Program
Overview
This program supports projects to develop faculty and
library leaders, to recruit and educate the next generation
of librarians, to conduct research on the library profession,
and to support early career research on any area of
library and information science by tenure-track, untenured
faculty in graduate schools of library and information
science. It also supports projects to attract high school
and college students to consider careers in libraries,
to build institutional capacity in graduate schools
of library and information science, and to assist in
the professional development of librarians and library
staff.
Categories of funding are as follows:
Doctoral Programs
• Develop faculty to educate the next generation
of library professionals. In particular, increase the
number of students enrolled in doctoral programs that
will prepare faculty to teach master’s students
who will work in school, public, and academic libraries.
• Develop the next generation of library leaders.
In particular, increase the number of students enrolled
in doctoral programs that will prepare them to assume
positions as library managers and administrators.
Master’s Level Programs
• Educate the next generation of librarians. In
particular, increase the number of students enrolled
in nationally accredited graduate library programs preparing
for careers of service in libraries.
Research
• Support the early career development of new
faculty members who are likely to become leaders in
library and information science by supporting innovative
research by untenured, tenure-track faculty. See Program
Guidelines for specific eligibility criteria. Proposed
research should be in the investigator’s own field
of inquiry and need not relate to library education
or librarianship as a career. For more information on
the early career development program, see Special Conditions
of Eligibility for Institutions of Higher Education
in the program guidelines. See also Frequently
Asked Questions About the IMLS Early Careers Development
Program.
• Provide the library community with information
needed to support successful recruitment and education
of the next generation of librarians. In particular,
through funded research, establish baseline data on
professional demographics and job availability, and
evaluate current programs in library education for their
capacity to meet the identified needs.
• Conduct research and establish ongoing research
capacity in the field of library and information science,
particularly the evaluation of library and information
services, assessment of the value and use of public
libraries and their services by the public, and assessment
of the public value and use of the Internet.
Pre-Professional Programs
• Recruit future professionals in library and
information science. In particular, attract promising
junior high, high school of college students to consider
careers in library and information science through statewide
or regional pilot projects employing recruitment strategies
that are cost-effective and measurable.
• Introduce high school or college students to
potential careers in library and information science
by employing them to assist with library disaster recovery
or service operations in areas that have suffered major
disasters. Participation of at least one library, as
the applicant or as an official partner, in a location
certified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency
as a major disaster area in 2005 or 2006, is required.
Programs to Build Institutional
Capacity
• Develop or enhance curricula within graduate
schools of library and information science. In particular:
• Develop or enhance courses or
programs of study for library, museum, and archives
professionals in the creation, management, preservation,
presentation, and use of digital assets.
• Develop or enhance courses or programs of
study related to the development of critical thinking
skills, such as organization leadership and research
methods.
• Broaden the library and information science
curriculum by incorporating perspectives from other
disciplines and fields of scholarship, such as public
policy, ethics, American studies, urban planning,
mass communication, and instructional design.
• Develop projects or programs
in data curation as training programs for graduate students
in library and information science. Data curation includes
the authentication, archiving, management, preservation,
retrieval and representation of high-quality digital
data for use and re-use over time. No limitations on
topic or data format are imposed. Successful proposals
will involve collaborations with existing data repositories
of sufficient scale and complexity to provide a rich
testbed for education and investigation. Collaborations
with repositories or programs within the same institution
as the applicant are permitted. One or more awards may
be made.
Continuing Education
• Develop or enhance programs of continuing education
and training in library and information science for
librarians and library staff.
• Develop or enhance programs to enable librarians
and library staff to improve services to audiences with
special needs such as youth at risk, seniors, and those
with language, physical or other barriers to service.
• Develop or enhance programs to promote collaboration
between educators and librarians employed in educational
institutions.
• Provide internships in conservation practice
in libraries that have suffered disaster-related collections
damage. Participation of at least one library, as the
applicant or as an official partner, in a location certified
by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a major
disaster area in 2005 or 2006, is required.
Eligibility
All types of libraries, except federal and for profit
libraries, may apply. Eligible libraries include public,
school, academic, special, private (not-for-profit),
archives, library agencies, library consortia, and library
associations. In addition, research libraries that give
the public access to services and materials suitable
for scholarly research not otherwise available to the
public and that are not part of a university or college
are eligible. Institutions of higher education, including
public and not-for-profit universities and colleges,
also are eligible. Graduate schools of library and information
science may apply as part of an institution of higher
education. See Program Guidelines for specific eligibility
criteria.
Special
Conditions of Eligibility for Institutions of Higher
Education
In addition to all eligible applicants listed above,
institutions of higher education as noted under Categories
1, 2, 4, and 5 are eligible to apply with these special
conditions:
Doctoral Programs
• All graduate schools of library and information
science offering programs of study at the doctoral level
are eligible to apply for funding of doctoral-level
scholarships and fellowships, either individually or
in a partnership.
Master’s Programs
• Graduate schools of library and information
science or school library media certification programs
are eligible to apply for funds to educate students
at the master’s level if they apply in a partnership
that includes one or more eligible library entities.
Any of the eligible applicants in the partnership may
serve as the lead applicant.
Research
• For early career development projects, see Frequently
Asked Questions about the IMLS Early Career Development
Program.
• For all other research projects, all eligible
library entities may apply, either individually or in
a partnership.
Programs to Build Institutional
Capacity
• All graduate schools of library and information
science are eligible to apply for funding to build institutional
capacity, either individually or in a partnership.
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