Heritage Preservation Coordinating with IMLS Statewide Planning Grants

In January 2008, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded 19 Statewide Planning Grants to address the recommendations of the Heritage Health Index Report on the State of America's Collections. Statewide Planning Grants are two-year opportunity that is part of the IMLS initiative, Connecting to Collections: A Call to Action.

IMLS hopes to make a Statewide Planning Grant to each eligible state or territory. The second and final deadline for applications is October 16, 2008. Click here for application information. If Heritage Preservation may be of assistance as you plan an application, contact us at 202-233-0800 or survey@heritagepreservation.org.

Most of the current awardees will conduct a survey of the museums, libraries, historical societies, and archives in their state as part of their planning process. Heritage Preservation has contacted each project to discuss how the Heritage Health Index data might be useful and to offer our experience having conducted such a study. Most importantly, statewide planning grant projects are being encouraged to use the Heritage Health Index questions so that their state data may be comparable to the national data Heritage Preservation collected in 2004. Heritage Preservation staff participated in an IMLS-sponsored conference call with the awardees in May and will ask awarded states for updates on the surveys they are conducting.