FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
September 12, 2006
Press Contacts
202-653-4632
Eileen Maxwell, emaxwell@imls.gov
Mamie Bittner, mbittner@imls.gov
$1.7 Million For Native American Communities
for Library Enhancements
Washington, DC--The Institute
of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the primary source
of federal funds for the nation's museums and libraries,
announced an award of $1,781,300 today going to 15 Native
American tribal communities and Alaska Native villages
to improve library services to their communities. More
than 53 applications were received requesting $7,135,926.
For more information on the Enhancement Grant recipients,
please see
the list of awarded institutions.
"Congratulations to the 15 recipients
of these very competitive Native American Library Enhancement
Grants,” said IMLS Director Dr. Anne-Imelda M. Radice.
“These communities are raising the level of library
service by automating access, increasing staff and hours
of operation, preserving special collections, and developing
programming that addresses the needs of Native Americans
and Native Alaskans.”
Native American Library Services Enhancement
Grants support projects that enhance existing library
services or implement new ones. Preference is given to
projects that expand services for learning in a variety
of formats; provide users with access to information and
resources through electronic networks and linkages; develop
partnerships with other agencies and community-based organizations;
or target services to users of diverse backgrounds and
to underserved populations.
Projects funded will include the addition
of bookmobile service to the 2.8 million acres of the
Tohono O’odham Nation in Sells, Arizona; the digitization
of the tribal special collection of the D’Arcy McNickle
Library in Montana on behalf of the Confederated Salish
and Kootenai Tribes, including 32 years’ worth of
the tribal newspaper; and a week-long library training
camp by the Tuzzy Consortium Library in Barrow, Alaska,
to place library interns in the village libraries of the
Arctic Slope Inupiat.
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