Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program

Application: The Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for FY2020 (PDF 472KB) is now available

Program Overview:
The Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program (LB21) supports developing a diverse workforce of librarians to better meet the changing learning and information needs of the American public by: enhancing the training and professional development of library and archives professionals, developing faculty and library leaders, and recruiting and educating the next generation of library and archives professionals.

All applications must designate one of the following project categories:

• Lifelong Learning
• Community Catalysts
• National Digital Infrastructures and Initiatives

The application process for the LB21 program has two phases. In the first phase (Preliminary Proposal phase), all applicants must submit a two-page preliminary proposal by the deadline listed above. Selected applicants will be invited to submit full proposals in the second phase (Invited Full Proposal phase) of the process. Only invited full proposals will be considered for funding.

Invited full proposals will be due April 13, 2020.

Grant Amount: Planning Grants: up to $100,000. National Forum Grants: up to $150,000. Project Grants: up to $1,000,000. Research Grants: up to $500,000.

Cost Share Requirement: Cost sharing is not considered in the review of applications, but is an eligibility criterion for certain LB21 projects, as follows.

See the Notice of Funding Opportunity for further information on cost sharing.

Grant Period: One year for Planning Grants. One to two years for National Forum Grants. One to three years for Project Grants and Research Grants, except for doctoral program projects, which may be one to four years.

Eligibility: See the Notice of Funding Opportunity for eligibility criteria for this program.

Program Contacts: We encourage you to contact the member of our team whose portfolio most closely aligns with your proposal.

If you have general questions, please contact imls-librarygrants@imls.gov.

Grant Program Webinar: We invite you to watch a pre-application webinar to learn more about the program.