This program is designed to support the development of a diverse workforce of librarians and archivists in order to meet the information needs of their communities. As a result, Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grants 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 aims 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.
The mission of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is to advance, support, and empower America's museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. Guiding our grantmaking are three agency-level goals with two objectives each.
- Goal 1: Champion Lifelong Learning
- Objective 1.1: Advance shared knowledge and learning opportunities for all.
- Objective 1.2: Support the training and professional development of the museum and library workforce
- Goal 2: Strengthen Community Engagement
- Objective 2.1: Promote inclusive engagement across diverse audiences.
- Objective 2.2: Support community collaboration and foster civic discourse..
- Goal 3: Advance Collections Stewardship and Access
- Objective 3.1: Support collections care and management.
- Objective 3.2: Promote access to museum and library collections.
This program is designed to support the development of a diverse workforce of librarians and archivists in order to meet the information needs of their communities. 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; and
- use collaboration to demonstrate broad need, wide buy-in and input, and access to appropriate expertise.
In FY 2024, the LB21 program will support the following types of projects:
- 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 professional development and education-related issues in 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 developing faculty, library, and archives leaders and contributing to the professional development and retention of library and archives staff who 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.
- Early Career Research Development Projects support the research of untenured tenure-track library and information science faculty, furthering the faculty member's long-term research agenda, career trajectory, and professional development.
- Applied Research Projects support the investigation of key questions relevant to library or archival professional practice, 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.
The Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program uses four performance measures as a basis for understanding (1) how well the grant program is meeting its goals and (2) how individual projects are being managed.