IMLS Director Susan Hildreth joined the leaders of several other federal agencies and service organizations in the Ben Franklin Room of the U.S. State Department Wednesday to sign a “Declaration of Learning” statement in a ceremony with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. The declaration formalizes an interagency collaboration to digitize the historic artifacts in the collection of the State Department’s Diplomatic Reception Rooms and to develop classroom resources for teachers and digital learning tools for people of all ages that can be accessed from computers, cell phones, and mobile digital devices. Director Hildreth, American Library Association President Maureen Sullivan, Archivist of the United States David Ferriero, and the other leaders surrounded Secretary Clinton as she signed the document atop the historic Treaty of Paris desk, on which the agreement to end the Revolutionary War was signed. “The Declaration of Learning I am about to sign will help transport the story and the significance of this desk along with many other pieces of our history to anyone with an internet connection,” said Secretary Clinton. “Now, for educators, this partnership will offer valuable resources for students and all the lifelong learners out there. It will help bring history to life and inspire them to learn and achieve even more.” The secretary was also honored for spearheading the effort to create the first permanent endowment to care for the Diplomatic Reception Rooms. The “Patrons of Diplomacy” initiative raised $20 million for conservation and education. The other institutions participating in the Inter-Agency Collaboration on Education are the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the National Park Service, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Newseum, the American Library Association, the National Center for Literacy Education, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the National Council for the Social Studies. For more information about the “Declaration of Learning” U.S. State Department website.