IMLS Opens Nominations for the 2023 National Medal for Museum and Library Service
Submissions for Nation’s Highest Honor Due by November 1, 2022

Washington, DC—The Institute of Museum and Library Services is now accepting nominations for the 2023 National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the nation’s highest honor awarded to libraries and museums for service to their communities.

“The IMLS National Medals recognize excellence and the strong positive impacts on communities by our libraries and museums. Every year we salute innovation, intensity, and imagination in what they do for all of us,” said IMLS Director Crosby Kemper.

Anyone—an employee, a board member, a volunteer, a member of the public, or a government official—is invited to nominate an institution. Museums and libraries of most disciplines and types are eligible. Regardless of who nominates the library or museum, in order to be considered, the institution must complete the online nomination form by 11:59 pm ET on Tuesday, November 1, 2022.

The National Medals program recognizes outstanding libraries and museums of all types and sizes that deeply impact their communities by:

• fostering a lifelong passion for learning for all people, nourishing curiosity and imagination from early childhood through adulthood, for people of all abilities and needs;

• providing access to information through advancing digital capacity, focusing on digital inclusion and access to digital and informational resources, including e-books and materials to help address workforce development and public health;

• enriching the lives of community members by being trusted community spaces for convening, connection, and conversation; enlightenment and shared thoughts and opinions; and preserving natural and cultural heritage and community memory; and

• responding to the unprecedented challenges of recent years to revitalize and renew organizational practice.

For more information and a list of frequently asked questions, visit the Medals nomination page.

To learn more about the FY 2022 Medalists, you can view this year’s virtual ceremony and celebration.

For a look back celebrating the last 25 years of National Medals, click here to watch the short video with StoryCorps. More information is also available on previous years’ Medal recipients via the IMLS website.

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 libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America's museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. IMLS envisions a nation where individuals and communities have access to museums and libraries to learn from and be inspired by the trusted information, ideas, and stories they contain about our diverse natural and cultural heritage. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.