The National Leadership Grants for Libraries is a program of the

Institute of Museum and Library Services The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is an independent agency of the United States federal government established in 1996. It is the main source of federal support for libraries and museums within the United States, having the ...

. This program supports undertakings that tackle substantial challenges and opportunities facing the field of libraries and

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual ...

s. The grant is awarded to projects that support new tools, research, and services that will be widely adopted or replicated within the field: this focus is meant to extend the benefits of federal investment.

Project Categories

Community Anchors

Projects that develop the role of libraries as community anchors and encourage civic and cultural engagement, facilitate

lifelong learning Lifelong learning is the "ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated"Department of Education and Science (2000).Learning for Life: Paper on Adult Education Dublin: Stationery Office. pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons ...

, promote digital inclusion, and support economic vitality through programming and services.

National Digital Platform

Programs that develop open source software applications used by libraries and archives across the United States to provide digital content and services.

Curating Collections

Initiatives that have a noteworthy national influence on shared services for the preservation and management of digital library collections.

Funding Categories

Sparks Grants

Sparks Grants are relatively small awards for swift development and evaluation of improvements in library services resulting from innovation in tools, products, or organizational practices.

Planning Grants

Planning Grants provide the funding of initial organizational activities. These include actions such as needs analysis, feasibility studies,

prototyping A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming. A prototype is generally used to ...

and

pilot program A pilot study, pilot project, pilot test, or pilot experiment is a small-scale preliminary study conducted to evaluate feasibility, duration, cost, adverse events, and improve upon the study design prior to performance of a full-scale research pr ...

s, or the establishment of partnerships.

National Forum Grants

National Forum Grants support group efforts, such as

collaboration Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Most ...

s or

partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments ...

s. These efforts typically assemble subject matter experts (SMEs) and other significant participants, including contributors from related fields, to discuss matters of current significance to libraries and archives on a nation-wide scale.

Project Grants

Project Grants provide funding for projects that have passed the planning stages, and for which all planning activities have been completed. All projects in this category must have an identified national impact that includes partners from across the United States.

Research Grants

Research Grants support projects that address an area of concentration relating to libraries and archives. Projects that successfully apply for these grants are those that investigate significant questions or issues supplementing previously completed work.

References

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External links

National Leadership Grants for Libraries
Science and technology in the United States Library science