IMLS: What's New: Current News



				FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 5, 2004 Press Contacts 202/606-8339 Eileen Maxwell emaxwell@imls.gov Mamie Bittner mbittner@imls.gov Printer Friendly Version President Bush Requests $32 Million Budget Increase for Institute of Museum and Library Services Request underscores commitment to create and sustain a nation of learners "President Bush and I are committed to strengthening America's libraries and museums. In his 2005 budget, the President has proposed a 14 percent increase for IMLS. With this additional funding, IMLS can continue to support museums and libraries and a nation of lifelong learners. And supporting lifelong learning is the ultimate goal of museums and libraries today." First Lady Laura Bush January 22, 2004 The President's Budget requests $262,240,000 for IMLS. This amount includes an increase of $32,595,000 for IMLS programs and administration. The budget request contains $220,490,000 for library programs and $41,750,000 for museum programs. The total requested is level to the FY 2004 appropriation for IMLS which included over $30 million in congressionally-directed grants. This is the first budget request since the agency was reauthorized by the Museum and Library Services Act of 2003. It affirms the benefit of bringing federal programs for libraries and museums into one agency. Museums and libraries individually and in collaboration provide broad and equitable access to high quality knowledge resources. They are essential institutions to our democracy. American libraries and museums help to address issues of national concern; they create civic engagement, support education, sustain cultural heritage, and encourage lifelong learning. Dr. Robert Martin, Director of IMLS, noted, "This budget will create public value by helping libraries and museums to create and sustain a nation of learners. It is a demonstration of the Bush Administration's unprecedented support for America's libraries and museums. This budget is a declaration of the importance of learning throughout the lifetime." Specifically, IMLS support will: Increase support for State Library Administrative Agencies whose work strengthens library service nationwide and makes a significant impact on information and technology literacy as well as supporting homework centers, early reading programs, expanded digital resources, technology training, and more. Increase the capacity of museums to sustain cultural heritage, enhance civic engagement, and provide opportunities for lifelong learning. Expand, create, and preserve educational and cultural content in digital form. Enhance learning through new digital tools and optimal practices for delivering services. Strengthen learning through new models for library and museum programs. Build sustainable partnerships among museums, libraries, communities, and schools. Recruit and educate a new generation of librarians, and expand programs for faculty and curriculum development to educate 21st century librarians. Update and expand the skills of museum professionals to support their role in the 21st century workforce. A detailed table (last updated 2/05/2004) accompanies this release. BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS National Leadership Grants Encouraging Leadership and Innovation Agency-Wide The President's budget recommends significantly increased support for National Leadership Grants. These grants advance library and museum leadership activities in support of a nation of learners. A total of $28,500,000 is requested ($16,500,000 for libraries and $12,000,000 for museums) as compared to $18,154,000 in FY 2004 ($11,263,000 for libraries and $6,891,000 for museums.) Since 1998 National Leadership Grants have been offered in seven categories: three library categories, three museum categories, and one category for museum/library collaborations. IMLS will eliminate redundancy in these categories and refocus them into three cross-agency priorities: Advancing Learning Communities, Building Digital Resources, and Research/Demonstration. Creating three cross-agency categories will enhance synergy and promote the transfer of best practices. In each category IMLS will support individual libraries and museums as well as partnerships among libraries, museums and other community organizations. IMLS encourages multi-institutional partnerships, especially between libraries and museums, based on shared purposes to address individual and community learning needs. Categories *Advancing Learning Communities* supports the development of museum and library-based learning networks and services for people of all ages with a broad variety of learning goals. A learning society requires a new vision in which learning is seen as a community-wide responsibility, supported by both formal and informal educational entities. Projects under this category will support museum and library programs that advance learning throughout the lifetime, whether that learning happens in communities, at work, or at school. Projects may be undertaken both by individual institutions and by institutions working in partnerships that may include multiple libraries or museums, as well as other organizations that support learning. *Building Digital Resources* supports the creation, use, and preservation of digital library and museum collections and of tools to improve the management of digital resources. Because of its broad mandate to support cultural heritage institutions, IMLS is uniquely positioned to help libraries, museums, and archives develop ways to provide seamless access to digital content from all types of institutions. This category provides funding for digitization of nationally significant resources and for applied research and demonstration projects to improve electronic access to digital collections. It can also support model projects to develop statewide digital collaboratives and to create rich multimedia learning resources that are integrated into school curricula and informal learning environments. Projects may be undertaken both by individual institutions and by institutions working in partnerships that may include multiple libraries or museums, as well as other organizations that support learning. *Research and Demonstration* supports research in library science and museum services and demonstration projects that test potential solutions to problems in real-world situations. Proposals to research theories on museum- and library-based learning and to validate strategies for delivering service are encouraged. Library Programs Strengthening Library Service Nationwide The FY 2005 request for Grants to State Library Agencies is $170,455,000, an increase of $12,827,000 from the FY 2004 budget. This support helps to strengthen library service across the country. State library administrative agencies use these funds to help bring quality library services to the broadest possible public in all types of libraries throughout the state. IMLS support also helps state library agencies provide leadership, enhance planning, coordinate services and programs across jurisdictional boundaries, administer grant programs, and collect and analyze statistics for performance measurements. Federal funds help provide public access to information that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive or inaccessible for many libraries and library users. Libraries use federal support for telephone and online reference via electronic networks; access to online resources; regional, statewide, and interstate library loan and document delivery networks; and licensed access to electronic journals and databases that include specialized sources once restricted to privileged users. IMLS support also helps libraries to educate library staff and patrons in the use of information technology. To find and use the information now available, individuals must be able to use rapidly developing tools and to evaluate information accurately and critically. Libraries have become instrumental in broadening this new literacy by training staff and patrons in necessary skills. Funds are used to: Expand services for learning and access to information and educational resources in a variety of formats in all types of libraries for individuals of all ages; Develop library services that provide all users access to information through local, state, regional, national, and international electronic network; Provide electronic and other linkages among and between all types of libraries; Developing public and private partnerships with other agencies and community based organizations; Target library services to individual of diverse geographic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, to individuals with disabilities and to individuals with limited functional literacy and information skills; Target library services to persons having difficulty using a library; and to underserved urban and rural communities including children in poverty. Recruiting and educating the next generation of librarians. The FY 2005 budget requests $23,000,000 for Librarians for the 21st Century, an increase of $3,118,000. Recruiting and educating the next generation of librarians is essential. According to the American Library Association, as many as 58% of professional librarians will retire by 2019. Librarians support lifelong learning. They help parents teach their children before they enter school; they are partners with the schools in their communities; they provide college students with advanced information search skills; and they help adults continue to achieve and enjoy learning throughout their lifetimes. Goals for this initiative in 2005 are: Educate the next generation of librarians (master's level programs) Develop faculty and library leaders (doctoral level programs) Recruit future librarians (pre-professional programs) Support research to improve successful recruitment and education Improve curricula within graduate schools of library and information science Update and expand the skills of current librarians Improving Library Service to Native Americans The FY 2005 budget requests $3,675,000 for this program. Grants support the development of basic library services, technical assistance, and enhancement of library services for federally recognized tribes, Alaska Native villages, and Native Hawaiians. Grants in this program support the development of technology skills and information access, literacy, and reading in communities that lack many basic resources and services. Museum Programs Strengthening Museum Service Nationwide The FY 2005 budget requests $19,700,000 for Museums for America. The goal of Museums for America is to support museums in carrying out their public service, educational, and stewardship roles in connecting the whole of society to the cultural, artistic, historical, natural and scientific understanding that constitute our heritage. Museums for America strengthens the ability of museums to support high priority activities that advance the museums' missions and strategic goals for public service. Funds are used to: *Sustain cultural heritage* through projects for collections management and care; research, scholarly, and popular publications; and exhibit planning, design, and implementation. *Support lifelong learning* through projects that support full range of learning opportunities in museums, including exhibition; working with schools to develop curriculum and programs; family and adult programs; and Web site content development and implementation. *Provide centers of community engagement* through support for projects that actively engage museums with their community, including public programs, visitor experience improvements, institutional strategic plan enhancement and planning activities, and continuation of public programs to support widened access and inclusion. Enhancing the Skill of Museum Professionals This amount includes $1,000,000 for 21st Century Museum Professionals, a budget area that was previously supported within the National Leadership Grants Program under the Professional Practices category. This category has been renamed to reflect the changes and challenges for enhancing museum professional skills in response to a rapidly changing educational, social, and technological environment. It will support professional training and leadership development. Providing Technical Assistance The FY 2005 budget requests $450,000 for the Museum Assessment Program, administered by the American Association of Museums. These grants provide professional advice and assistance to museums in the areas of institutional operations, collections management, public programs, and governance Caring for America's Museum Collections The FY 2005 budget requests $2,810,000 for Conservation Project Support and $820,000 for the Conservation Assessment Program. The nation's museums care for the more than 750 million objects and specimens that represent our cultural heritage. Conservation Project Support grants help museums to conserve the cultural, historic, and scientific heritage of the United States. Grants support a wide range of care of collections activities including planning, research, and treatment. The Conservation Assessment Program is administered by Heritage Preservation, Inc. Grants help museums assess their collections' conservation needs. Improving Museum Service for Native Americans The FY 2005 budget requests $644,000 to respond to new statutory authority for a program to support tribal museums. In its 1992 study on the Needs of Small, Emerging, Minority and Rural Museums, IMLS learned that the most critical need for this community is technical assistance in the care of collections, exhibition, and museum management. These museums hold collections that preserve native culture and folkways and hold extraordinary value for native people and the whole of society. In FY 2004 IMLS will conduct a series of national meetings with tribal museum stakeholders and experts to shape the grant criteria and guidelines for this new program. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is an independent Federal grant-making agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners. The Institute fosters leadership, innovation, and a lifetime of learning by supporting the nation's 15,000 museums and 122,000 libraries. The Institute also encourages partnerships to expand the educational benefit of libraries and museums. To learn more about the Institute, please log onto: http://www.imls.gov About IMLS \| IMLS News \| Apply for Grants and Awards Publications, Conferences & Resources \| A Closer Look HOME \| CONTACT IMLS \| SEARCH \| SUBSCRIBE \| SITE MAP ADOBE ACROBAT READER Questions, comments, or problems? 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