Librarians for the 21st Century

Posted by on July 29, 2005

[posted from HIgher Ed Service Learning listserv]

The Institute of Museum and Library Services announces funding for Librarians for the 21st Century <a href="http://www.fedgrants.gov/Applicants/IMLS/OPLA/OPLA/L21-FY06/Grant.html">http://www.fedgrants.gov/Applicants/IMLS/OPLA/OPLA/L21-FY06/Grant.html</a>
Due Date for Applications: Dec 15, 2005

This program supports efforts to recruit and educate the next generation of librarians and the faculty who will prepare them for careers in library science. It also supports grants for research related to library education and library staffing needs, curriculum development, and continuing education and training. Program priorities are as follows:

Priority 1: Masters-Level Programs

Educate the next generation of librarians. In particular, increase the number of students enrolled in nationally accredited graduate library programs preparing for careers in libraries.

Priority 2: Doctoral Programs

Develop faculty to educate the next generation of library professionals. In particular, increase the number of students enrolled in doctoral programs that will prepare faculty to teach masters students who will work in school, public, and academic libraries.

Develop the next generation of library leaders. In particular, increase the number of students enrolled in doctoral programs that will prepare them to assume positions as library managers and administrators.

Priority 3: Preprofessional Programs

Recruit future librarians. In particular, attract promising junior high, high school, and college students to consider careers in librarianship through statewide or regional pilot projects employing recruitment strategies that are cost effective and measurable.

Priority 4: Research

Provide the library community with information needed to support successful recruitment and education of the next generation of librarians. In particular, through funded research, establish baseline data on professional demographics and job availability, and evaluate current programs in library education for their capacity to meet the identified needs.

Priority 5: Programs to Build Institutional Capacity

Develop or enhance curricula within graduate schools of library and information science.

Develop or enhance courses or programs of study for library, museum, and archives professionals in the creation, management, preservation, presentation, and use of digital assets.

Develop or enhance courses or programs of study related to the development of critical thinking skills, such as organization leadership and research methods.

Broaden the library and information science curriculum by incorporating perspectives from other disciplines and fields of scholarship, such as public policy, ethics, American studies, urban planning, mass communication, and instructional design.

Priority 6: Continuing Education and Training

Develop or enhance programs of continuing education and training in library and information science for librarians and library staff.

Successful proposals will achieve one or more of the following: increase the number of qualified professionals for employment as librarians throughout the country, contribute to results or products that will benefit multiple institutions and diverse constituencies, meet well-understood library service needs in the communities served by the applicant, address issues facing libraries of similar size and type, or show promise of producing desirable change in the field. Innovative approaches to these issues will be given high consideration.