The Hospital Grantsmanship Center

Abstract

Securing external support from competitive grants, corporate sponsorships, and fund raising is a growing area of interest in many types of nonprofit organizations, including health care. Many different types of grants are available from both public and private agencies at the national, state, and local levels which can provide additional support to the hospital's mission of patient care, teaching, and research. Patient care professionals as well as administrators are often unaware of what external funding opportunities are available, and how to secure those funds. Hospital librarians have the opportunity to establish new roles as resources for information about grants which are available by developing library resources and expanding their expertise about the grant writing process. Hospital librarians are ideally suited to promote grantsmanship in their organizations, and can make a valuable contribution by teaching the grant writing process. The Grants Information Service established by the Governors State University Library is a model that can be adapted by hospital librarians for hospital libraries.

Key Words:

• Grant writing
• librarian role
• research support
• library instruction
• grants
• funding