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Program Overview
For more than 50 years the LSTA Grants to States
Program and its predecessors have supported the delivery of library
services in the United States. Few public sector agencies in the
country have been as responsive as libraries to the extreme shifts
brought on by the information age. Rapid changes in information
technology resulted in significant reorganization of library work
and major changes to library service in public, academic, school, and
research settings. Over this period libraries expanded their
traditional mission of collecting and circulating physical holdings
to one that also provides access to computers, software, and a host
of new services, including an ever-increasing pool of digital information services.
The Grants to States Program is the largest grant program
run by IMLS; it provides funds to State Library Administrative Agencies
(SLAAs) using a population-based formula. SLAAs may use federal funds to
support statewide initiatives and services; they also may distribute the
funds through subgrant competitions or cooperative agreements to public,
academic, research, school, and special libraries in their state. The
program has the benefit of building the capacity of states to develop
statewide plans for library services and to evaluate those services every
five years.
SLAAs located in each of the 50 states, the District of
Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S.
Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the
Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia,
and the Republic of Palau are eligible to submit five-year plans and
receive funding from the Grants to States program. For information about
funding opportunities at the state level, contact the specific SLAA.
The overall purposes of the Library Services and
Technology Act are to
- promote improvement in library services in all types of libraries
in order to better serve the people of the United States,
- facilitate access to resources in all types of libraries for the
purpose of cultivating an educated and informed citizenry, and
- encourage resource sharing among all types of libraries for the
purpose of achieving economical and efficient delivery of library
services to the public.
The Act specifies the following priorities for the
Grants to States program:
- to expand services for learning and access to information
and educational resources in a variety of formats, in all types
of libraries, for individuals of all ages;
- to develop library services that provide all users access to
information through local, state, regional, national, and
international electronic networks;
- to provide electronic and other linkages between and among all
types of libraries;
- to develop public and private partnerships with other agencies
and community-based organizations;
- to target library services to individuals of diverse geographic,
cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, to individuals with
disabilities, and to individuals with limited functional literacy
or information skills; and
- to target library and information services to persons having
difficulty using a library and to underserved urban and rural communities,
including children from families with incomes below the poverty line.
Eligibility
State library administrative agencies located in one of the
50 states of the United States, the District of Columbia,
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the
U.S. Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated
States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau are eligible
to submit five-year plans. For information about funding opportunities
at the state level, contact the specific state library administrative
agency.
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