IMLS Awards More Than $2 Million to Tribes for Library Services Enhancements

Seventeen tribal communities were selected by the Institute of Museum and Library Services to receive $2,030,562 in Native American Library Services Enhancement grants, according to a press release issued by the IMLS today.

The grants will help fund a wide range of projects, including:

• The Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma will establish the Virtual Library of Cherokee Knowledge, designed to provide Cherokee citizens and the general public access to a comprehensive digital repository of authentic Cherokee knowledge related to the Nation's history, language, traditions, culture and leaders.
• The Jemez Pueblo Community Library in New Mexico is undertaking a project focusing on the preservation of the Towa language and Jemez Pueblo culture, traditions and knowledge. The new “Towa Cultural Resource Center” in the library will serve as a central place to collect, house and make resources available to tribal members.
• The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin is working in partnership with the College of Menominee Nation Library Special Collections Department and Wisconsin Heritage Online to house, preserve, catalog and digitize a large collection of rare and historically significant archival materials, many related directly to the personal, legal and national story of the tribe’s struggle for sovereignty during the Termination and Restoration period (1954 to 1973).
• The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma will develop the “Starting Points” program, which will establish a Literacy, Educational and Employment Resource Office within the library to assist community members in need of literacy and employment training. The tribe will facilitate and maintain tools necessary for participants to readily create resumes and easily access job skills training and job search opportunities.
• The Hopi Tribe of Arizona will add the Kuwanomp’tap Sikisve (Computer Technology on Wheels) to its already very successful Hopi Tutuqayki Sikisve (Library on Wheels) from an earlier enhancement grant. The mobile computer lab will operate in tandem with the current bookmobile's schedule, in order to bring public computer and Internet access to the remote villages throughout the Hopi service area.

The next deadline for Native American Library Services Enhancement Grant applications is May 2, 2011.

For additional information, go to the IMLS Web site (http://www.imls.gov/) or contact Senior Program Officer Alison Freese at 202-653-4665 or afreese@imls.gov.