Recent Grants

This program is designed to support 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. Projects are expected to:

• propose far-reaching impact to influence practice across one or more disciplines within the libraries and archives fields;
• reflect a thorough understanding of current practice, knowledge about the subject matter, and an awareness of and support for current strategic priorities in the field; 
• use collaboration to demonstrate field-wide buy-in and input, and access to appropriate expertise; and 
• generate results such as new models, new tools, research findings, services, practices, and/or alliances that can be widely used, adapted, scaled, or replicated to extend and leverage the benefits of federal investment. 

As a result, National Leadership Grants for Libraries have significant potential to generate positive societal impact through project activities undertaken as part of the grant-funded work, activities that may be complementary to the project, and through applied research designed specifically for this purpose. IMLS does not prescribe the type, focus, reach, or scale of societal impact required for each project, but the questions to be addressed in the application Narrative and the review criteria reflect the agency's commitment to both advancing knowledge and understanding and to ensuring that the federal investment made through grants generates benefits to society. Applicants should keep these two agency commitments in mind when they conceptualize their projects, identify the target group(s) they propose to reach, prepare their work plans, and formulate their intended results. 

Reflecting IMLS's agency-level goals, the National Leadership Grants Program for Libraries has five program goals and two or three objectives associated with each goal. Each applicant should align their proposed project with one of these five program goals and one or more of the associated objectives.

• Goal 1: Build the workforce and institutional capacity for managing the national information infrastructure and serving the information and education needs of the public. 
  • Objective 1.1: Develop or enhance replicable library and archives programs, models, and tools that provide opportunities to support all types of learning.
  • Objective 1.2: Collaborate with formal and/or informal learning organizations to incorporate promising practices from allied domains into library and archives services.
  • Objective 1.3: Create and/or facilitate opportunities for continuous learning for families, groups, and individuals of diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds and needs.
• Goal 2: Build the capacity of libraries and archives to lead and contribute to efforts that improve community well-being and strengthen civic engagement. 
  • Objective 2.1: Develop or enhance replicable library programming, models, and tools that engage communities and individuals of diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.
  • Objective 2.2: Develop or enhance collaborations between libraries and stakeholders, and leverage opportunities to address community needs.
  • Objective 2.3: Establish or refine approaches that equip libraries and archives to contribute to the well-being of communities.
• Goal 3: Improve the ability of libraries and archives to provide broad access to and use of information and collections with emphasis on collaboration to avoid duplication and maximize reach.
  • Objective 3.1: Advance digital inclusion, broadly defined. Approaches may include, but are not limited to, enhancing digital infrastructures, platforms, technologies, online services, connectivity, digital literacy, privacy, and security, as well as creating new processes and procedures needed to sustain a robust online environment. 
  • Objective 3.2: Support innovative approaches to digital collection management including, but not limited to, preservation and access to information and resources through retrospective and born-digital content; digital preservation strategies; community archives; web archiving; and improving cataloging and inventory practices.
  • Objective 3.3: Support the design and development of online library and archives services that meet user expectations for operating in an online environment.
• Goal 4: Strengthen the ability of libraries to provide services to affected communities in the event of an emergency or disaster. 
  • Objective 4.1. Support the development of model national, regional, statewide, or local emergency and disaster management plans employing new and emerging technologies, where appropriate, and the widespread dissemination of information derived from them.
  • Objective 4.2. Support the implementation of such emergency and disaster management plans or otherwise enable libraries to provide appropriate services to affected communities in the event of emergencies or disasters.
• Goal 5: Strengthen the ability of libraries, archives, and museums to work collaboratively for the benefit of the communities they serve.
  • Objective 5.1. Support the development of replicable systems that leverage institutional expertise and experience to maximize public access to and use of knowledge resources.
  • Objective 5.2. Support joint projects designed to address a shared problem and structured to use the expertise, experience, and perspective of each partner institution in its solution.

In FY 2024, the IMLS will accept applications in the following program categories:

• Planning Projects support exploratory activities, such as analyzing needs and feasibility; solidifying partnerships; developing project work plans; or developing prototypes, proofs of concept, and pilot studies. Applications should identify planning activities that have the potential to lead to future implementation.
• Forum Projects support convening qualified experts and key stakeholders, including those from adjacent fields as appropriate, to help explore current or emerging issues or opportunities that are important to libraries and archives across the nation. Reports and other deliverables should be prepared for wide dissemination. Convenings should leverage technology, such as virtual meetings or live streaming, to allow broad participation. Additional mechanisms for engaging stakeholders and building awareness of the findings are encouraged.
• Implementation Projects support the development, execution, and evaluation of work that transforms how libraries and archives serve the nation. Implementation projects may develop new tools and resources or expand existing products or services for new audiences or in new contexts. Applicants should design their proposed work to ensure that new practices have the potential to be easily adoptable, sustainable, and widely implementable across the field.
• Applied Research Projects support the investigation of key questions relevant to library or archival tools and services, building on prior empirical, theoretical, or exploratory work in libraries and archives or other relevant disciplines. Applicants must include clearly articulated research questions and feature appropriate methods, including relevant theoretical or conceptual approaches, data collection, and analysis. Findings and their implications for library and archival practice should be shared broadly throughout the grant period of performance, rather than exclusively at the end of the project. Dissemination activities should extend beyond publishing journal articles and presenting at academic conferences. Research projects should not be designed with a deterministic agenda or predetermined outcomes. Proposals focused on evaluation are not appropriate for the Applied Research project category and should be submitted under the Implementation project category above.