September 10, 2014

Three year IMLS Grant Awarded to Strengthen Leadership Education in Archives, Libraries, and Museums

Educopia is pleased to announce it has been awarded a three-year Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to establish a Nexus Leadership Lab to enhance leadership education available to cultural organizations. The Nexus project brings together many established leadership program providers including the American Association of Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL), the American Library Association (ALA), the Archives Leadership Institute (ALI), Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), Association of Research Libraries (ARL), Council of State Archivists (CoSA), Illinois State Library, Institute for Cultural Entrepreneurship (ICE), Medical Library Association (MLA), the North Carolina State Library, OCLC, Public Library Association (PLA), and the University of North Carolina School of Information and Library Science.

The Nexus Leadership Lab will create a variety of deliverables to enhance leadership education including education and evaluation modules that can be incorporated into new and existing programs, a leadership roadmap for students to understand the skills of leadership and available programs, and a network of programs and trainers to share approaches and results. This project builds on the first Nexus project which studied the state of library leadership programs (available as Training the 21st Century Library Leader) and established the groundwork for the creation of the Nexus Leadership Lab.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums. Our mission is to inspire libraries and museums to advance innovation, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic engagement. Our grant making, policy development, and research help libraries and museums deliver valuable services that make it possible for communities and individuals to thrive. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow IMLS on Facebook and Twitter.