KU Libraries now accepting applications for Sprints Week 2023


LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Libraries want to help faculty members discover services and resources available to enrich teaching and research and are offering financial support to selected participants. Applications are now open for Sprints Week 2023, a program that offers faculty and academic staff the opportunity to team up with librarians on a research or teaching project, with selected projects receiving a $1,000 stipend.  

Sprints Week will take place May 15-19. Selected faculty and academic staff will spend these five days working on their project with a group of librarians. The purpose of this structured opportunity is for both faculty and librarians to collaborate without distractions to produce a tangible product or outcome.

Participants in the 2022 KU Research Sprints.Last year, KU Libraries selected Rami Zeedan for a Sprints Week project to create new instructional material – specifically interactive maps to visualize shifting borders -— for his class on the 1948 war that established Israel as a country.

“The team went above and beyond in meeting my expectations,” said Zeedan, assistant professor of religious studies and the undergraduate director of the Jewish Studies Program. “The next time I have a question, I will definitely reach out to the libraries since they have such good connections and resources.”

Faculty and academic staff are expected to complete a project or project component by the end of the week, develop a partnership or working relationship with experts from KU Libraries and collaborate with library and information science experts on relevant topics.

Librarians work to match faculty members with the appropriate expertise from across KU Libraries in alignment with the needs of the project. Proposals should be for a project that can be completed in the one-week timeframe. Proposed projects need not be stand-alone; they can be a component or a module of a larger project that helps meet a well-defined milestone toward a bigger goal.

“The collaborative effort revealed possibilities, nuances and potential for my project that I would have simply been unable to reach on my own,” said Ignacio Carvajal, assistant professor in Spanish & Portuguese and former Sprints Week participant.

KU Libraries will host an information session from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 8 via Zoom. To RSVP, email sprints@ku.edu. Interested applicants are invited to attend to learn more about the program, discuss the application process and explore project ideas.

Apply here through March 3.

Fri, 02/03/2023

author

Kevin McCarty

Media Contacts

Kevin McCarty

KU Libraries

785-864-6428