IMLS Announces $22.5M Investment in U.S. Library and Archival Services Initiatives

Federal Funds Support Training, Professional Development, and Initiatives to Enhance Library and Archival Services

Washington, DC - The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) today announced 85 awards totaling $22,533,904 to support libraries and archival services across the country. The FY 2024 awards were made through National Leadership Grants for Libraries 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.

"The National Leadership Grants for Libraries and Laura Bush 21^st Century Librarian Program are vital in advancing library services across the nation," said IMLS Acting Director Cyndee Landrum. "The funding supports libraries, staff, and projects that exemplify excellence in the library field and community service, driving innovation and improving access to information for all."

The National Leadership Grants for Libraries program supports projects that address critical needs of the library and archives fields and have the potential to advance practice in these professions to strengthen library and archival services for the American public. Program goals include generating results such as new models, tools, research findings, services, practices, or alliances that will be widely used, adapted, scaled, or replicated to extend and leverage the benefits of federal investment. The National Leadership Grants for Libraries program received 146 preliminary proposals requesting $38,098,986.60.

IMLS invited 85 institutions to submit full project proposals, and of these, awarded 50 projects totaling $13,206,160, including:

• The University of South Carolina School of Information Science, with the University of Texas at Austin, Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, University of Memphis, and Rice University, will create and implement a series of training programs that enable libraries to provide critical information services before, during, and after disasters such as hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and tornadoes. The trainings will help libraries across the nation increase disaster preparedness and recovery capacity to strengthen community resilience and ensure the public receives vital services during disasters.

• The University of Maryland, College Park; the Maryland State Library Agency; and multiple community partners dedicated to supporting children and families will adapt and evaluate the original Hatchling program to empower new parents to engage their babies in early language- and literacy-building activities both in and out of the library. This project will leverage the collective, cross-disciplinary expertise of librarians, researchers, educators, neuroscientists, speech language pathologists, child development experts, and other partners to establish an open-access, flexible, scalable national model supporting the foundations of language and literacy development in young children.

• The University of Washington will systematically investigate how library needs and best practices related to the development of community archives vary across urban and rural public libraries to enhance community archives across library systems. This project will benefit public library staff and community members by fostering more inclusive cultural heritage collections. Subrecipient and project partner Tacoma Public Library will support University of Washington staff in updating the toolkit and provide their firsthand knowledge and expertise of developing community archives within a public library.

The Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program supports the development of a diverse workforce of librarians and archivists to better meet the information needs of the public. Program goals include recruiting, training, developing, and retaining a diverse workforce of library and archives professionals; developing faculty, library, and archives leaders by increasing the institutional capacity of libraries, archives, and graduate programs related to library and information science; and enhancing the training and professional development of the library and archival workforce. The program received 141 preliminary proposals requesting $38,601,803.33.

IMLS invited 83 institutions to submit full project proposals, and of these, awarded 35 projects totaling $9,327,744, including:

• Old Dominion University: In this Early Career Research Development project, Dr. Kevin J. Mallary will address the accessibility needs of d/Deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) patrons in academic libraries. This project will inform the development of an innovative website for practitioners to contribute accessibility resources, share recommended practices, and build a community of practice for better serving D/HH patrons. Findings from this project will inform evidence-based practices for academic librarians and disability services coordinators to immediately enhance their daily interactions with D/HH patrons.

The Chief Officers of State Library Agencies, in partnership with members of the American Library Association E-rate Task Force, will develop, deliver, and evaluate training for state E-rate coordinators. While E-rate is a simple program in concept, it is highly complex in its execution, so this project will develop training materials, multi-day in person trainings, and a blueprint for sustainable trainings going forward. This project will build expertise and maximize the effectiveness of state E-rate coordinators into the future, enabling broader use of the program and bringing individual communities across the country closer to closing the digital divide. IMLS is now accepting proposals for FY 2025 for both programs. Visit the IMLS website for more information about the National Leadership Grants for Libraries and the Laura Bush 21^st Century Librarian programs.

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 LinkedIn.