The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) is pleased to announce the FY2005 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant round. In Massachusetts, the focus of the federal program continues to be programs that encourage cooperation among libraries and other service agencies at the local level and to support projects that meet the needs of the diverse libraries and library users in the state.
The MBLC awards LSTA grant monies through an open competitive grant process. Due to budget restrictions, we are no longer able to provide Fact Sheets for individual programs in this mailing. However, details concerning each of the special programs for this grant round, and for the round as a whole, are now available at http://www.mlin.lib.ma.us/lsta.html
Please note: This federal program is not forward funded and this grant round is being held on the assumption that an appropriation for FY2005 will be made to enable us to fund any grants awarded in this grant round. Please note also that figures on the program budgets and the number of grants available in each category listed in the "Grant Round At a Glance" chart at http://www.mlin.lib.ma.us/lsta.html are subject to change. Statewide needs identified as the fiscal year goes on may reduce the amount available for direct grants, and make the grant round more competitive. A Note On Eligibility: To be eligible, an applicant must be a member of a regional library system and have a long-range plan on file at the MBLC that meets the requirements of the Massachusetts Long-Range Plan, 2003-2007 (see Appendix B). Although your library or group does have a plan on file (approval may be pending for recently submitted plans), an update of that plan for FY2005 may not yet have been submitted. If this is the case, one must be on file by December 1, 2003 to remain eligible for this grant round. In addition, for public libraries, the municipality must have been certified in the FY 2003 State Aid Program. A Note on Letters of Intent: To start the grant process, applicants for mini- and targeted grant programs must file an original and two copies of a Letter of Intent (white form enclosed) with the MBLC on or before 4:00 p.m. on December 11, 2003. Letters of Intent will be reviewed by staff for eligibility and applicants will be invited to attend a workshop held during late January/early February, if appropriate for the program. Attendance at a workshop is not mandatory, but we strongly recommend you plan to attend. See the website for specific dates, locations, and times. We recommend that libraries file only one, or at most two, Letters of Intent.) Open - If you are planning on applying to the Open program you must include a summary of your proposed project with the Letter of Intent. We recommend you speak with a consultant about your program idea as soon as possible. We would also like to point out that programs from past grant rounds that are no longer listed as discrete programs may be used as the basis for applications under the Open category. Links are provided to these programs. We strongly urge you to contact the various MBLC Program Specialists listed on the individual Fact Sheets if you have questions or need more information in selecting a program before submitting a Letter of Intent. They will be eager to assist you. General questions about LSTA, this grant round, or your library's eligibility may be directed to my attention. Thanks again for your cooperation and we are looking forward to your participation in this grant program! On the MLIN website, please see: * "Grant Round At A Glance" Chart * Letter of Intent * Calendar * Workshop Announcement * Massachusetts Long-Range Plan, 2003-2007 Fact Sheets: Mini-Grants * Community Languages * Customer Service and Marketing the Library * Discovery Kits * Mother Goose Asks "Why?" * On the Same Page Community Reading Campaign * Preservation Survey * School Library Incentive Fact Sheets: Targeted Programs * After School/Before School Reading * Information Literacy * Management of Special Collections A. Preservation of Library and Archival Materials B. Digitizing Historical Resources C. Manuscript Arrangement and Description * Network Connections and Servers (for networks only) * Open * Small Libraries in Networks (for networks only) Hard copy of these materials will be provided on request-please contact Rachel Devin at 1-800-952-7403, ext. 234., or Rachel.Devin@state.ma.us