Eligibility Notes:

Eligible applicants are libraries that are either units of state, local, or tribal government or private nonprofit organizations that have nonprofit status under the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended.

Applicants must be located in one of the 50 states; the District of Columbia; or the territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of Palau, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Applicants must qualify as one of the following six types of organizations:

• A library or a parent organization, such as a school district, a municipality, a state agency, or an academic institution, that is responsible for the administration of a library; eligible libraries include:
  • Public libraries
  • Public elementary and secondary school libraries
  • Tribal libraries
  • College and university libraries, including community college libraries
  • Research libraries and archives that are not an integral part of an institution of higher education and that make publicly available library services and materials that are suitable for scholarly research and not otherwise available
  • Private or other special libraries, but only if the state in which such library is located determines that the library should be considered a library for purposes of library services and technology
  • Archives, including institutional, community-based, and special collections, that are under the supervision of at least one permanent professional staff member and are available to the public
• An academic or administrative unit, such as a graduate school of library and information science that is part of an institution of higher education through which it would apply
• A digital library or archives, if it makes materials publicly available and provides library or archival services, including selection, organization, description, reference, and preservation, under the supervision of at least one permanent professional staff librarian/archivist
• A library or archival agency that is an official agency of a state, tribal, or other unit of government and is charged by the law governing it with the extension and development of public library services within its jurisdiction
• A library or archives consortium that is a local, statewide, regional, interstate, or international cooperative association of library entities that provides for the systematic and effective coordination of the resources of eligible libraries, as defined above, and information centers that work to improve the services delivered to the clientele of these libraries or archives
• A library or archives association that exists on a permanent basis; serves libraries, archives, or library or archival professionals on a national, regional, state, or local level; and engages in activities designed to advance the well-being of libraries and the library profession

Native American tribal organizations may apply if they otherwise meet the above eligibility requirements.

Applications involving partnerships or collaborations are welcome. When two or more eligible entities work together on a project, one of them must meet all eligibility requirements, serve as the lead applicant, and administer the award on behalf of the other(s).

Applications for renewal or supplementation of existing projects are not eligible to compete with applications for new awards.

There is no limit to the number of applications applicants may submit under the planning, forum, national implementation, or applied research project types; however, applicants may only submit one application under the community-centered implementation project type. Applicants may not submit the same proposal under more than one project type. Individual project directors may be named on multiple applications.

Previous award recipients include:

• University of Hawaii (Honolulu, HI)
• Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc. (Mount Laurel, NJ)
• University of Tennessee (Knoxville, TN)
• Queens Public Library (Jamaica, NY)
• University of Maryland, College Park (College Park, MD)

Refer to the Award file for additional information regarding previous award recipients.

Eligible Applicants:

Contacts:

Program Staff
imls-librarygrants@imls.gov

Agency Address
Institute of Museum and Library Services
955 L’Enfant Plaza North, SW, Suite 4000
Washington, D.C. 20024-2135

Contact Notes:

Questions should be directed to the program staff or to the appropriate program contact listed on page 2 of the Overview file.

Preliminary proposals must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.

The agency address provided is for reference purposes only.

Files:

File Notes:

The NOFA file contains the full solicitation for this program. The Overview file contains general program information, including contact information. The Award file contains information on previous award recipients.