All individual or institutional Islamic Manuscript Association members who have paid their membership fees for the year (August – July) in which the Collection Care and Emergency Response grant is sought are eligible to apply for a grant. The institution where the collection is located need not itself be a member of the Association.

Collection Care and Emergency Response grants are offered in addition to other grants funded by the Association. Applying for a Collection Care and Emergency Response grant does not disqualify the applicant from applying for or receiving any other Association-sponsored grants in the same year.

The Collection Care and Emergency Response Grant Scheme aims to support collection care and management at a collection-wide level. Eligible costs include, but are not limited to:

• Assessments of partner institutions’ preservation and conservation programmes
• Consultancy and training in manuscript handling
• Condition surveying
• Monitoring and control of library or museum environments
• Development of strategies for integrated pest management and mould control
• Basic collection-wide preservation strategies, including purchase of equipment integral to successful delivery of such strategies (e.g. phase boxing)
• Design and implementation of exhibition policies and procedures
• Evaluation and design of library and museum security
• Disaster planning
• Emergency disaster response, including any necessary equipment.

Applications with a focus on collection-wide management policies will be prioritised.

In most cases, Association members will find it easy to identify which grant scheme to apply for. However, in the area of preservation and conservation there may be some degree of overlap. In general terms, the Collection Care and Emergency Response is designed to allow members to:

a) Invest in long-term and preventative collection-wide management strategies, including training and consultation for preservation, pest management, policy, and security measures as outlined above, and

b) Respond to disasters and emergencies affecting manuscript collections (including floods, fires, earthquakes, pest or mould infestations, security breaches and/or political instability) as soon as possible and in the least damaging manner.

The Collection Care and Emergency Response Grant Scheme was introduced in 2010. Please see the past projects page for details of Collection Care and Emergency Response Grant Scheme funded projects which have already been completed or are currently underway. Projects which were supported by the Association’s Annual Grant Scheme before this date, but which if submitted as applications now would be considered under the Collection Care and Emergency Response grant scheme, include the training in the use of a vacuum packing machine at Istanbul’s Muftiate Library in 2008, or the conservation training, cleaning, and boxing carried out as part of the Zabid Manuscript Conservation Project in 2008- 2013.

In contrast, the Annual Grant Scheme provides funding for specific conservation treatments for single manuscripts or groups of manuscripts, and the equipment and tools necessary to carry them out. Thus, the conservation of a Seljuq Qur’an carried out in 2008, or of a Shahnama manuscript in 2010, would not be eligible for Collection Care and Emergency Response funding, but would still receive funding from the Annual Grant Scheme.

The Association recognises that in some cases, different aspects of an integrated conservation plan may fall into both categories of Association grant schemes available, or that a clear delineation may not always be possible. Applicants are encouraged to clearly indicate any minor aspect of their proposed project which, while not ordinarily eligible for Collection Care and Emergency Response funding, they feel should be carried out concurrently for unavoidable logistical or practical reasons. Every application will be assessed on its own merits, and the board will consider complex projects on a case-by-case basis.

To apply for a Collection Care and Emergency Response grant, please send the completed application form and questionnaire, available on the forms and downloads page along with your reference and a letter of support from the partner institution, by post, fax, or email to:

Please note that incomplete applications will not be accepted. If you have any queries about the Collection Care and Emergency Response, please contact the Association’s executive committee at grants@islamicmanuscript.org.

Applications which are for emergency disaster response can be made at any time of the year and the application will be considered by the executive committee and a decision made as soon as possible.

Other applications can be submitted at any time of the year, and will be considered at the first board meeting following the submission of application. Consequently there should never be more than a three month delay between submission of an application and its consideration. Applicants are welcome to write to grants@islamicmanuscript.org to find out the date of the next board meeting in order to maximise the time available to work on a successful application. Prospective applicants should also note that if an application is submitted less than one week before a board meeting, it cannot be guaranteed that Association staff will be able to process it in time for consideration; therefore you are encouraged to find out the date of board meetings when starting to work on your application.

The Collection Care and Emergency Response Grant Scheme questionnaire has been designed to help applicants assess their collections prior to making an application. In addition, a wealth of online resources is available to help applicants be aware of current guidelines and standards in collection care and management. Please see the Professional and Scholarly Associations and Societies page of the Association’s website for links to conservation and preservation guidelines.

The Association’s board members may be able to offer specific advice on a voluntary basis, and applicants are free to contact other Association members for advice. Contact details are available in the Directory of Members section.

Specific advice may be provided by the Association’s board of directors if they feel that a project has merit but would benefit from certain alterations.

If your project is awarded Collection Care and Emergency Response funding you will be required to sign and return an Acceptance Form indicating your agreement to the terms and conditions of the Collection Care and Emergency Response Grant Scheme. Upon receipt of this form Association staff will transfer 80% of the total amount awarded (or 100% in the case of an emergency). The project must be completed within 12 months of the date of receipt of funds. The final report and summary report must be submitted within three months of the completion of the project in order to receive the final 20% instalment and for the grant-holder to become eligible for future Association grants.

Projects should be scheduled to take place during the twelve months from the date that funds are transferred; however if a project is unexpectedly delayed then the grant may be claimed up to two years after originally being awarded. Collection Care and Emergency Response grant-holders must keep the board fully informed of any unavoidable changes, and unexpected problems or delays, or risk losing the final 20% of funding.

When your project is finished or nearing completion, and no more than three months after the completion of the project or fifteen months after receipt of funds, you will be required to submit at least two documents: a summary report and a summary of expenditure.

A summary report should consist of a minimum of 1000 and a maximum of 2000 words, written for a general Association readership and suitable for publication on the Association’s website. The purpose of this report is to summarise the necessity of the project, how it was prepared and carried out, what training was provided for staff members, what resources were consulted, how collection care and management in the partner institution was improved, and any other relevant information. In addition, if any associated documentation such as preservation assessments, hazard reports, or training manuals were generated during the project, they should also be submitted. The Association may post these online as useable shared resources for other members and non-members working with manuscript collections. The report should be accompanied by or illustrated with photos, screenshots, diagrams, or other visual aids. In submitting this report the grant-holder certifies that the owner/s of copyright on all images used has given permission to publish the images online.

The summary of expenditure should be a simple account of how grant monies were spent (one A4 page). In particular, grant-holders should specify whether any costs were significantly different to those originally anticipated, as this will aid the board in assessing the viability of future grant applications. Receipts and other proofs of expenditure are not required.

Once these reports have been received and the stated aims of the project have been demonstrably achieved, the final 20% installment of the grant will be transferred to the grant-holder.

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