FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 6, 2006

Press Contact
202-653-4632
Eileen Maxwell, emaxwell@imls.gov

President's Budget Requests $262,240,000 for Institute of Museum and Library Services

WASHINGTON, DC--The President's budget requests $262,240,000 for fiscal year 2007 for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The request, which was delivered to Congress today, represents an increase of $15,096,000 or 6.1 percent for IMLS, including:

• $220,855,000 for activities authorized by the Library Services and Technology Act, an increase of $10,258,000 from the FY 06 appropriation for the same purposes. This includes an increase of $7.8 million for the Grants to States program, bringing it to $171,500,000. This amount will enable the full implementation of a law passed in 2003 to provide a more equitable distribution of state formula grants. The request also includes $25,000,000 for the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program;
• $39,885,000 for activities authorized by the Museum Services Act, an increase of $4,180,000 from the FY 06 appropriation for the same purposes. The request includes $17.9 million for Museums for America and $3,000,000 for Museum Professionals for the 21st Century and;
• $1,500,000 for the grant program authorized by the African American History and Culture Act, an increase of $658,000 from FY 06, the program’s first year.

"The Bush Administration continues its strong support for America’s libraries and museums because they are an essential part of the infrastructure that supports learning in the United States,” said Mary L. Chute, Acting Director of IMLS. “This budget supports the development of people, programs and services to enable libraries and museums to meet the changing needs of their communities.”

The budget request also proposes consolidating grantmaking, data collection and policy advice in IMLS to strengthen federal library and information policy efforts and enhance our national research capacity on domestic and international library trends. View the Institute's statement on the consolidation.

A detailed table of President Bush’s budget request for IMLS accompanies this release.

Other Links:

FY2007 Congressional Justification (PDF, 213KB)
2000-2007 Appropriations Table (PDF, 45KB)