This month’s project profile highlights the winners of the 2006 National Awards for Museum and Library service, our nation’s highest honor for the exemplary public service offered by these institutions. This year’s awardees are as diverse as the museum and library fields themselves, and have become essential to the communities they serve:

• Artrain USA, Ann Arbor, MI
• Frankfort Community Public Library, Frankfort, IN
• John G. Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, IL
• Lincoln Children’s Zoo, Lincoln, NE
• Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, Charlotte, NC
• San Antonio Public Library, San Antonio, TX

Each year, IMLS solicits nominations for the National Award for Museum and Library Service. The award celebrates museums and libraries that exceed expectations and demonstrate how these institutions make a difference in their communities. Learn more about this year’s awardees. Nominate a museum or library.

I am pleased to announce a special focus at the Institute – we are launching Connecting to Collections: The IMLS Conservation/Preservation Initiative. Our nation’s library and museums collections are an essential part of the American story, and I feel a profound responsibility as the Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services to make care of collections as much a part of the nation's consciousness as the care of our natural environment.

Published in December 2005, “A Public Trust at Risk: The Health Heritage Index Report on the State of America’s Collections” is a clarion call to action. It delivers a grim prognosis for the collections held by libraries, museums, archives, and historical societies throughout the United States. But the report also gives us the makings of a remedy, provided we all work together. I plan to make this effort a centerpiece of my administration.

Through the Connecting to Collections initiative, we will seek
• a public that understands that caring for collections is an investment in the future;
• safe conditions for our collections;
• emergency preparedness plans and trained staff; and
• a place in the organizational chart for staff with responsibility to care for collections.

Our goals are to
• raise public awareness;
• encourage federal, state and local conservation and emergency planning efforts; and
• showcase innovation and effective practice.

One of the components of this new initiative will be a national summit on conservation to be held in June of next year. We expect 325 to 350 participants from small to mid-size institutions to attend in response to our invitation. And we plan to award 200 scholarships for the event.

We will hold regional summits to focus on region-specific challenges. Both the national and regional summits will feature true conservation experts so that meaningful professional networking can take place.

Another component of the initiative will be a conservation bookshelf. The book shelf will be comprised of core texts in collections care. It will be made available to all summit participants and, through a streamlined competitive process, be distributed to 1,000 libraries, museums, and archives nationwide. This has both a practical and symbolic benefit. When we set aside a special place for a particular issue, we signal its unique importance.

We also will award planning grants to help statewide coalitions raise public awareness about conservation and strengthen conservation practice.

Each of you is core to our goal. If we work together, the next time we take the temperature of our heritage's health we will find the patient much improved.

Anne-Imelda M. Radice, Director, IMLS

“Moving Your Museum toward Tomorrow with Funding from IMLS,” Dan Lukash, Senior Program Officer, Association of Science-Technology Centers Annual Meeting, Louisville, KY, 10/27-30

"Science TV and Museum Partnerships 2006" (Roundtable Session), Marsha Semmel, IMLS Deputy Director for Museums & Director for Strategic Partnerships (participant), Association of Science-Technology Centers 2006 Annual Meeting, Louisville, KY, 10/28.

"Moving Your Museum toward Tomorrow with Funding from IMLS,” Steve Shwartzman, New England Museums Conference, Hartford, CT, 11/7-9

"Grant Opportunities for LIS Research, Institute of Museum and Library Services," Joyce Ray, IMLS Associate Deputy Director for Library Services, American Society for Information Science and Technology 2007 annual conference, Austin, TX, 11/8.

“IMLS Funding for Technology Projects,” Dan Lukash, Senior Program Officer (with Sharon Leon, IMLS grantee, George Mason University), Museum Computer Network Annual Meeting, Pasadena, CA, 11/8-11

“Heritage Preservation 2006 Annual Meeting- Heritage Health: Strategies Toward the Preservation of America’s Collections,” Dr. Anne Radice (keynote speaker), IMLS Director, Washington, DC (Smithsonian Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture), 11/15.