IMLS Grants awarded

IMLS Announces 2009 Award of 23 Connecting to Collections: Statewide
Planning Grants
<URL:http://www.imls.gov/news/2009/021909.shtm>

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) today awarded 23
Connecting to Collections: Statewide Planning Grants that will be
used to create statewide conservation plans for collections held in
libraries, museums, and archives. To view the winners of this year's
grants, please go to

    <URL:http://www.imls.gov/news/2009/021909_list.shtm>

   "I applaud these grantees as they take action to combat the
    crises in collections care that threaten to rob our heritage,"
    said Anne-Imelda Radice, IMLS Director. "They represent a wide
    array of approaches to planning, from a system of conservation
    "circuit-riders" in Virginia working with small institutions
    across the state to the first-ever statewide preservation
    assessment of material culture collections in Utah."

Under the program, 23 states will receive $908,206, matched with
$621,073 of non-federal funds to foster partnerships among
organizations in a state, commonwealth, or territory to provide safe
conditions for its collections, develop emergency plans, assign
responsibility for collections care, and marshal public and private
support for collections care. Grantees included eight museums and
museum associations, five state libraries, two historical societies,
five state agencies that oversee museums and libraries, and three
universities and service organizations.

Funded projects included:

    *   Maine, with its large geographic area and relatively sparse
        population, will create a collaborative and
        multi-disciplinary working group that will compile,
        organize, and analyze the existing collections-based
        information and create associated databases on a statewide
        basis. It will also create a feasibility assessment of
        existing organizations to steward the collections and create
        a values assessment ranking system to assist institutions in
        targeting limited resources.

    *   Kentucky will develop and conduct a survey to determine the
        needs of cultural and heritage collecting institutions in
        the state. It will develop and execute a pilot project with
        three to five collecting institutions that will inform the
        development of a statewide collections management plan. It
        will also conduct disaster planning and preparedness
        workshops that will provide instructions and guidelines for
        writing a disaster plan and inform the development of a
        statewide disaster response team.

    *   The University of Utah will work with seven partners to
        develop and implement the state's first formal preservation
        assessment of museums, libraries, and archives. In keeping
        with the findings of the Heritage Health Index report, the
        results from this survey will be disseminated through four
        preservation forums that will be used to improve
        preservation-related educational and funding opportunities
        statewide.

This is the second year IMLS has awarded Statewide Planning Grants,
an important component of the IMLS initiative, Connecting to
Collections: A Call to Action. IMLS launched the initiative in
response to the 2005 Heritage Health Index report on the dire state
of the nation's collections. According to the report by Heritage
Preservation, approximately 190 million objects could be lost in
just a few short years without immediate attention. The report also
found that 65 percent of collecting institutions report damage to
collections due to improper storage and 80 percent did not have an
emergency plan for their collections or trained staff to carry it
out.

Over the next two years, IMLS intends to award a grant to each
eligible state, commonwealth, or territory to advance their
collective conservation goals guided by the Heritage Health Index
recommendations.

The next and final deadline for the statewide planning grants is
October 16, 2009. For more information, please visit:

    <URL:http://www.imls.gov/collections/grants/planning.htm>

IMLS intends to issue a limited number of implementation grants to
statewide planning grantees in 2010.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:47
                Distributed: Saturday, February 21, 2009
                       Message Id: cdl-22-47-002
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