FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 21, 2006

Press Contacts
202-653-4632
Eileen Maxwell, emaxwell@imls.gov
Mamie Bittner, mbittner@imls.gov

IMLS Calls for 2007 Conservation Project Support Grant Applications

Application Deadline: October 1, 2006

Washington, DC—The Institute of Museum and Library Services is accepting grant applications to the agency’s FY 2007 Conservation Project Support (CPS) program. “Roughly 190 million objects held in America’s collecting institutions are in need of treatment,” said agency director Dr. Anne-Imelda M. Radice citing the Heritage Health Index, the first comprehensive survey of the condition of preservation at museums, libraries, and archives. “We must do better. I strongly encourage museums to apply for these grants.”

CPS awards matching grants to help museums identify conservation needs and priorities and perform activities to ensure the safekeeping of their collections. The Institute funds four types of collections: Nonliving, Natural History/Anthropology, Living Plants, and Living Animals.

There are seven categories of Conservation Project Support activities. Applicants should apply under the category that best meets their institution’s highest collections care needs (living animal collections are eligible to apply for last three categories):

• General Conservation Survey: to broadly assess all of the museum’s collections and environmental conditions
• Detailed Conservation Survey: to systematically examine, item-by-item, all or part of a museum’s collections
• Treatment: to conserve, preserve, or stabilize collections
• Environmental Survey: to assess a museum’s environmental conditions, including temperature, relative humidity, and light
• Environmental Improvements: to improve and/or stabilize climatic conditions such as light, temperature, relative humidity, vibration, mold/fungus, pests, or air pollutants
• Research: to conduct innovative conservation research projects with potential benefits to the field of conservation
• Training: to train staff (including volunteers and interns) in conservation and collections care*

The Institute will provide up to $150,000 for successful grant proposals. For Impact Projects, proposals with broad-reaching effects that benefit multiple institutions, the maximum is increased to $250,000. All applicants may also apply for up to $10,000 in additional funds for an Education Component that will educate the general public about their conservation project. Click here for grant application and guidelines.

To help museum applicants prepare proposals, the Institute will host technical assistance audio conference calls--dates, times, and telephone numbers to be announced.

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. Its mission is to grow and sustain a “Nation of Learners” because life-long learning is essential to a democratic society and individual success. Through its grant making, convenings, research and publications, the Institute empowers museums and libraries nationwide to provide leadership and services to enhance learning in families and communities, sustain cultural heritage, build twenty-first-century skills, and increase civic participation. To learn more about the Institute, please visit: http://www.imls.gov.

*IMLS encourages applications in this category from institutions that will provide professional internships for museums that have suffered disaster-related damages.