FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

IMLS Press Contact
Giuliana Bullard, 202-653-4799
gbullard@imls.gov

Washington, DC—The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) today announced grants for 51 library projects, totaling $9,291,441, that will advance library and archives practice by addressing challenges in the field and by testing and evaluating innovations.

The projects were selected from 212 applications through the IMLS National Leadership Grants for Libraries and Sparks! Ignition Grants for Libraries programs, requesting more than $14.6 million and matched with $7,154,135 in non-federal funds.  This announcement includes three grants through the Laura Bush 21^st Century Library Program, which total $647,821.

For a complete list of the recipients, see www.imls.gov/news/2014_ols_nlg_and_sparks_annoucement.aspx.

“Libraries are changing to meet the evolving learning, social, and informational landscapes of their communities. These grants reflect truly creative thinking by library and archive professionals—along with their university, professional association, and local government partners—that will ensure the continued role of libraries as community anchors for generations to come,” said IMLS Director Susan H. Hildreth. 

National Leadership Grants for Libraries (NLG) support projects that address challenges faced by the library and archive fields.  Successful projects have the potential to improve library services nationwide. Grantees generate results such as new tools, research findings, models, services, practices, or alliances that can be widely used, adapted, scaled, or replicated to extend the benefits of federal investment.

Grantee projects address a variety of topics of importance for libraries and archives, and include:

• $489,115 to the University of Michigan for copyright determinations work for the Copyright Review Management System. In addition to developing a toolkit for use by libraries worldwide, the project will work with HathiTrust and its partners to sustain the copyright determination process.
• $249,263 to Arizona State University to help public libraries support entrepreneurs and economic development. Through the Alexandria Co-Working Network (ALEX) the grantee will provide public programming about technical and software skills and training for library staff about programming and partnerships.
• $250,000 to the Educopia Institute, the MetaArchive Cooperative, and their university partners to address a national need for preserving and making available supplemental research data and complex digital objects that accompany Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) submissions. Their project will create guidance briefs, a curation workbench, and a workshop series to train ETD stakeholders.
• $499,967 to the New York City Department of Education to build a digital gateway for students and teachers for STEM resources and instructional content and programs about environmental science.
• $500,000 to Portland State University and the Multnomah County Library to study library practices, programs, and services for adults with low literacy skills.

Sparks! Ignition Grants for Libraries are small grants that support the deployment, testing, and evaluation of promising and groundbreaking new tools, products, services, or organizational practices of libraries and archives.  The grants awarded include:

• $24,983 to Cañada College and its public library and county education partners for workshops, online tutorials and one-on-one support to help early childhood education students increase their understanding of STEM (Science, Technology, Education, and Mathematics)
• $25,000 to Michigan State University to create a web interface prototype for to promote understanding of Ojibwe and Cherokee language manuscripts and key linguistic feature of those languages.
• $23,544 to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Digital Project Unit and its YMCA partner to provide hands-on archival training to at-risk youth in a project to catalog and digitally preserve historic community materials, including from local African American neighborhoods.

For more information about IMLS grant programs, see www.imls.gov/applicants/available_grants.aspx.

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 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.