increase communication and collaboration between CIFNAL and other francophone organizations. 

Preference for the CIFNAL member stipends will be awarded to candidates who did not receive a travel stipend last year and who are:

• actively contributing to the work of CIFNAL.
• committed to presenting a paper, organizing a workshop or otherwise taking on an active role in an organization in line with the objectives of CIFNAL.
• engaged in furthering the development of CIFNAL, WESS and Western European librarianship.

Preference for the francophone partner stipends will be awarded to candidates who are:

• already active in CIFNAL as personal members or on the CIFNAL Steering Committee.
• currently employed as professional librarians in a francophone country outside of the United States or Canada.
• already engaged or genuinely interested in furthering the development of CIFNAL’s projects.
• interested in attending and shadowing North American librarians at the CIFNAL, WESS, and other relevant programs at ALA 2015.

Stipends will be awarded to defray cost of registration and/or travel up to $1,500.

Travel for CIFNAL member stipends must be completed in the 2015 calendar year.

Applications should be received by February 15, 2015. There are separate application forms for CIFNAL members and for Francophone partners.  The stipend will be administered through CRL and the selection of recipients will be made before March 1, 2015 by members of the CIFNAL Steering Committee and CRL.