IMLS Announces $16.2 Million in Grants to Libraries Across America
Federal Investments to Fund Lifelong Learning, Digital Literacy, Library Training Programs

The Institute of Museum and Library Services today announced 60 grants totaling $16,288,536 to support libraries across the country. The awards were made through the FY 2019 National Leadership Grants for Libraries Program and the Laura Bush 21^st Century Librarian Program. The awarded grants search on the IMLS website contains a complete list of grantees and project descriptions.

“These grant recipients demonstrate the many ways that libraries are playing a central role in serving the diverse and unique needs of their communities,” said IMLS Director Dr. Kathryn K. Matthew. “Through programs serving veterans, inspiring lifelong learning, and fostering the digital literacy skills necessary to thrive in today’s world, these funded grants will help communities all across the country flourish.”

National Leadership Grants for Libraries support projects that address significant challenges and opportunities facing the library and archives fields and have the potential to advance theory and practice with new tools, research findings, models, services, practices, or alliances that will be widely used. The National Leadership Grants for Libraries program received 138 preliminary proposals requesting $33,570,544. Sixty-three projects were invited to submit full proposals, and of these, 36 projects were awarded $8,283,940, including:

• New Jersey State Library and partners, New Jersey State Parole Board, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Long Branch Public Library, and Free Library of Philadelphia will collaborate with other government and nonprofit organizations on a two-year project for public libraries in New Jersey and Pennsylvania to provide services to citizens returning to their communities after being paroled or after completing their prison terms.
   
• The University of Oklahoma, University of North Carolina-Greensboro, and Wayne State University will perform an in-depth analysis of how small and rural public libraries support community health and wellness through public programs. The project team will gather data from librarians, patrons, and outside partners with whom libraries develop and implement these programs.
   
• Libraries Without Borders will conduct a two-year project to refine and assess partnership models between public libraries and coin laundromats across the nation. The Wash and Learn Initiative enables libraries to offer early childhood literacy, digital literacy, and information access services inside laundromats. The team will continue to scale and evaluate the model with Enoch Pratt Free Library, Allegheny County Library Association, and the Minnesota State Library Services.

The Laura Bush 21^st Century Librarian program supports developing a diverse workforce of library and archives professionals to better serve the changing learning and information needs of the American public by enhancing the training and professional development of librarians, developing faculty and library leaders, and recruiting and educating the next generation of librarians. The program received 88 preliminary proposals requesting $25,730,590, and 37 of these were invited to submit full proposals. IMLS is awarding $8,004,596 to 24 projects, including:

• Syracuse University, in partnership with Infopeople, will create online training and train-the-trainer learning opportunities and resources for school, public, and academic librarians using an innovative problem-based learning approach.
   
• A team of researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, University of California, Irvine, Queens College, and The Pennsylvania State University will explore how underrepresented minority students develop and maintain a sense of community and belonging within cohort-based recruitment programs.
   
• Dr. Edward Benoit, III, faculty in The School of Library & Information Science at Louisiana State University, will develop a user-centered framework to create best practice digital preservation protocols for assisting veterans and active duty personnel with preserving their personal digital records.

Visit the IMLS website for more information about the National Leadership Grants for Libraries and the Laura Bush 21^st Century Librarian programs.