Recipient: State Library and Archives of Florida
Location: Tallahassee, FL
Grant: National Leadership Grant

The Challenge: Photos, audio and visual recordings, oral and social history tell the story of extraordinary and ordinary people. They provide seeds for creativity, art, and understanding. But were it not for the work of the Florida State Library and Archives the stories of Florida folk musicians, crafts persons, storytellers, folklife interpreters, and Native Americans dating from the 1930’s may have been silenced forever A recently received collection was in danger - formats were obsolete, materials deteriorating, and finding aids non-existent. The treasure trove was unusable, and the situation would worsen with a reorganization that would bring a loss of institutional memory. Read more.

Very soon the Institute will officially launch a new visual identity. This edition of Primary Source is the first to have our new look. The fresh approach builds on a solid foundation and will extend to our Web site, publications, conference exhibit and more. Grantees and partners will find tools for using the new branding here. Our new logo drops the acronym and places “museums and libraries” front and center.

The new look supports a big idea. The Institute has a clearly defined mission: to grow and sustain a Nation of Learners. We believe every community with a library or a museum can be a learning community. And we want all of our communications to support that big idea.

Museums and libraries sustain our cultural heritage, provide learning opportunities for families and communities, build 21st Century skills and encourage civic participation. They are adept at helping people transform information into knowledge. The need to adapt to change and always keep learning are essential to our democracy, to our economy and to our quality of life – and libraries and museums are essential to learning… for life.

- Mary Chute, Acting Director, IMLS

Call for Museums for America Grant Applications
IMLS encourages U.S. museums, large and small, from art to zoo, to apply for funds from the largest federal grant program for museums, Museums for America. The application deadline is November 15, 2005.
Read more.

Call for Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Grant Applications
IMLS invites America’s libraries, archives, library agencies, associations, and consortia to apply for the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian (formerly called Librarians for the 21st Century) grant program. Under this program, IMLS will award more than $21 million to help recruit and educate librarians and strengthen graduate schools of library and information science in FY 2006. The application deadline is December 15, 2005.
Read more.

Libraries, Museums, and Public Broadcasters Address Community Needs
The Partnership for a Nation of Learners--a new collaboration between the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and IMLS--announced its first-ever community collaboration grants on September 27. The grants will fund museums, libraries, and public broadcasters as they work together to address jointly identified community needs, ranging from asthma education to historic material conservation. Read more.

New Tools for Partnerships Coming Soon!
New partnership resources for museums, libraries, and public broadcasters will be available after November 1 on the Partnership for a Nation of Learners (PNL) Web site. Visit www.partnershipforlearners.org and--

• Participate in our live community partnership videoconference on November 30.
• Resolve to take part in monthly professional development webconferences that will explore effective collaboration. (December 2005 through April 2006)
• Learn more through a robust online resource center with case studies, tools, and exercises.
• Explore funding opportunities including PNL Community Collaboration Grants – Deadline March 1, 2006 – for projects that involve at least one museum and/or library and at least one public radio or television licensee. Interested applicants may want to take advantage of our grants Q&A audioconferences on Jan. 9 and Feb. 8.

Nearly Half a Million Dollars for Internet Investigation
IMLS announced a cooperative agreement with the University of Illinois Library Research Center (LRC) to investigate, in partnership with the Pew Internet & American Life Project, how effectively public libraries and community technology centers provide government information to people with limited access to the Internet. The agency awarded $495,053 for the national study; findings and recommendations for improving services are expected in October 2007. Read more.

“Resources for Recovering Mississippi’s Cultural Heritage” (panel program), George V. Smith, Ph.D., IMLS Associate Deputy Director for State Programs (speaker), sponsored by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Hattiesburg, MS, 10/14.

“Partner with IMLS to Achieve Excellence” (conference session), Christine Henry, IMLS Senior Program Officer, and Jennifer Headley, IMLS Program Specialist, sponsored by the Association of Science and Technology Centers Annual Conference, Richmond, VA, 10/16.

“Streamlining MAP: New Process, Same Benefits” (conference panel), Christine Henry, IMLS Senior Program Officer, and Jennifer Headley, IMLS Program Specialist (facilitators), sponsored by the Association of Science and Technology Centers Annual Conference, Richmond, VA, 10/16.

“Science TV-Museum Partnerships,” Marsha Semmel, IMLS Director for Strategic Partnerships (panel participant), sponsored by the Association for Science and Technology Centers Annual Conference, Richmond, VA, 10/16.

Welcome remarks, Mary L. Chute, IMLS Acting Director, Statewide Digitization Planners Meeting, sponsored by OCLC, Inc., Dublin, OH, 10/20.

“Saving Our Cultural Heritage: Preserving and Sustaining Digital Resources,” Joyce Ray, Ph.D., IMLS Associate Deputy Director for Libraries, Statewide Digitization Planners Meeting, sponsored by OCLC, Inc., Dublin, OH, 10/21.

“Statewide Summer Reading Program” (panel program), George V. Smith, Ph.D., IMLS Associate Deputy Director for State Programs (facilitator and speaker), sponsored by the Nevada Library Association, Annual Conference, Reno, NV, 10/21.

“IMLS Rural Library Seminar” post-conference program, George V. Smith, Ph.D., IMLS Associate Deputy Director for State Programs (speaker), sponsored by the Nevada Library Association, Annual Conference, Reno, NV, 10/21.

“Museums, Libraries, and Afterschool: New Models for Learning,” Marsha Semmel, IMLS Director for Strategic Partnerships (workshop presenter), “The Bridge from School to Afterschool and Back: Equity-Opportunity-Success” Conference, Vancouver, WA, 10/24.

“Streamlining MAP and CAP: New Process, Same Benefits,” Mary Estelle Kennelly, IMLS Associate Deputy Director of Museum Services, sponsored by the Association of Midwest Museums Annual Conference, Cincinnati, OH, 10/27.

“Put Your Museum on the Road to Success with Assistance from Federal Funding from IMLS,” Mary Estelle Kennelly, IMLS Associate Deputy Director of Museum Services, sponsored by the Association of Midwest Museums Annual Conference, Cincinnati, OH, 10/28.

“Laura Bush 21st Century Librarians - Next Steps,” Mary L. Chute, IMLS Acting Director, Kent State University, School of Library and Information Science, Kent, OH, 11/2.

Discussion of the role and function of IMLS, Mary L. Chute, IMLS Acting Director, Association of Academic Health Science Libraries Leadership Fellows “Capstone” Program, Washington, DC, 11/3.