FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 10, 2008

IMLS Press Contacts
202-653-4632
Jeannine Mjoseth, jmjoseth@imls.gov
Mamie Bittner, mbittner@imls.gov

National Leadership Grants Awarded to 44 Institutions

18.2 Million Dollars Distributed

Washington, DC—Dr. Anne-Imelda Radice, Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), announced today the 44 recipients of National Leadership Grants (NLG), totaling $18.2 million. The largest museum and library joint grant program administered by IMLS, National Leadership Grants support projects that will advance the ability of museums and libraries to preserve culture, heritage, and knowledge while enhancing learning. Click here to learn more about the 2008 NLG awardees.

“Museums and libraries are trusted stewards of our nation’s cultural heritage, and are an important part of our education, community, and identity,” said Dr. Radice. “The institutions receiving National Leadership Grants have developed programs that will elevate the museum and library practice, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services is proud to support their endeavors.”

This year’s National Leadership Grant recipients will generate new tools, research, models, services, practices, and alliances that will positively impact both the awarded institution and the nation. These projects include:

• Homework NYC, a set of digital tools that will be produced by the New York Public Library and its partners, the Brooklyn Public Library and the Queens Borough Public Library, for homework help that will be responsive to young people’s information-gathering tendencies, research needs, and expectations.
• Steve in Action: Social Tagging Tools and Methods Applied, which builds on the original Steve program and allows users to use social tagging as a way to classify works of art outside the specialized language of art history.
• LibX 2.0, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University’s extension of its popular LibX program. LibX 2.0 will build a community platform for developing and delivering library services that provides integration into the user’s workflow, integrates and combines existing services in new ways, allows for the localization and reuse of these combinations, and deploys immediately with a minimum of special-purpose software.
• Project to Develop Solvent-Free Clear Coatings for Metals, headed by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, will create a solvent-free, clear coating lacquer system to protect outdoor sculptures from corrosion and degradation.
• Voices for the Lake, supported by a partnership between the Lake Champlain Basin Science Center and the Vermont Department of Libraries, will be an online community network of and for the rural populations surrounding Lake Champlain dedicated to improving the health of the lake.
• Planning for Northwest-Wide Access to Digitized Primary Sources, a planning grant that will support the second stage of the Orbis Cascade Alliance’s Northwest Digital Archives database, which will determine solutions to specific problems that are currently impeding the development of sustainable digital programs.

The next deadline for the National Leadership Grants program is February 1, 2009. Click here for more information.

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development. To learn more about the Institute, please visit www.imls.gov.