Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Announces $21 Million Investment in U.S. Library and Archive Initiatives

From the Institute of Museum and Library Services:

The Institute of Museum and Library Services today announced 71 awards totaling $21,189,566 to support libraries and archives across the country. The FY 2022 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.

“With the awards from our National Leadership Grants for Libraries and Laura Bush 21^st Century Librarian Program, IMLS is supporting the desire and demand for libraries and archives to continue serving their communities in the most equitable and universal ways they can as we move out of the pandemic,” said IMLS Director Crosby Kemper. “Libraries and archives continue to be the most trusted and most wide-ranging service institutions in our communities while still adhering to their great traditional roles in knowledge preservation and dissemination, reading for pleasure and self-development, and as a civil and welcoming refuge.”

National Leadership Grants for Libraries support projects of national impact 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 139 preliminary proposals requesting $35,611,073.

74 projects were invited to submit full proposals, and of these, 39 projects were awarded $11,470,266, including:

• The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, and partners, will develop the first set of best practices for archival accessioning in the United States to help archives across the country strengthen and standardize their own accessioning practices. The best practices developed will help archives professionals work more efficiently and ethically, and the project events will help formally establish a community of practice where these professionals can support and learn from each other.
• Seattle Public Library will partner with the University of Washington, Meridian Library District in Idaho, Charles County Public Library in Maryland, and the American Library Association to develop the capacity of libraries in addressing the teen mental health crisis in the U.S. The project will expand the library staff’s ability to co-design virtual and physical spaces with teenagers and reinforce positive teen mental health; and will develop a website to disseminate the Teen Mental Health Co-design Framework nationally.
• The Howard County Library System will partner with the Howard County Office of Workforce Development and Luminus Network for New Americans to develop and provide contextualized workplace English as a Second Language classes, job search skills, and interview/job preparation training for skilled immigrants. This project also will inform libraries nationwide on how they can strengthen their role and be responsive to the shifting needs of new Americans by identifying classes, staff competencies, services, and partnerships to overcome key barriers to the integration of immigrants into the workforce.

The Laura Bush 21^st Century Librarian Program supports projects of far-reaching impact that develop 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, develop faculty and library leaders, and recruit and educate the next generation of librarians. The program received 104 preliminary proposals requesting $29,083,329, and 59 of these were invited to submit full proposals.

IMLS is awarding $9,719,300 to 32 projects, including:

• The University of Texas at Austin School of Information will collaborate with librarians from Austin Public Library, Navarro High School Library, and the University of Texas Libraries to educate and mentor the next generation of Library and Information Science faculty with expertise in artificial intelligence and data science. The project will increase the capacity of LIS programs to educate the librarians of tomorrow by preparing cohorts of outstanding future faculty who understand both cutting-edge IT and the unique service environment of libraries.
• The School of Information Sciences at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, in partnership with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, rural public libraries, and statewide 4-H network agents, will collect and analyze information and technology needs of farming communities. Project activities include gathering and assessing the willingness, capabilities, needs, and challenges of rural public libraries to meet the information technology needs of farming communities in Tennessee; identifying challenges and solutions for rural public libraries to collaborate with 4-H networks to better serve farming communities; and identifying interdisciplinary courses, guest speakers, and practicum opportunities as part of building a certificate program.
• The University of Iowa School of Library and Information Science will carry out a Forum project to investigate best practices for increasing the capacity of library workers in small and rural libraries to organize community-engaged archives sustainably and equitably. The project team will develop open educational resources, distribute results, and position SLIS to initiate a lightweight online curriculum designed to network and support rural information professionals across the country. The project will help to increase the capacity of rural professionals to use inclusive memory practices to highlight and make diverse community memory records accessible.

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

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