Training for Librarians: An Analysis of the Institute of Museum and Library Services Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a major funding agency for museums and libraries in the United States, offers a variety of grant programs. The Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program (LB21) is one of the IMLS programs that focuses on training. Through analyzing awarded grants from 2003 to 2018, this project investigated the grant award distribution among different organizations and analyzed trends over time. Results indicated that researchers from higher education institutions received most of the grant money, and were relevantly concentrated among these institutions. Results for higher education grants in recent years also showed that collaborative projects among different institutions generally received large grants. Some recurring themes for recently awarded grants were also discussed. Findings from this project provide an overview of LB21 grant distribution and themes, and helps librarians and administrators identify training needs, and inspiring new grant ideas.