Many staff are interested in pursuing an innovative idea that they can’t get funded by an outside agency or needs to be tested before being deployed systemwide. Through coordination between a grants committee and a restructured internal ideas portal/process dubbed “Inklings,” new staff ventures are funded and tested, data is gathered and reported, all with the hopes that they will be ready to be funded by an outside agency or adopted by the entire Library System at the end of the process.

Two elements have made the internal grants process a success in FY21. The Library’s grants committee, created in FY19 and comprised of the director, deputy director, division heads and Friends board and Library Advisory Board members, oversees approval of the internal grants process. An Inklings idea portal/process, created in FY16 to bring innovative staff ideas to fruition, was revamped in FY21 and brought into greater coordination with the grants committee so that more endeavors could be funded and implemented.

In December, 2020, a travelling sewing studio project was completed, and reported 116 attendees at 14 workshops in a four-month period. In 2021, three projects were approved for testing: 1) Seed library; 2) Online one-on-one adult literacy tutoring with tablets; and 3) 1000 Books Before Kindergarten pilot. A previous funded project, birding backpacks, won a Florida Library Association Innovation Award. Due to the overhaul of the Inklings portal/process, more staff proposals are expected in FY22.