DIGITAL SCHOLARSHIP FELLOWSHIP

SUMMER 2018

The LLILAS Benson Digital Scholarship Fellowship provides a $2,300 stipend plus a $700 expense allowance for
a faculty member or graduate student to pursue research interests in Latin American, Latinx, or African
Diaspora Studies based on Benson holdings and digital methods/platforms. UT faculty are not eligible to apply.
The Fellow will be in residence at the Benson for a month between June 11 and September 14, 2018 and will
work closely with the Digital Scholarship Coordinator to develop a unique project(s) that could include:
Development of an original digital project aimed at facilitating the exploration and analysis of a Benson
collection or selected subsets of materials;
Curation of data/text sets from Benson holdings to explore digital tools (i.e. mapping, text mining);
Creation of open educational digital resources based on research (i.e. online exhibition with translated
primary sources and pedagogical exercises for use in courses and workshops);
Experimentation with social platforms to engage global scholarly networks in the collaborative
description, analysis, and interpretation of digitized primary sources.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE
The following materials need to be included in the application package:
1) The enclosed Digital Scholarship Fellowship application form, including a budget breakdown of
anticipated expenses that does not exceed $700. Each line item on the budget must be justified.
Funds may be used for:
a) Training (i.e. HILT course registration fees and associated travel costs);
b) Software subscriptions or development, web hosting, or design work;
c) Equipment (will remain property of LLILAS Benson).
2) A 1250-2000-word, double-spaced project description that identifies the following: specific Benson
holdings (special collections and rare books) that will be the focus of the project; if the project requires
digitization work, specify call numbers, approximate number of items, and approximate costs/hours
for such work (use this digitization cost calculator: http://dashboard.diglib.org/); detailed outline of the
proposed work and its engagement with digital tools/platforms; relevance of the project to the
scholars research and field; expected deliverables (i.e. datasets, educational resources, workshop,
website); description of relevant technical skills the applicant possesses and support/expertise they will
need for the projects success; and proposed fellowship dates.
3) An expressed commitment to abide by UT accounting practices, submit a concise written report no
later than thirty days after the projects conclusion, and make project outputs (i.e. datasets,
educational resources, software) publicly available through UT Libraries repositories.
4) A curriculum vitae.

The review committee will comprise the LLILAS Benson Director, LLILAS Benson digital initiatives staff,
Benson subject specialists, and select UT faculty. The review will be based primarily on the proposals
scholarly merit, feasibility, and enhancement of Benson holdings.

Application packages are due FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 2018 at 5PM. Submit applications as a single PDF to
Albert A. Palacios via email (aapalacios@austin.utexas.edu). NO PAPER SUBMISSIONS, PLEASE.
GUIDELINES FOR USING YOUR AWARD

PLEASE READ BEFORE APPLYING FOR FUNDING

The Fellow must be in residence at the Benson for a month between June 11 and September 14,
2018.
All training-related travel must occur BEFORE the residency period at the Benson.
Expenses incurred before June 11 or after August 31, 2018 will not be reimbursed. No rollover of
funds to the next fiscal year will be allowed.

FUNDS POLICY
Fellow must submit the necessary financial paperwork a month before the fellowship period. Once
submitted, the stipend will be issued as a direct deposit or check.
If the awardee is not a U.S. citizen, 30% of the stipend will be deducted for taxes. LLILAS Benson will
not cover visa costs.
Proposed changes to the proposal after you have been awarded must be submitted to Albert A.
Palacios in writing and formally approved by the Director.
Expense allowance funds may ONLY be used for expenditures specified in the original proposal and
approved before they are made, otherwise they will not be reimbursed. Any expenses for purposes
not included in your original fellowship proposal will not be reimbursed. Funds may NOT be used
for undergraduate or graduate assistants.

TRAVEL DOCUMENTS & REIMBURSEMENTS POLICY (FOR TRAINING-RELATED EXPENSES ONLY)

If your expenses include travel costs associated with training, please review UTs policy on meal
reimbursement before planning your budget so that you are aware of allowable costs
(https://financials.utexas.edu/hbp/part-11/5-2-meals-and-lodging).
An RTA (Request for Travel Authorization) must be approved PRIOR to any travel. Please submit
the RTA to Albert A. Palacios.
If dates of travel change, please make sure your RTA is updated to reflect your actual travel dates.
LLILAS Benson cannot reimburse expenses on an RTA for which your actual travel dates do not
coincide. All city and country destinations should be included on your RTA.
All travel reimbursements will be made AFTER travel is completed.
A 1-2 page, double-spaced report summarizing your training experience must be submitted along
with all ORIGINAL receipts to Albert A. Palacios no later than 10 days after your return date. It is
very important that all receipts are received by this date; otherwise no reimbursement of training-
related travel expenses will be made.
Reimbursements will be processed within 30 days of submission of receipts and report.

REPORT & DIGITAL OUTPUTS POLICY

A public presentation of the project must be made in the last week of the fellowship OR a 1250-
2000-word, double-spaced page report summarizing your research and findings must be submitted
to Albert A. Palacios fifteen days after the conclusion of the fellowship. This report will be made
publicly available through UT Libraries open repository, Texas ScholarWorks (TSW).
Data/text sets created for analysis, educational resources, transcriptions, and translations of
Benson materials, and other digital outputs that enhance the accessibility, contextual information,
and general reuse of Benson holdings will be made publicly available through TSW, the Texas Data
Repository, or other appropriate open UT Libraries platforms.

Please contact Albert A. Palacios with any questions at aapalacios@austin.utexas.edu.

 LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections
DIGITAL SCHOLARSHIP FELLOWSHIP
SUMMER 2018

APPLICATION
PLEASE SUBMIT:
1) Application form, including budget breakdown.
2) A 1250-2000-word, double-spaced project description with an expressed commitment to abide by UT
accounting practices, submit a report, and make project outputs publicly available.
3) A curriculum vitae.

APPLICANT INFORMATION

Last Name: ___________________________First Name: ___________________________Middle Initial: _____

University: ____________________________________ Department: _________________________________

Email: ____________________________________________________________________________________

FOCUS: African Diaspora Latin America U.S. Latinx Rare Books

BENSON COLLECTION(S): _____________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT & EXPECTED OUTCOMES: _________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

FELLOWSHIP DATES (estimated): ______________________________________________________________

EXPENSE ALLOWANCE BUDGET BREAKDOWN:

Expense (Explain & Justify) Amount
$
$
$
Total amount requested $

Applicant Signature: __________________________________________________ Date: _________________