IMLS Press Contact

Giuliana Bullard
202-653-4799
gbullard@imls.gov

IMLS Awards $9.7 Million for Librarian Training and for Excellence in the Field

Washington, DC—The Institute of Museum and Library Services today announced 39 grants totaling $9,799,830 to support libraries across the nation. The grants were awarded through the first cycles of the National Leadership Grants for Libraries Program and the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program.

See the Awarded Grant Search on the IMLS website for a list of grantees and project descriptions.

“We are delighted to announce today’s grant recipients, whose projects rose to the top of a demanding peer review process,” said IMLS Director Dr. Kathryn K. Matthew. “The IMLS matching requirements incentivized an additional $4.4 million of support from other funders and community collaborators, helping to ensure the sustainability of these projects and to enhance their reach and impact.”

National Leadership Grants for Libraries support projects that address challenges faced by the library and archive fields and that have the potential to advance library and archival practice with new tools, research findings, models, services, or alliances that can be widely replicated. More than $23 million was requested, and $5,479,503 was awarded for 25 projects.  Grantees will provide more than $2 million in cost share. Funded projects include:

• Nebraska Library Commission and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will receive $530,732 to advance economic development in 30 rural communities by developing Innovation Studios with tools to enable residents to explore, collaborate, create, learn, and invent. The project will demonstrate the critical role of public libraries as catalysts for economic and community development in rural communities. It will be disseminated nationally.
• With $249,282 in funding, the DC Public Library (DCPL) and the Public Library Association will provide training, equipment and financial support to seven public libraries to help them create programs for community members to digitize and preserve their personal and family collections. Modeled after DCPL’s successful Memory Lab, the resulting personal archiving stations will allow libraries to foster deeper community engagement and expand staff and patron expertise in personal archiving. Training materials from the project will be made available to other libraries.

Visit the IMLS website for more information about the National Leadership Grants for Libraries program.

The Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program supports projects to recruit and educate the next generation of librarians, faculty, and library leaders. IMLS is awarding $4,320,327 of the $17.2 million requested. For the 14 funded projects, grantees are providing $2.4 million in cost share.  Funded projects include:

• With a grant of $336,649, the University of North Carolina, in partnership with the Durham and Charlotte Public Libraries and the Autism Society of North Carolina, will conduct a research project that aims to help libraries equip people with Autism Spectrum Disorders and their families with skills to become self-advocates. Deliverables include a critical theoretical model; an empirical model describing the local, library-oriented information worlds and needs of people with autism; a process model; a toolkit; and open source resources for library community assessment and program planning for marginalized communities.
• A grant of $343,962 will enable the Chicago Public Library and the Museum of Science and Industry help librarians gain skills to create STEM learning experiences for children. The project will provide professional development for more than 180 librarians in Chicago and King County, Wash., and resources that will be shared broadly with the field.
• The library and information science schools at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Hawai’i at Manoa and San Jose State University are using a grant of $488,501 to help U.S. veterans to become librarians. The partners will conduct a two-pronged project that involves scholarships and research exploring how veterans choose careers in librarianship. It will result in guidelines for recruiting veterans; a tool to assess recruiting effort of local library and information science programs; and a directory of potential partner organizations that serve veterans.

Visit the IMLS website for more information about the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program.

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and approximately 35,000 museums. Our mission is to inspire libraries and museums to advance innovation, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic engagement. Our grant making, policy development, and research help libraries and museums deliver valuable services that make it possible for communities and individuals to thrive. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.