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IMLS Announces Winners of the Connecting to Collections Grant
Washington, DC—The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has recently awarded 23 Connecting to Collections: Statewide Planning Grants that will be used to create statewide conservation plans for collections held in libraries, museums, and archives.
“I applaud these grantees as they take action to combat the crises in collections care that threaten to rob our heritage,” said Anne-Imelda Radice, IMLS Director. “They represent a wide array of approaches to planning, from a system of conservation “circuit-riders” in Virginia working with small institutions across the state to the first-ever statewide preservation assessment of material culture collections in Utah.” Under the program, 23 states will receive $908,206, matched with $621,073 of non-federal funds to foster partnerships among organizations in a state, commonwealth, or territory to provide safe conditions for its collections, develop emergency plans, assign responsibility for collections care, and marshal public and private support for collections care. Grantees included eight museums and museum associations, five state libraries, two historical societies, five state agencies that oversee museums and libraries, and three universities and service organizations.
The Illinois State Museum Society in Springfield, IL has been awarded $40,000 to implement its project, entitled "Development of the Illinois Collections Preservation Plan and Network." It will partner with eleven diverse organizations, including the Preservation Working Group, to establish the Illinois Collections Preservation Plan and Network. The partnership will hold a series of meetings across the state and by teleconference to consider critical preservation topics with government organizations, large public and private institutions, and small and mid-sized collections-holding organizations. The meetings will focus on four themes: providing tools and assessing needs for improving conditions and collections care; disaster training and cooperative response; building public preservation awareness through training and programming; and integrating existing preservation grants for statewide benefit. The project partners will establish the statewide plan and network to carry out the recommendations of The Heritage Health Index.
This is the second year IMLS has awarded Statewide Planning Grants, an important component of the IMLS initiative, Connecting to Collections: A Call to Action. IMLS launched the initiative in response to the 2005 Heritage Health Index report on the dire state of the nation’s collections. According to the report by Heritage Preservation, approximately 190 million objects could be lost in just a few short years without immediate attention. The report also found that 65 percent of collecting institutions report damage to collections due to improper storage and 80 percent did not have an emergency plan for their collections or trained staff to carry it out.
Over the next two years, IMLS intends to award a grant to each eligible state, commonwealth, or territory to advance their collective conservation goals guided by the Heritage Health Index recommendations.
Adapted from the IMLS press release, located here.
View all of the recipients of the grant.
Visit the Institute of Museum and Library Services website.
View a video of the Connecting to Collections grant.