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Check out recent posts from UpNext: The Official Blog of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Mar 07, 2013
Park View Library Media Center Specialists Jennifer Fisher and Candace Main Rush and community member Pablo Rivera traveled to Washington from Sterling, VA to receive the National Medal for Museum and Library Service and spoke to IMLS about how the library impacts the community.
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Aug 01, 2012
Funded through the IMLS Grants to State Library Administrative Agencies program, the Sacramento Public Library’s partnership with The GreenHouse is teaching teens valuable skills while capturing local history.
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May 22, 2012
The director of the Madison Children's Museum, Ruth Shelly, sits down with Benjamin Perreth, a Visitor Services Associate at the museum, to discuss the impact the museum has had on his life, as well as how the museum has learned from him.
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May 18, 2012
Families use engaging multimedia to learn about personal health and the sustainability of our food system.
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May 16, 2012
IMLS Director Susan Hildreth describes how lack of access to summer learning opportunities can put young people at risk. Education policy makers are looking for strategies to combat “summer slide” and libraries and museums are part of the solution.
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May 15, 2012
Columbus Metropolitan Library CFO Dewitt Harrell sits down with Khamall Howard to discuss how his participation in a summer youth program lead to his current job at the Main Library in downtown Columbus.
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May 10, 2012
HHS urges offices of Child Care and Head Start to partner with libraries to support child development.
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May 08, 2012
Hear how the museum’s innovative approach to improving health outcomes for South Carolina’s children is making a big impact on young visitors.
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May 04, 2012
IMLS Program Officer Connie Bodner reflects on the annual rites of spring, especially the announcement of the participants in the Conservation Assessment Program.
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Apr 30, 2012
As National Autism Awareness Month draws to a close, IMLS Senior Program Officer Michele Farrell takes note of agency-funded programs for families affected by the disorder.
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Apr 27, 2012
Susan Hildreth reports on her experience arguing in opposition to the motion that “Libraries are Obsolete” in Oxford style debate at Harvard University.
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Apr 24, 2012
Participants in WebWise 2012 discuss the projects they demoed there.
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Apr 17, 2012
U.S. libraries and museums are powerhouses that can inspire countless opportunities for learning new skills.
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Apr 11, 2012
In celebration of National Library Workers Day and National Library Week, Martha Parker writes about her library education in an IMLS-funded program and her first job since earning her degree.
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Apr 10, 2012
Susan Hildreth recounts her day at the Easter Egg Roll and announces a new tool for Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens.
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Apr 03, 2012
On the IMLS YouTube Channel, the Pratt Museum in Homer Alaska describes its Museums for America project, The Kachemak Bay: An Exploration of People and Place.
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Mar 30, 2012
The StoryCorps blog offers a behind-the-scenes look at two National Medal for Museum and Library Service winners: the San Jose Public Library and Weippe Public Library and Discovery Center.
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Mar 27, 2012
After hearing a speech by the founder of AmericaSpeaks at the LSTA Grants to States conference, IMLS Senior Program Officer James Lonergan reflects on the role of libraries in preserving and reinvigorating democracy.
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Mar 26, 2012
Chris Beakey of Ogilvy Public Relations explores the value of museums and libraries in promoting healthy behaviors.
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Mar 22, 2012
Full participation in American society requires the ability to access and use digital content and technologies. IMLS is helping libraries and museums to work with businesses, hospitals, schools, cultural institutions, community technology centers and local governments to create and sustain access to broadband technologies.
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Mar 21, 2012
Early Alexander Graham Bell recordings, once thought to be lost to history, gained national media attention last year when scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory devised a way to hear them. For curious minds who want to know more, here’s the a behind the scenes look at how it all happened.
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Mar 14, 2012
The Johnson County (Kansas) Museum used a Museums for America grant and partnered with the Johnson County Public Library to preserve photographs and enlist the help of the public to identify people and places.
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Mar 09, 2012
IMLS Director of Strategic Partnerships Marsha Semmel reflects on the third annual Digital Media and Learning conference.
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Mar 07, 2012
Marcia Smith-Woodard of the Indiana State Library was awarded the Indiana Library Federation’s 2011 Special Services Award for her work on an IMLS-funded project to recruit and educate 30 diverse library students.
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Mar 02, 2012
Before wowing the audience at WebWise 2012, Fugazi's Ian MacKaye sat down with a few IMLS staff members. Read IMLS Senior Graphic Designer and Webmaster (and Fugazi fan) Ellen Arnold Losey's reflections on meeting one of her indie rock heroes, and watch an excerpt from a video interview.
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Mar 01, 2012
StoryCorps founder Dave Isay talks about the partnership between his organization and museums and libraries, and about the importance of those institutions to their communities.
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Feb 27, 2012
An IMLS program officer, and would-be Star Fleet officer, looks forward to hearing LeVar Burton speak at WebWise.
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Feb 23, 2012
Susan Hildreth reflects on the groundbreaking for the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the invaluable work of African American museums around the country.
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Feb 21, 2012
This informative and entertaining video was created to promote a three-state collaborative effort to provide training on archival work.
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Feb 16, 2012
President Obama’s budget request for IMLS recognizes the importance of museums and libraries and will allow the agency to implement its new strategic plan.
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Feb 10, 2012
At ALA Midwinter in Dallas, IMLS Director Susan Hildreth got the opportunity to meet with University of Alabama and Wayne State University scholarship recipients from the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program-funded Project ALFA, “Accessible Libraries for All.”
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Feb 03, 2012
A video explores an IMLS-funded program of the National Aquarium in Baltimore that teaches the public what they can do to protect the Chesapeake Bay.
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Jan 26, 2012
Paper is still important in the digital age, and this IMLS-funded research project is helping to increase our understanding of how to preserve it.
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Jan 18, 2012
The two agencies are developing a program to build expertise in the field of digital collections care.
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Jan 13, 2012
The need to invest in young children is clear, as are the benefits of that investment. Here at IMLS we are challenging libraries and museums to take a leading role in their communities’ early learning strategies.
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Jan 12, 2012
Actor, director, and champion of libraries and museums LeVar Burton will make a keynote address at the 2012 WebWise Conference.
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Jan 06, 2012
IMLS was part of an exciting announcement earlier this week, when the winners of the second Digging into Data Challenge were announced. There were 14 winning teams in this competition to promote innovative humanities and social science research using large-scale data analysis.
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Dec 22, 2011
Chicago Botanic Garden’s North Lawndale Green Youth Farm, funded by a Museums for America (MFA) grant, teaches valuable job skills to students in one of the area’s poorest neighborhoods. A video prepared as part of the evaluation of the MFA program is featured on IMLS’s new YouTube channel.
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Dec 15, 2011
IMLS is again partnering with the Sundance Institute, the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts in the second year of Film Forward, a cultural exchange initiative. Museums and libraries were a big part of the initiative's inaugural-year success.
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Dec 08, 2011
Syracuse University professor Renee Franklin reports on what happens when educators from all over New York State come together to learn strategies for providing information services to K-12 students with disabilities.
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Nov 23, 2011
Caldwell (NJ) Public Library’s Big Read project, which celebrated Cynthia Ozick’s novella 'The Shawl,' transformed the library and the way it serves its community.
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Nov 21, 2011
The time is right to launch an ambitious project to realize the great promise of the Internet for the advancement of sharing information and using technology to enable new knowledge and discoveries in the United States and globally.
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Nov 16, 2011
Gary Vikan, director of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, served on the IMLS 21st Century Skills Taskforce. Out of what he calls “this crucible of critical thinking” a vision for the Walters Art Museum emerged.
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Nov 10, 2011
In a recent analysis of utilization of children’s services at public libraries in the top 100 metropolitan areas, IMLS found that attendance at programs and circulation of children’s materials were lowest in areas with the highest levels of child poverty and children of immigrant parents.
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Nov 08, 2011
Using the IMLS 21st Century Skills Self-Assessment Tool, the Children’s Museum of Houston is expanding minds, not just walls. “If we are truly going to deliver 21st Century learning benefit to our city, we have to have the talent pool and resources to do it.”
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Nov 03, 2011
On November 1, First Lady Michelle Obama visited the Royal Castle Child Development Center in New Orleans, LA. The center offers an arts-based health curriculum called Eat Sleep Play that is conducted by the Louisiana Children’s Museum and is part of the Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens initiative.
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Nov 01, 2011
With the support from an IMLS Museums for America grant, the San Diego History Center is digitizing 6,680 photographs and 438 drawings from the E.H. Davis Collection that document the lives of Native Americans. The project provides an opportunity to collaborate with tribal members and enhance public access to the collection.
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Oct 28, 2011
The IMLS Western Regional Fellowship: Transforming Life After 50 (TLA50) provides continuing education scholarships for library professionals to advance their library and information science skills related to improving services to and engagement with active, older adults.
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Oct 26, 2011
The Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums in partnership with the Western Museums Association, the Hawaii Museums Association, and the Pacific Islands Museums Association presented a joint conference providing the opportunity for tribal and non-tribal archive, library, and museum professionals to meet and exchange ideas and best practices.
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Oct 21, 2011
Maine Memory Network was launched in 2001 as an online digital archive whose primary goal was to expand access to historical collections across the state. It has since evolved into a robust online museum and become a flexible platform for a wide range of historical interests and activity.
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Oct 20, 2011
Former NFL Linebacker and children’s book author Chris Draft visited IMLS at the National Book Festival Pavilion of the States. Through his foundation he supports Let’s Read/Let’s Move and a variety of family literacy and healthy lifestyle initiatives.
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Oct 19, 2011
IMLS is hosting a seminar, Libraries and Museums in an Era of Participatory Culture, in partnership with the Salzburg Global Seminar in Austria. The seminar is convening international leaders in libraries and museums to explore and debate the changing roles and responsibilities of libraries and museums in society.
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Oct 17, 2011
On October 12, I participated in the unveiling of Connect to Compete, a public-private partnership to turn around the problem of digital exclusion in the US. According to the Pew Research Center, one-third of all Americans – 100 million people – have not adopted broadband high-speed Internet at home. The national announcement is the first major action by Chairman Genachowski’s Broadband Adoption Task force, created in May to help close the adoption gap.
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Oct 14, 2011
“Is Your Museum Ready for the Learning Revolution?” Museums need to be intentional about ways in which they promote critical thinking and problem solving, and they need to prioritize the effective adoption of digital technologies that facilitate broad access, knowledge sharing, and discovery.
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Oct 13, 2011
Posters sessions facilitate quick and informative peer-to-peer networking and knowledge sharing about IMLS funded projects.
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Oct 11, 2011
IMLS sponsored a Connecting to Collections Continuing Conversation Exchange at the American Association for State and Local History annual meeting held September 14-17 in Richmond, VA.
Representatives from 47 states and 2 territories gathered to discuss statewide collections care plans and preservation resources.
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Oct 06, 2011
As part of our strategic focus, IMLS is a collaborative partner in a variety of initiatives to improve public access technology, resources and training. DigitalLiteracy.gov is a valuable resource to practitioners who are delivering digital literacy training and services in their communities.
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Oct 04, 2011
The 2011 National Book Festival delighted and inspired readers and book lovers of all ages. IMLS sponsored the Pavilion of the States which provides opportunities for library and book lovers to meet representatives from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and a number of the U.S. territories.
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Sep 26, 2011
Get involved in your community’s early learning efforts! Compete for the 2012 All-America City Award!
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Sep 23, 2011
The World Maker Faire brings amateur and professional tinkerers, geeks, and artists together for a weekend of “serious fun.”
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Sep 21, 2011
AAM’s Museum Assessment Program (MAP) has been helping museums achieve excellence for 30 years. More than 4,300 museums of all types have participated in over 6,000 assessments since 1981.
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Sep 15, 2011
Editor’s note: IMLS is working with the University of Washington Information School and the International City/County Management Association to incorporate feedback into the next version of the “Framework.” A survey to get broad public input is also planned and will be available on www.imls.gov in the coming months.
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Sep 13, 2011
The goal of Voices for the Lake is to create a community forum through a website, an exhibit and a set of social network tools to engage people in an evolving dialogue about water.
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Sep 09, 2011
Library science scholarship recipients visit the IMLS exhibit booth at the American Library Association’s annual conference held in New Orleans. In addition to tuition and fees, grant funds also support professional development opportunities.
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Sep 01, 2011
Building 21st Century Skills through Environmental Literacy
The Lincoln Park Zoo was recently awarded an IMLS Museums for America grant to develop six new mobile learning stations to create a dynamic visitor experience, promote the zoo's mission, and encourage visitors to share what they have learned.
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Aug 25, 2011
I hope you will enjoy learning more about our projects and initiatives and that you will also take the opportunity to share what you know, engage with your peers, community members, IMLS staff, and other thought leaders from libraries, museums and beyond.
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