Grant program guidelines for the current fiscal year are now available:

Access FY 2012 Grant program Guidelines Online

Read more about the Sparks Grants program on the IMLS Web site.

Webinars with Sparks Grants Staff
IMLS staff are available by phone and through e-mail to discuss general issues relating to Sparks Grants. We also invite you to participate in one of two pre-application Web conferences to learn more about the program, ask questions, and listen to the questions and comments of other participants.

The Web conference schedule for the FY12 Sparks Grants program is as follows:

December 7, 2011, at 4:00-5:00 PM. Eastern Time
January 4, 2012, at 4:00-5:00 PM. Eastern Time

A few minutes before the start time, go to the following Web page through your browser: https://imls.megameeting.com/?page=guest&conid=NLG_SPARKS

You will be asked to enter your name and your e-mail address. For the audio connection, dial 1-888-272-8702 on your phone, and when prompted, enter the code 7475003#.

Please note that the schedule is subject to change. The week the Webinar is scheduled, visit here to confirm the date and time.

The Sparks! Ignition Grants for Libraries and Museums are a special funding opportunity within the IMLS National Leadership Grants program. These small grants encourage libraries, museums, and archives to test and evaluate specific innovations in the ways they operate and the services they provide. Sparks Grants support the deployment, testing, and evaluation of promising and groundbreaking new tools, products, services, or organizational practices. You may propose activities or approaches that involve risk, as long as the risk is balanced by significant potential for improvement in the ways libraries and museums serve their communities.

Successful proposals will address problems, challenges, or needs of broad relevance to libraries, museums, and/or archives. A proposed project should test a specific, innovative response to the identified problem and present a plan to make the findings widely and openly accessible.

To maximize the public benefit from federal investments in these grants, the Sparks Grants will fund only projects with the following characteristics:

Broad Potential Impact—You should identify a specific problem or need that is relevant to many libraries, archives, and/or museums, and propose a testable and measurable solution. Proposals must demonstrate a thorough understanding of current issues and practices in the project’s focus area and discuss its potential impact within libraries, archives, and/or museums. Proposed innovations should be widely adoptable or adaptable.

Significant Innovation—The proposed solution to the identified problem must offer strong potential for non-incremental, significant advancement in the operation of libraries, archives, and/or museums. You must explain how the proposed activity differs from current practices or takes advantage of an unexplored opportunity, and the potential benefit to be gained by this innovation.
 

Libraries that fulfill the general criteria for libraries may apply. Museums that fulfill the general criteria for museums may apply. Public or private nonprofit agencies, organizations, or associations that engage in activities designed to advance museums and the museum profession may also apply. In addition, institutions of higher education, including public and nonprofit universities, are eligible.