2017 NLG-Libraries NOFO - 1st deadline

NATIONAL LEADERSHIP GRANTS FOR
LIBRARIES – FY17 NOTICE OF
FUNDING OPPORTUNITY
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Home
A. Program Description
B. Federal Award Information
C. Eligibility Information
D. Application and Submission Information
E. Application Review Process
F. Award Administration Information
G. Contacts
H. Other Information
Links
View By Section

National Leadership Grants for Libraries –
FY17 Notice of Funding Opportunity
Federal Awarding Agency:

Institute of Museum and Library Services

Funding Opportunity Title:

National Leadership Grants for Libraries

Announcement Type:

Notice of Funding Opportunity

Funding Opportunity
Number:

NLG-Libraries-FY17-1

Catalog of Federal Financial
Assistance (CFDA) Number:

45.312

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Due Date:

Submit through Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. U.S. Eastern
Time on September 1, 2016, for preliminary proposals;
January 13, 2017, for invited, full proposals.

Anticipated Date of
Notification of Award
Decisions:

April 2017 (subject to the availability of funds and IMLS
discretion)

Beginning Date of Period of
Performance:

Not earlier than May 1, 2017. Projects must begin on May
1, June 1, or July 1, 2017.

Equal Opportunity
IMLS-funded programs do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex,
disability, or age. For further information, email the Civil Rights Officer at
CivilRights@imls.gov or write to the Civil Rights Officer, Institute of Museum and Library
Services, 955 L’Enfant Plaza North, SW, Suite 4000, Washington, DC, 20024-5802.

A. Program Description
1. What is this grant program?
National Leadership Grants for Libraries (NLG) support projects that address significant
challenges and opportunities facing the library and archive fields and that have the potential to
advance theory and practice. Successful proposals will generate results such as new tools,
research findings, models, services, practices, or alliances that will be widely used, adapted,
scaled, or replicated to extend the benefits of federal investment.
We anticipate two FY17 NLG funding opportunities, each with two separate deadlines. In
addition to the opportunity described in this Notice of Funding Opportunity, a separate NLG
funding opportunity is anticipated to be announced in December 2016 with a preliminary
proposal application submission due date in February 2017.

2. What are indicators of successful projects?
Indicators (characteristics) of successful proposals in the National Leadership Grants for
Libraries Program are as follows:
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National Impact: Your proposal should address key needs, high priority gaps, and
challenges that face libraries and/or archives. It should expand the boundaries within
which libraries and archives operate; show the potential for far‐reaching impact,

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influence theory and practice throughout the library and archival communities; and build
upon current strategic initiatives and agendas in these fields. This could include far
reaching impact across sizes and complexity of institutions; rural or tribal libraries;
and/or networks or consortia of cultural heritage institutions that involve libraries or
archives.
Current Significance: Your proposal should appropriately address a critical emergent
issue facing libraries and archives. It should be positioned to catalyze efforts across the
field based on a clear understanding of existing work, opportunities, and the broader (e.g.,
economic, demographic, technological) environment and influences surrounding and
supporting libraries and archives (e.g. work with other relevant non-profits, agencies,
etc).
Strategic Collaborations: Your proposal should involve key stakeholders and partners
necessary to ensure it can succeed and have broad impact from a variety of domains and
sectors. These collaborations should establish or build on mutually beneficial national
partnerships with allied organizations beyond the library and archives sector with the
potential to broadly elevate the role of libraries and archives and expand services to new
audiences. Collaborations may strengthen expertise, leverage resources, or enable
expanded reach.
Demonstrated Expertise: Your proposal should articulate a thorough understanding of
current practice and knowledge about the subject matter. It should establish how the team
possesses the necessary skills, experience, and knowledge to realize significant shifts in
theory and practice across the sector. It should also demonstrate a thorough
understanding of the realities of implementation and the ultimate user adoption of new
services, practices, or perspectives.

3. What are the IMLS agency-level goals?
The mission of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is to inspire libraries and
museums to advance innovation, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic engagement. We
provide leadership through research, policy development, and grant making.
U.S. museums and libraries are at the forefront in the movement to create a nation of learners. As
stewards of cultural and natural heritage with rich, authentic content, libraries and museums
provide learning experiences for everyone. In FY2017, each award under this program will
support one of the following three goals of the IMLS strategic plan for 2012–2016, Creating a
Nation of Learners:
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IMLS places the learner at the center and supports engaging experiences in libraries and
museums that prepare people to be full participants in their local communities and our global
society.

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IMLS promotes museums and libraries as strong community anchors that enhance civic
engagement, cultural opportunities, and economic vitality.
IMLS supports exemplary stewardship of museum and library collections and promotes the use
of technology to facilitate discovery of knowledge and cultural heritage.
The goals focus on achieving positive public outcomes for communities and individuals;
supporting the unique role of museums and libraries in preserving and providing access to
collections and content; and promoting library, museum, and information service policies that
ensure access to information for all Americans.

a. What are the funding categories?
The funding categories are:
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Sparks Grant
Planning Grant
National Forum Grant
Project Grant
Research Grant

Your application must designate one of these funding categories. You may submit as many
applications as you wish; however, the same proposal may not be submitted to IMLS under more
than one category. Please note: proposals that focus on education and training of librarians
should be submitted to the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian grant program.
Sparks Grants are small grants for rapid prototyping and evaluating of specific innovations in the
ways libraries operate and the services librarians provide resulting in new tools, products,
services, or organizational practices. You may propose activities or approaches that involve risk,
but the project results – be they success, failure, or a combination thereof – must offer valuable
information or insight to the library or archives fields, promise an impact beyond the applicant’s
institution and provide the potential for improvement in the ways libraries and archives serve
their communities. Findings about new processes are as valuable as new tools and services.
Projects are required to submit a short white paper, which IMLS will post and share publicly.
Additional mechanisms for widely reaching and building awareness of and interest in the
findings are encouraged. Sparks Grants are for periods of one year only.
Planning Grants allow project teams to perform preliminary planning activities, such as
analyzing needs and feasibility, solidifying partnerships, developing project work plans, or
developing prototypes, proofs of concept, and pilot studies. Assessing the outcomes of planning
activities should be appropriate to this early stage of work. These activities should have the
potential to lead to a full project, such as those described in Project Grants below. Planning
Grants are for periods of one year only.

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National Forum Grants provide the opportunity to convene qualified groups of experts and key
stakeholders, including those from adjacent fields as appropriate, to consider issues or challenges
that are important to libraries or archives across the nation. Grant-supported meetings are
expected to produce reports for wide dissemination with expert opinions for action or research
that address a key challenge identified in the proposal. Additional mechanisms for widely
reaching and building awareness of and interest in the findings by library and archive
practitioners are encouraged. The expert opinions resulting from these meetings may be used to
inform future applications to the NLG-Libraries program. National Forum Grants are for periods
of one year only.
Project Grants support fully developed projects for which needs assessments, partnership
development, feasibility analyses, prototyping, and other planning activities have been
completed. Given the national focus of the project, it is essential that projects have clear potential
for significant national impact, involve partners from multiple parts of the country, and
realistically address growth and sustainability. Assessing scalability or further evolution of an
earlier phase of work could be common attributes of this type of grant.
Research Grants involve the investigation of key questions important to library or archival
practice. Research projects should address an area of interest or concern for libraries and
archives and may build upon prior work to apply further development of a concept or approach
or nuances to scale to new contexts or uses; include clearly articulated research questions; build
on existing theory and research already done in the area of interest; feature data collection and
analysis methods that help the project team answer their questions and can be applied to other
projects; and include dissemination that allows the research team to share broadly the research
findings and implications of the findings for libraries and archives.

b. What are the project categories?
The project categories are:
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Community Anchors
National Digital Platform
Curating Collections

Your application must designate one of these project categories. The same proposal may not be
submitted to IMLS under more than one project category.
Below is detailed information about what is required in each project category area.
1. Community Anchors: We are interested in projects that advance the role of libraries as
community anchors that provide civic and cultural engagement, facilitate lifelong learning,
promote digital inclusion, and support economic vitality through programming and services. The
benefits of projects and programs must not be limited to the local community but also advance
national practice. Projects in this category may involve:

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Testing strategies for increasing and sustaining relationships and collaborations
between libraries and other community/cultural organizations in formal or
informal settings; performing an environmental scan to better understand and
serve community needs; incorporating universal, inclusive design principles; or
piloting a program addressing a community need that has potential to be scaled
and implemented in a variety of settings nationally. Possible community/cultural
organizations might include, but are not limited to: museums, youth service
organizations, community development groups, city departments, or workforce
development organizations.
Exploring, designing, and/or developing new, replicable, and responsive library
programming models and tools that engage communities and provide learning
experiences for patrons across the lifespan, with focus on underserved
communities. Possible audiences might include, but are not limited to, young
children and their families/caregivers; tweens and teens; un- and underemployed
adults; veterans; immigrants and refugees; people with disabilities; English
language learners; and senior citizens.
Improving the development and assessment of programs and services
contextualized to community issues/interests, patron interests, and localized
demographics and economics. This could include interdisciplinary learning,
literacy, providing access to STEAM professionals and citizen science, and
supporting the learning of children with their families and caregivers, senior
citizens, or persons with special needs.
Investigating widespread community challenges that both inform and are
informed by current library and archival practice, feature mutually beneficial
relationships between researchers and practitioners; and communicate research
findings in ways that will lead to demonstrable improvements in library services,
prolonged patron engagement, and increased reach to new and repeat patrons and
underserved audiences. Findings, including unexpected results and challenges,
must be shared broadly—with other individuals, institutions, communities, states,
and across the nation—throughout the grant period, rather than at the conclusion
of a project. Research teams must ensure that new practices have the potential to
be easily adoptable, affordable, sustainable, and widely implemented.

2. National Digital Platform: We are interested in projects that create, develop, and expand the
open source software applications used by libraries and archives to provide digital content and
services to all users in the United States. Projects in this category might involve:
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Developing or improving open source digital library tools that build on existing work, are
grounded in the needs of a wide range of libraries and archives, and involve a range of
partners who will be involved in iterative testing and use case development. This work
might include improving interoperability, usability, or user community involvement in
these tools.
Addressing intersections between digital issues facing libraries and cutting edge work in
other fields to yield broadly applicable modeling or analytic methods and tools. For
example, projects might address digital humanities, digital sciences, civic data initiatives,

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open educational resources or computational analysis of collections. Projects should be
collaborative in nature and draw from expertise in multiple domains and sectors.
Researching the need for and impact of investments in national digital library
infrastructure and services. This could involve the development of approaches to
measuring and assessing the economic, educational, scholarly, scientific, social or
cultural value and impact of digital collections. It could also involve documenting
opportunities for libraries to meet their users’ demand for digital content areas, such as
ebooks, and might explore growth models, user adoption and retention, and mechanisms
for sustainability for such infrastructure and services.

3. Curating Collections: We are interested in projects that can have a significant national
impact on shared services for the preservation and management of digital library collections and
content across the country. Projects focused on preserving or providing access to a particular
collection or set of collections cannot be supported. Similarly, the program cannot support the
digitization of content or pre-digitization activities such as inventorying collections. Projects in
this category might involve:
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Rapid prototyping and testing of workflows and approaches to managing digital content
or implementing and using digital tools and services in novel contexts to inform their
development.
Catalyzing regional or national efforts to establish plans for shared services for
preserving, conserving, providing access to, and interpreting digital content.
Scaling out regional or national infrastructure and shared services for the management,
description, or analysis of digital collections in libraries. These projects should build on
established and sustainable alliances and networks of libraries and include plans for
broadening those alliances and networks. These projects should also clearly articulate
how they plan to recruit and support smaller and mid-sized libraries’ engagement with
infrastructure and services.
Exploring methods and techniques for providing digital access to users at scale. This may
include issues such as digital stewardship, data curation, applications of linked data, or
crowdsourcing.
Researching computational methods for working with collections that have significant
potential to scale collecting, arranging, describing, preserving or providing access to
digital content.

c. Where can I find additional examples of projects funded by this
program?
Click here to search awarded grants by program, category, and/or key word.

4. Where can I find the authorizing statute and regulations
for this funding opportunity?
Statute: 20 U.S.C. § 9101 et seq.; in particular, § 9162 (National leadership grants).

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Regulations: 45 C.F.R. ch. XI and 2 C.F.R. ch. XXXI
You are required to follow the IMLS regulations that are in effect at the time of the award.
PLEASE NOTE: The recent Office of Management and Budget (OMB) final guidance on
Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal
Awards (Grant Reform) can be found at 2 C.F.R. pt. 200. With certain IMLS-specific additions,
IMLS regulations at 2 C.F.R. pt. 3187 formally adopt the 2 C.F.R. pt. 200 Grant Reform.

B. Federal Award Information
Total amount of funding expected to
be awarded through this
announcement

$5,700,000

Anticipated number of awards

12

Expected amounts of individual
awards

Sparks Grants

Up to $25,000

Planning Grants

Up to $50,000

National Forum
Grants

Up to $100,000

Project Grants

Up to $2,000,000

Research Grants

Up to $2,000,000

Average amount of funding per award
experienced in previous years

$460,000

Anticipated start dates for new
awards

Not earlier than May 1, 2017. Projects must
begin on May 1, June 1, or July 1, 2017.

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Anticipated period of performance

May 2017–June 2020. Project activities may be
carried out for one to three years.

Type of assistance instrument

Grant

The funding in the above Federal Award Information table is subject to the availability of funds
and IMLS discretion. IMLS is not bound by any estimates in this announcement.
Applications for renewal or supplementation of existing projects are not competed with
applications for new awards.
Contingent upon the availability of funds, the quality of applications, and IMLS discretion,
IMLS may make additional awards from the list of unfunded applications from this competition.

C. Eligibility Information
1. Eligible Applicants
a. What are the eligibility requirements for this program?
To be eligible as an applicant for this National Leadership Grants for Libraries Program, you
must:
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be either a unit of State or local government or be a private nonprofit organization that
has tax-exempt status under the Internal Revenue Code;
be located in one of the 50 States of the United States of America, the District of
Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American
Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the
Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, or the Republic of Palau; and
qualify as one of the following:
o a library or a parent organization, such as a school district, a municipality, a State
agency, or an academic institution, that is responsible for the administration of a
library. Eligible libraries include public libraries, public elementary and secondary
school libraries, college (including community college) and university libraries,
research libraries and archives that are not an integral part of an institution of higher
education and that make publicly available library services and materials that are
suitable for scholarly research and not otherwise available. Research libraries must be
under the supervision of at least one permanent professional staff librarian and be

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o

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either generally recognized as possessing unique, scholarly research materials and
services that are made available to the public, or able to demonstrate that such is the
case when submitting an application to IMLS;
a private library or other special library, but only if the State in which it is located
determines that the library should be considered a library for purposes of Library
Services and Technology (see 20 U.S.C. 9121-9165);
an academic or administrative unit, such as a graduate school of library and
information science that is part of an institution of higher education through which it
would make application;
a digital library, if it makes library materials publicly available and provides library
services, including selection, organization, description, reference, and preservation,
under the supervision of at least one permanent professional staff librarian;
a library agency that is an official agency of a State or other unit of government and is
charged by the law governing it with the extension and development of public library
services within its jurisdiction;
a library consortium that is a local, statewide, regional, interstate, or international
cooperative association of library entities that provides for the systematic and
effective coordination of the resources of eligible libraries, as defined above, and
information centers that work to improve the services delivered to the clientele of
these libraries; or
a library association that exists on a permanent basis; serves libraries or library
professionals on a national, regional, State, or local level; and engages in activities
designed to advance the well-being of libraries and the library profession.

Native American tribal organizations may apply if they otherwise meet the above eligibility
requirements.
Note that there are also funding restrictions that could affect the eligibility of a project; please
consult Section D.6 below for details.

2. What are the cost-sharing requirements for this program?
Cost sharing is not considered in the review of applications, but is an eligibility criterion for
certain NLG projects, as follows:
Funding category

Award amount

Cost sharing requirement

Sparks Grants

Up to $25,000

No cost share required

Planning Grants

Up to $50,000

No cost share required

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National Forum Grants

Up to $100,000

No cost share required

Project Grants

Up to $2,000,000

Projects requesting $250,000
or more in IMLS funds
require 1:1 match

Research Grants

Up to $2,000,000

No cost share required

Click here for further information on cost sharing [internal link to Cost Share doclet].

3. Other Information
a. How many applications can we submit under this
announcement?
An applicant organization may submit multiple applications under this announcement. Individual
project directors may submit multiple applications under this announcement. However, the same
proposal may not be submitted to IMLS under more than one category. Generally, single
institutions will receive only 1-2 grants per program during any one cycle.

b. What if our organization fails to meet an eligibility criterion by
the time of the application deadline?
IMLS will not review applications from ineligible applicants. We will notify you if your
application will not be reviewed because your institution is determined to be ineligible.

c. What if our organization fails to meet an eligibility criterion at
the time of award?
IMLS will not make awards to ineligible applicants. In order to receive an IMLS award, you
must be eligible and in compliance with applicable requirements and be in good standing on all
active IMLS awards.

d. Additional Eligibility Information
The application process for the NLG program is a two phase process. In the first phase, all
applicants must submit a two page preliminary proposal by the deadline listed above. Selected

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applicants will be invited to submit full proposals in the second phase of the process. Only
invited full proposals will be considered for funding.

D. Application and Submission Information
1. How can we find the application package?
This announcement contains all application materials needed to apply. Use one of the following
identifiers to locate the application package in Grants.gov:
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CFDA No: 45.312, or
Funding Opportunity Number: NLG-Libraries-FY17-1

a. Can we request an audio recording of this announcement?
Upon request, we will provide an audio recording of this publication. Use Teletype (TTY/TDD)
(for persons with hearing difficulty): 202-653-4614.

b. Can we request a paper copy of this announcement?
Upon request, we will provide a paper copy of this publication. Call 202-653-4700.
2. What is required to make a complete application? The application process for the NLG
program has two phases. In the first phase, all applicants must submit a two-page preliminary
proposal (Part I: Components of Preliminary Proposals) by the deadline listed above in Section
B. Selected applicants will be invited to submit full proposals (Part II: Components of Full
Proposals) in the second phase of the process. Only invited full proposals will be considered for
funding.

Part I: Components of Preliminary Proposals
The Table of Application Components below will help you prepare a complete Preliminary
Proposal application. You will find links to more information and instructions for each
application component in the table. Applications missing any Required Documents or
Conditionally Required Documents from this list will be considered incomplete and will be
rejected from further consideration.

a. Table of Application Components
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Component

Format

File name to use

Required Documents
The Application for Federal Assistance/Short
Organizational Form (SF-424S)

Grants.gov
form

n/a

IMLS Program Information Sheet

IMLS PDF
form

Programinfo.pdf

Preliminary Proposal Narrative (two pages
max.)

PDF
document

Preliminaryproposal.pdf

b. How should we format, name, and sequence the application
components?
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Document format: Aside from the SF-424S listed below which is created in Grants.gov, all
application components must be submitted as PDF documents.
Page limits: Note page limits listed above. We will remove any pages above the limit, and we
will not send them to reviewers as part of your application.
Naming convention: Use the naming conventions indicated in the table. IMPORTANT: You
are limited to using the following characters in all attachment file names: A-Z, a-z, 0-9,
underscore (_), hyphen (-), space, period. If you use any other characters when naming your
attachment files, your application will be rejected.
Attachment order: In Grants.gov, attach all application components in the sequence listed in the
table above. Use all available spaces in the “Attachments Form” first. Attach any additional
application components using the “Other Attachment File(s)” boxes.
Complete applications: Use the table above as a checklist to ensure that you have created and
attached all necessary application components.
Each document you create must be converted to a PDF before you submit it.

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c. Required Documents
The Application for Federal Assistance/Short Organizational Form (SF-424S)
The SF-424S is part of the application package that you download from Grants.gov. Click here
for instructions on completing the SF-424S [internal link to How to Fill Out the SF-424S doclet].

IMLS Program Information Sheet
Download the IMLS Program Information Sheet (PDF, 318 KB).
1. Applicant Information:
a. Legal Name: From 5a on the SF-424S.
b. Organizational D-U-N-S® Number: From 5f on the SF-424S.
c. Expiration date of your SAM.gov registration: Enter the expiration date of your SAM.gov
registration in the fill-in field. Please note that before submitting an application, your
organization must have a current SAM.gov registration.
d. Organizational Unit Name: If you cannot apply for grants on your own behalf, then enter your
organizational unit’s name and address in these spaces. For example, if your museum or library
is part of a parent organization, such as a university, then enter the name of the university
under Legal Name, and the museum or library as the Organizational Unit.
e. Organizational Unit Address: Be sure to include the four-digit extension on the ZIP code.
f. Organizational Unit Type: Select the one that most accurately describes your organization.
2. Organizational Financial Information: a-d. All applicants must provide the information
requested.
3. Grant Program: Make one selection in each category: 3.b.1 (funding category), and 3.b.2
(project category).
4. Performance Goals: Select one of the three IMLS agency-level goals (a – c). Check at least
one of the performance goals listed beneath it. Note: If you select a performance goal(s) under
agency-level goals a) Learning or b) Community, click on the link below it to review the specific
performance measure statement choices and the information you will be required to collect and
report on throughout the award period of performance: Performance Measure Statements and
Information to be Collected and Reported for Learning and Community Projects [internal link to
Performance Measure Statements doclet].

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5. Funding Request Information:
a. IMLS Funds Requested: Enter the amount in dollars sought from IMLS.
b. Cost share amount: If your proposal includes cost share, enter the amount of non-federal funding
you are providing. See Section C.2 for cost share requirements [insert link].
6. Population Served: Check the boxes that reflect the population(s) to be served by your
project.
7. Museum Profile: Skip this section.
8. Project Elements: Skip this section.

Preliminary Proposal Narrative
A preliminary proposal should be no longer than two pages and follow the general sections of a
full proposal narrative. Briefly describe the national need for the project and its relevance to a
project category, then lay out the project’s proposed work plan and projected performance goals
and outcomes.
You must conclude the preliminary proposal with a budget paragraph. The budget paragraph
must include the total costs of the project, any cost share (if required), and a breakdown of how
that money would be put toward salaries & wages, fringe benefits, supplies, materials, student
support and equipment, contracts and sub-awards, other costs, and indirect costs. Proposals that
do not include this information will be rejected without review.
Save this document as a PDF. Make sure your organization’s name appears at the top of each
page. Use at least 0.5-inch margins on all sides and a font size of at least twelve points. Include a
project title at the top of the first page. In the first few sentences, name the lead applicant
organization, the amount of IMLS funds requested and amount of funds provided as cost share
(if required), partner organizations, and the main question, objective, or anticipated result of the
project.
If your proposed project is selected for funding, this document will be published online. As such,
it should not include any sensitive or confidential information.

d. Who should I contact if I have questions while developing my
proposal?
Prior to submitting a preliminary proposal, applicants are encouraged to contact program
officers, who can offer general information about the Notice of Funding Opportunity, structuring

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a proposal, and the review process. Program officer contact information is available on the
National Leadership Grants program page.

Part II: Components of Full Proposals
If you are invited to submit a Full Proposal you must submit a complete application by January
13, 2017. We make grants only to eligible applicants that submit complete Full Proposal
applications through Grants.gov, on or before the deadline. Complete applications will be
accepted only from applicants who have submitted Preliminary Proposals and have been invited
to submit a Full Proposal.
The Table of Application Components below will help you prepare a complete application. You
will find links to more information and instructions for each application component in the table.
Applications missing any Required Documents or Conditionally Required Documents from this
list will be considered incomplete and will be rejected from further consideration.

a. Table of Application Components
Component

Format

File name to use

Required Documents
The Application for Federal
Assistance/Short Organizational
Form (SF-424S)

Grants.gov
form

n/a

Abstract (one page max.)

PDF
document

Abstract.pdf

IMLS Program Information Sheet

IMLS PDF
form

Programinfo.pdf

Organizational Profile (one page
max.)

PDF
document

Organizationalprofile.pdf

Narrative (ten pages max.)

PDF
document

Narrative.pdf

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Schedule of Completion (one
page per year max.)

PDF
document

Scheduleofcompletion.pdf

IMLS Budget Form

IMLS PDF
form

Budget.pdf

Budget Justification

PDF
document

Budgetjustification.pdf

List of Key Project Staff and
Consultants (one page max.)

PDF
document

Projectstaff.pdf

Resumes of Key Project Staff and
Consultants that appear on the list
above (two pages each max.)

PDF
document

Resumes.pdf

Digital Product Form

IMLS PDF
form or
Word
document

Digitalproduct.pdf

Conditionally Required Documents

Proof of Nonprofit Status

PDF
document

Proofnonprofit.pdf

Final Federally Negotiated
Indirect Cost Rate Agreement

PDF
document

Indirectcostrate.pdf

Supporting Documents
Information that supplements the
narrative and supports the project
description provided in the
application

PDF
document

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Supportingdoc1.pdf
Supportingdoc2.pdf
Supportingdoc3.pdf

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b. How should we format, name, and sequence the application
components?
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Document format: Aside from the SF-424S listed below which is created in Grants.gov, all
application components must be submitted as PDF documents.
Page limits: Note page limits listed above. We will remove any pages above the limit, and we
will not send them to reviewers as part of your application.
Naming convention: Use the naming conventions indicated in the table. IMPORTANT: You
are limited to using the following characters in all attachment file names: A-Z, a-z, 0-9,
underscore (_), hyphen (-), space, period. If you use any other characters when naming your
attachment files, your application will be rejected.
Attachment order: In Grants.gov, attach all application components in the sequence listed in the
table above. Use all available spaces in the “Attachments Form” first. Attach any additional
application components using the “Other Attachment File(s)” boxes.
Complete applications: Use the table above as a checklist to ensure that you have created and
attached all necessary application components.
Each document you create must be converted to a PDF before you submit it.

c. Required Documents
The Application for Federal Assistance/Short Organizational Form (SF-424S)
The SF-424S is part of the application package that you download from Grants.gov. Click here
for instructions on completing the SF-424S [internal link to How to Fill Out the SF-424S doclet].

Abstract
Write this one-page document and save it as a PDF.
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Who is the lead applicant and, if applicable, who are the formal collaborators?
What do you plan to accomplish and why?
What is the time frame for the project?
What community needs will the project address?
Who is the intended audience for the activities?
What will be the specific project activities, performance goals, outcomes, results, and
tangible products?
What are the intended outcomes for audience members in terms of measurable changes in
knowledge, attitudes, or behavior?

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This abstract may be used for public information purposes, so it should be written for experts as
well as a general audience. The abstract must not include any proprietary or confidential
information.

IMLS Program Information Sheet
Download the IMLS Program Information Sheet (PDF, 318 KB).
1. Applicant Information:
a. Legal Name: From 5a on the SF-424S.
b. Organizational D-U-N-S® Number: From 5f on the SF-424S.
c. Expiration date of your SAM.gov registration: Enter the expiration date of your SAM.gov
registration in the fill-in field. Please note that before submitting an application, your
organization must have a current SAM.gov registration.
d. Organizational Unit Name: If you cannot apply for grants on your own behalf, then enter
your organizational unit’s name and address in these spaces. For example, if your museum or
library is part of a parent organization, such as a university, then enter the name of the
university under Legal Name, and the museum or library as the Organizational Unit.
e. Organizational Unit Address: Be sure to include the four-digit extension on the ZIP code.
f. Organizational Unit Type: Select the one that most accurately describes your organization.
2. Organizational Financial Information: a-d. All applicants must provide the information
requested.
3. Grant Program: Make one selection in each category: 3.b.1 (funding category), and 3.b.2
(project category).
4. Performance Goals: Select one of the three IMLS agency-level goals (a – c). Check at least
one of the performance goals listed beneath it. Note: If you select a performance goal(s) under
agency-level goals a) Learning or b) Community, click on the link below it to review the specific
performance measure statement choices and the information you will be required to collect and
report on throughout the award period of performance: Performance Measure Statements and
Information to be Collected and Reported for Learning and Community Projects [internal link to
Performance Measure Statements doclet].
5. Funding Request Information:
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a. IMLS Funds Requested: Enter the amount in dollars sought from IMLS.
b. Cost share amount: If your proposal includes cost share, enter the amount of non-federal
funding you are providing. See Section C.2 for cost share requirements [insert link].
6. Population Served: Check the boxes that reflect the population(s) to be served by your
project.
7. Museum Profile: Skip this section.
8. Project Elements: Skip this section.

Organizational Profile
Create an Organizational Profile and save it as a PDF. Click here for instructions on creating an
Organizational Profile [internal link to the Organizational Profile doclet].

Full Proposal Narrative
Structure your narrative according to the following outline, using the three section titles and
addressing the bullet points beneath them. In each section, be mindful of the characteristics of
successful NLG proposals in the areas of national impact, current significance, strategic
collaborations, and demonstrated expertise; please refer to Section A.2 for more information on
indicators of successful projects. Address the sections of the narrative separately and in the same
order in which they are listed below.
Write a narrative that addresses the components listed and explained below. Limit the narrative
to ten single-spaced, numbered pages. We will remove any pages above the ten-page limit and
we will not send them to reviewers as part of your application.
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Make sure your organization’s name appears at the top of each page. Use at least 0.5-inch
margins on all sides and a font size of at least twelve points.
Be certain that your narrative clearly states how it fits into IMLS funding priorities.
Use Supporting Documents to provide supplementary material.

Please be advised that reviewers may also choose to visit your organization’s website, as listed
on the SF-424S form provided with this application.
1. Statement of National Need
Provide a justification for the proposed project as it relates to a national field-wide need or
challenge. Include information such as the following:
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•

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What nationally significant challenge does your proposal address? Specifically, how will
your project address the issues identified in the project category you have selected for this
program (as described above in Section A)?
Why is the issue your proposal focuses on nationally significant and timely?
How does this proposed project differ from, complement, or build upon previous work in
this area?

Review Criteria:
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Does the proposal provide evidence of potential for broad national significance?
Does the proposal make a compelling case for the significance and timeliness of the
proposed project?
Is the proposed work well-grounded in current literature and practice?
How well does the project address the goals of the program and the project category?

2. Project Design
Provide a description of the proposed project’s work plan. Include information such as the
following:
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What are the goals, outcomes, and assumptions of your project?
What are the risks to the project and are they accounted for in the work plan?
What specific activities will you carry out? How are they informed by current theory and
practice?
When and in what sequence will your activities occur?
How does the project design allow for input, consensus building, and buy-in from others
in and/or outside the field?
Who is the audience for the project and how will they participate?
If applicable, how will you meet the needs of underserved groups or communities?
Who will plan, implement, and manage your project?
What financial, personnel, and other resources will you need to carry out the activities?
How will you track your progress toward achieving intended results? How will you
include evaluation and performance measurement in your plan?
How and with whom will you disseminate your project’s results?
How will you sustain the project beyond the funding period (if applicable)?
For research projects,
o What is your research question(s)?
o What is your theoretical or conceptual framing?
o How will you collect data? What kind of data will you collect? How will you
analyze it?
o If applicable, who are your participants? Describe them.
o How will you share and translate research findings for practitioners?

Review Criteria:

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•
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Are the proposed activities informed by appropriate theory and practice?
Are the goals, assumptions, and risks clearly stated?
Does the definition of success address the need and does the evaluation indicate whether
or not the project achieved success?
Is the schedule of work realistic and achievable? Will the project plan achieve the desired
outcomes?
If applicable, are plans to meet the needs of underserved groups or communities clearly
articulated and realistic?
Are the proposed evaluation activities and performance measurements appropriate for the
project? Will they result in findings that can inform future work?
Is a clear methodology described for tracking the project’s progress and adjusting course
when necessary?
Are the time, personnel, and financial resources identified appropriate for the scope and
scale of the project?
Do the identified staff, partners, consultants, and service providers possess the experience
and skills necessary to complete the work successfully?
Is there an effective plan for communicating results and/or sharing discoveries in a
manner that has potential for national impact?
Is the plan for sustaining the project beyond the period of funding appropriate? (not
applicable for planning, forum, and research proposals).
For research projects, does the application answer the questions outlined in the guidance
on how to write an effective research application?

3. National Impact
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What national impact will the proposed project have on the library and archives field?
How does the project effectively address current issues that concern the library or archive
fields and will have a lasting impact on the field(s)?
Referring to your Statement of Need, how will your project’s results address the need,
problem, or challenge you have identified? These may be in addition to, but not instead
of, the Performance Goal(s) and Performance Measure Statement(s) referenced above.
Referring to the Performance Goal and Performance Measure Statement(s) selected on
the Program Information Sheet prepared for your application, how will you collect and
report the corresponding data?
What are the project targets for these performance measures? How will you measure
success toward these targets?
What products will result from this project?
How will you sustain the benefit(s) of your project beyond the period funding?
(Proposals for National Forum Grants, Planning Grants, and Sparks Grants do not address
this question.)

Review Criteria:
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Are the project’s intended results clearly articulated, appropriate, and realistic?
Is the plan to effect meaningful change in the field solidly grounded and appropriately
structured?

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•
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Will the proposed project generate results that will be broadly used, adapted, scaled or
replicated in libraries and archives across the country?
Is there a well-grounded and practical plan for sustaining the benefits of the project
beyond the conclusion of the award?
For research projects, is there evidence that the results have the potential to be widely
applicable and useful to the library or archive communities?

If your proposed project is selected for funding, this document will be published online. As such,
it should not include any sensitive or confidential information.

Schedule of Completion
Create a Schedule of Completion and save it as a PDF. Click here for instructions on creating a
Schedule of Completion [internal link to Schedule of Completion doclet].

IMLS Budget Form
Download the IMLS Budget Form (PDF, 212 KB) [insert link]. Click here for instructions on
completing the budget form [internal link to How to Fill Out the IMLS Budget Form doclet].
Java Script must be enabled.

Budget Justification
Write a Budget Justification and save it as a PDF. Click here for instructions on creating the
Budget Justification [internal link on How to Complete the Budget Justification doclet].

List of Key Project Staff and Consultants
Write a one-page list of only staff and consultants whose expertise is essential to the success of
the project and save it as a PDF. Do not list the entire staff involved in the project. This list must
include the Project Director listed in Item 7 of the SF-424S.

Resumes of Key Project Staff and Consultants
Provide resumes of no more than two pages, as a PDF, for each project staff member and
consultant identified on the List of Key Project Staff and Consultants described above. If you
cannot identify key project staff by the application deadline, then submit position descriptions
instead. A position description does not identify a specific individual; it identifies the qualities
and range of experience and education necessary to successfully implement and complete project
activities.

Digital Product Form

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IMLS defines digital products very broadly. If you are developing any digital products (digital
content, resources, assets, software, or datasets), you should complete the Digital Product Form.
Click here for Guidance for Projects that Develop Digital Products [internal link to Guidance for
Projects that Develop Digital Products doclet].

d. Conditionally Required Documents
Failure to provide a conditionally required document will result in your application being
considered incomplete and rejected from further consideration.
Proof of Nonprofit Status
If your organization is a private, nonprofit institution, you must submit a copy of the IRS
letter indicating your eligibility for nonprofit status under the applicable provision of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended. We will not accept a letter of state sales tax
exemption as proof of nonprofit status.
Final Federally Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate
If your project budget includes a federally negotiated indirect cost rate, then you must
submit a current copy of your Final Federally Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement.
Please note that if you are eligible for and are choosing the option of claiming an indirect
cost rate of 10 percent of modified total direct costs, you do not need to provide any
documentation. Click here for further information on indirect costs [internal link to
Indirect Costs doclet].

e. Supporting Documents
You may submit other attachments of your choosing as part of your application package but
these attachments should include only information that will supplement the Narrative and
support the project description provided in the application. They should help IMLS staff and
reviewers envision your project, but they should not be used to answer narrative questions. You
may wish to consider the following:
•

Letters of commitment from any third party that will receive grant funds or from entities that will
contribute substantive funds to the completion of project activities

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Letters of commitment from partners or other groups who will work closely with you on your
project
Bibliography or references relevant to your proposed project design or evaluation strategy
Letters of support from any experts and stakeholders
Position descriptions for project staff (if not included with resumes for key personnel) to be
supported by grant funds
Reports from planning activities
Contractor quotes
Equipment specifications
Products or evaluations from previously completed or ongoing projects of a similar nature
Collections, technology, or other departmental plans for the institution as applicable to the
proposed project
Web links to relevant online materials
Needs assessments
Note: When attaching these documents, give each one a specific title for clear identification. All
Supporting Documents should include dates of creation and authorship.

3. What are the registration requirements for submitting an
application?
Before submitting an application, your organization must have a current and active D-U-N-S®
number (a unique entity identifier), System for Award Management (SAM.gov) registration, and
Grants.gov registration. Check your materials and registrations well in advance of the application
deadline to ensure that they are accurate, current, and active.
If your D-U-N-S® number and SAM.gov registration are not active and current at the time of
submission, your application will be rejected; if they are not active and current at the time an
award is made, we may determine that you are not qualified to receive an award and use that
determination as a basis for making an award to another applicant.

a. What is a D-U-N-S® number and how do we get one?
A D-U-N-S® number is a unique nine-digit number assigned to all types of business
organizations, including nonprofits and government entities. Click here to learn more about
getting a D-U-N-S® number [internal link to D-U-N-S® number doclet].

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b. What is the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) and
how do we register?
SAM.gov is the official U.S. government system that consolidated the capabilities of previous
registration systems such as CCR/FedReg, ORCA, and EPLS. There is no fee to register with
this site. Click here to learn more about SAM.gov registration [internal link to SAM.gov doclet].

c. What is Grants.gov and how do we register?
Grants.gov is the online portal through which you must submit your application.
You must submit your application through Grants.gov. Please note you must submit the
entire completed application online through Grants.gov.
You must register with Grants.gov prior to submitting your application package. The multi-step
registration process generally cannot be completed in a single day. If you are not already
registered, you should allow at least two weeks for completing this one-time process. Do not
wait until the day of the application deadline to register.
You do not need to complete the registration process to download the application package and
begin to prepare your material. However, you will need your Grants.gov user ID and password
that you obtain during the registration process to submit your application when it is complete.
Click here to learn more about Grants.gov registration and tips for using Grants.gov [internal link
to registering with Grants.gov doclet].

4. When and how must we submit our application?
You must submit your application through Grants.gov. Please note you must submit the
entire completed application online through Grants.gov. Do not submit though email to IMLS.
For the National Leadership Grants for Libraries Program, Grants.gov will accept applications
through 11:59 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on September 1, 2016, for preliminary proposals; January
13, 2017, for invited, full proposals.
We strongly recommend that you obtain a D-U-N-S® number, register with SAM.gov and
Grants.gov, and complete and submit the application early. We make grants only to eligible

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applicants that submit complete applications, including attachments, through Grants.gov, on or
before the deadline, as indicated by the date stamp generated by Grants.gov.
Contact Grants.gov or call their help line at 1-800-518-4726 for assistance with hardware and
software issues, registration issues, and technical problems. The help line is available 24 hours a
day, seven days a week, except for federal holidays.

a. What happens after we submit our application through
Grants.gov?
Once Grants.gov has received your submission, Grants.gov will send email messages regarding
the progress of your application through the system. Over the next two business days, you should
receive two emails. The first will confirm receipt of your application by the Grants.gov system
and the second will indicate that the application has either been successfully validated by the
system prior to transmission to the grantor agency (IMLS) or has been rejected due to errors.
After the official grant program deadline, you will receive a third email confirming that IMLS
has retrieved your application. Until that point, you can check the status of your application(s)
after submission in Grants.gov, by using the “Track My Application” feature.

5. Is there an intergovernmental review?
No. This funding opportunity is not subject to intergovernmental review per Exec. Order No.
12,372.

6. Are there funding restrictions?
You may only use IMLS funds, and your cost sharing, for allowable costs as found in IMLS and
OMB government-wide cost-principle rules. Please consult 2 C.F.R. pt. 200 and 2 C.F.R. pt.
3187 for additional guidance on allowable costs.
The following list includes some examples of generally allowable costs, both for IMLS funds
and for cost share (if applicable), under this announcement:
•

project personnel (contract or in-house) whose staff time is necessary for the proper and
efficient execution of the project;

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project consultants;

•

project-related travel of key project staff and consultants;

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•

purchase of equipment, materials, supplies, or services;

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program development and implementation;

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integration of technology into operations or programs;

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publications based on project activities;

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software development;

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evaluation to show the extent to which the project has met its goals; and

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indirect or overhead costs.

You must explain all proposed expenses in your Budget Justification.
The following list includes some examples of unallowable costs, both for IMLS funds and for
cost share (if applicable), in this grant program.
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general fundraising costs, such as development office staff or other staff time devoted to
general fundraising;

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general operating support;

•

acquisition of collections;

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general advertising or public relations costs designed solely for promotional activities
other than those related to the specific project;

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construction and renovation of facilities (Generally, any activity involving contract labor
in the construction trades is not an allowable cost.);

•

projects in which the majority of requested funds go to training library or archive staff;

•

contributions to endowments;

•

social activities, ceremonies, receptions, or entertainment; and

•

pre-award costs.

(Note: If you have questions about the allowability of specific activities, call IMLS staff for
guidance.)

a. How do we include costs for third parties?
It is your responsibility to determine whether each agreement you make for the disbursement of
federal program funds to third parties casts the party receiving the funds in the role of a
subrecipient or a contractor. Familiar terms for third parties can include partners, consultants,
subgrantees, collaborators, vendors, or service providers. (See 2 C.F.R. § 200.330 (Subrecipient
and contractor determinations).) IMLS grant funds may not be provided to any federal agency
serving as a third party.

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b. What are our options for including indirect costs in our
budget?
You can choose to:
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use a current indirect cost rate already negotiated with a federal agency;
use an indirect cost rate proposed to a federal agency for negotiation, but not yet finalized, as
long as it is finalized by the time of award;
use a rate not to exceed 10% of total modified direct costs if you have never had a federally
negotiated indirect cost rate and you are otherwise eligible; or
not include any indirect costs
Click here for further information on indirect costs [internal link to Indirect Costs doclet].

E. Application Review Process
1. What are the review criteria?
Reviewers are instructed to evaluate applications according to the review criteria embedded
within the narrative instructions in Section D.2. Reviewers consider all required and
conditionally required documents, and supporting documentation, as listed in Section D.2.

a. Is cost sharing considered in the review process?
Cost sharing is an eligibility criterion and is not considered in the review of applications. Cost
sharing is not required for research grants Cost sharing requirements for this grant program are
addressed in Section C.2.

2. What is the review and selection process?
We use a peer review process to evaluate all eligible and complete applications. Reviewers are
professionals in the field with relevant knowledge and expertise in the types of project activities
identified in the applications. We choose reviewers by matching their experience and expertise
with the applications we receive. We instruct reviewers to evaluate applications according to the
review criteria. Reviewer conflicts of interest are identified prior to review, and reviewers who
may have conflicts with particular applications are reassigned to review other applications.
The Director takes into account the input provided by the review process and makes final
funding decisions consistent with the purposes of the agency’s programs.

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3. What is the designated integrity and performance system
and how does IMLS comply with its requirements?
i. IMLS, prior to making a Federal award with a total amount of Federal share greater than the
simplified acquisition threshold (currently $150,000), is required to review and consider any
information about the applicant that is in the designated integrity and performance system
accessible through SAM (currently FAPIIS) (see 41 U.S.C. § 2313);
ii An applicant, at its option, may review information in the designated integrity and performance
systems accessible through SAM and comment on any information about itself that a Federal
awarding agency previously entered and is currently in the designated integrity and performance
system accessible through SAM;
iii. IMLS will consider any comments by the applicant, in addition to the other information in the
designated integrity and performance system, in making a judgment about the applicant’s
integrity, business ethics, and record of performance under Federal awards when completing the
review of risk posed by applicants as described in 2 C.F.R. § 200.205 (Federal awarding agency
review of risk posed by applicants).

4. When will we be notified of funding decisions?
We will not release information about the status of an application until the applications have
been reviewed and all deliberations are concluded. We expect to notify both funded and
unfunded applicants of the final decisions by April 2017.

F. Award Administration Information
1. How will we be notified of funding decisions?
We will notify both funded and unfunded applicants of funding decisions by email.
For applicants who receive awards, the award packet will be sent to the Project Director, Primary
Contact/Grant Administrator, and Authorized Representative/Authorizing Official (as identified
on the SF-424S). The award packet will contain the following:
•
•

cover letter;
Official Award Notification for Grants and Cooperative Agreements (the authorizing document
for the award);

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•
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links to the General Terms and Conditions for IMLS Discretionary Grant and Cooperative
Agreement Awards, reporting forms, and the Grantee Communications Kit; and
reviewer comments.
Your period of performance will be included on your Official Award Notification for Grants and
Cooperative Agreements. The award period of performance begins on the first day of the month
in which project activities start and ends on the last day of the month in which these activities are
completed. Funded projects may not begin earlier than May 1, 2017, and not later than July 1,
2017.
For applicants who do not receive awards, the Project Director, Primary Contact/Grant
Administrator, and Authorized Representative/Authorizing Official (as identified on the SF424S) will receive the following:

•
•

cover letter; and
reviewer comments.

2. What are the administrative and national policy
requirements?
Organizations that receive IMLS grants or cooperative agreements are subject to the
IMLS General Terms and Conditions for IMLS Discretionary Grant and Cooperative Agreement
Awards [external link to General Terms and Conditions] and the IMLS Assurances and
Certifications [internal link to Assurances and Certifications doclet]. Organizations that receive
IMLS funding must be familiar with these requirements and comply with applicable law.
As an applicant for federal funds, you must certify that you are responsible for complying with
certain nondiscrimination, debarment and suspension, drug-free workplace, and lobbying laws.
These are set out in more detail, along with other requirements, in the Assurances and
Certifications [internal link to Assurances and Certifications doclet]. By signing the application
form, which includes the Assurances and Certifications, you certify that you are in compliance
with these requirements and that you will maintain records and submit any reports that are
necessary to ensure compliance. Your failure to comply with these statutory and regulatory
requirements may result in the suspension or termination of your grant and require you to return
funds to the government.

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3. What are the reporting requirements?
At a minimum, you will be required to submit a performance report and financial report
annually. Reports are due according to the reporting schedule that accompanies your Official
Award Notification for Grants and Cooperative Agreements. Grantees must submit reports
electronically using the IMLS performance and financial report forms. In support of the agency’s
commitment to open government, interim and final performance reports may be made accessible
on the IMLS website to engage the public in communities of practice and to inform application
development and grant making strategies.
For details and forms, please see the Manage Your Award: Administration page on the IMLS
website.
You must also comply with 2 C.F.R. §§ 180.335 and 180.350 with respect to providing
information regarding all debarment, suspension, and related offenses information, as applicable.

a. What do we need to know if the Federal share of our award is
more than $500,000 over the period of performance?
If the Federal share of your award is more than $500,000 over the period of performance, you
should refer to the post-award reporting requirements reflected in 2 C.F.R. pt. 200, Appendix XII
– Award Term and Condition for Recipient Integrity and Performance Matters.

G. Contacts
1. Who should we contact if we have questions?
Click here for IMLS staff contact information for this program [external link to appropriate
program landing page]. IMLS staff are available by phone and email to answer programmatic
and administrative questions relating to this grant program.
Contact Grants.gov or call their help line at 1-800-518-4726 for assistance with hardware and
software issues, registration issues, and technical problems.

2. How can we participate in a webinar for this IMLS
funding opportunity?
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Program staff hosts webinars to introduce potential applicants to funding opportunities. Click
here for a schedule of webinars and instructions for accessing them from your computer [external
link to webinar page].

H. Other Information
1. What do we need to know about acknowledging IMLS
support?
Grantees must include an acknowledgement of IMLS support in all grant products, publications,
websites, and presentations developed with IMLS funding. All work products should reference
IMLS and include the associated grant award numbers. Click here for the Grantee
Communications Kit, which provides guidance for fulfilling these requirements [external link to
grantee communications kit].

2. What should we do if we are including confidential or
proprietary information in our application?
As noted in the section on what project documents might IMLS make openly available, we may
share grant applications, work products, and reports with grantees, potential grantees, and the
general public to further the mission of the agency and the development of museum, library, and
information services. These materials may be disseminated broadly and made available in a
variety of ways and formats.
For the above reasons, you should not include in your application any information that you
consider to be confidential or proprietary. However, if you do decide to provide information that
you consider confidential or proprietary, you must clearly identify it as such. IMLS will handle
confidential and proprietary information in accordance with applicable law (e.g., Freedom of
Information Act [FOIA], Privacy Act).

3. What do we need to know about sharing and copyright of
IMLS-supported work products and managing digital
products?
Read more about sharing and copyright of IMLS-supported work products [internal link to
Copyright doclet] and management of digital products [internal link to Digital Products doclet]
(including research data and other digital content) produced with IMLS support here.
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4. What conflict of interest requirements must we follow?
As a non-federal entity, you must follow IMLS conflict of interest policies for federal awards.
Click here for more information about IMLS conflict of interest requirements [internal link to
conflict of interest requirements doclet].

5. Where else can we find additional information about
IMLS?
You may also wish to check the IMLS website [external link to IMLS website] for information
on IMLS and IMLS activities.

6. Is IMLS obligated to make an award as a result of this
announcement?
IMLS is not obligated to make any Federal award as a result of this announcement.

7. How can I become a peer reviewer?
If you are interested in serving as a peer reviewer, you may enter your contact information,
identify your experience and expertise, and upload your resume through our online reviewer
application at www.imls.gov/grants/become-reviewer. We choose reviewers by matching their
experience and expertise with the applications we receive. If you are selected as a reviewer, we
will notify you by email prior to the next deadline to confirm your availability.

8. How long should it take us to complete an application?
Complete applications include the elements listed in the Table of Application Components in
Section D. We estimate the average amount of time needed for one applicant to complete the
narrative portion of this application to be 40 hours. This includes the time for reviewing
instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and
writing and reviewing the answers.
We estimate that it will take you an average of 15 minutes per response for the IMLS Program
Information Sheet and three hours per response for the IMLS Budget Form. We estimate that it
will take you an average of 60 minutes per response for the digital product form.

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Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of
information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the Institute of Museum and
Library Services at 955 L’Enfant Plaza North, SW, Suite 4000, Washington, DC, 20024-2135,
and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (3137-0091),
Washington, DC, 20503.

9. IMLS Clearance Number:
IMLS-CLR-D-0020, Expiration date: 7/31/2018

10. PRA Clearance Number:
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Links
IMLS Assurances and Certifications
As a Federal agency, IMLS is required to obtain from all applicants certifications, including
those regarding Nondiscrimination, Debarment and Suspension, Federal Debt Status, and DrugFree Workplace. Applicants requesting more than $100,000 in grant funds must also certify
regarding lobbying activities and may be required to submit a “Disclosure of Lobbying
Activities” form (Standard Form LLL). Some applicants will be required to certify that they will
comply with other federal statutes that pertain to their particular situation. These requirements
are incorporated in the Assurances Statement below. The authorized representative must review
the statement and provide the certification in item 9 on the Application for Federal Domestic
Assistance/Short Organizational Form (SF-424S).

Assurances Statement
By signing the application form, the authorized representative, on behalf of the applicant, assures
and certifies that, should a grant be awarded, the applicant will comply with the statutes outlined
below and all related IMLS regulations (for example, see 2 C.F.R. ch. XXXI and 45 C.F.R. ch.
XI). These assurances are given in connection with any and all financial assistance from IMLS
after the date this form is signed, but may include payments after this date for financial
assistance approved prior to this date. These assurances shall obligate the applicant for the period
during which the federal financial assistance is extended. The applicant recognizes and agrees
that any such assistance will be extended in reliance on the representations and agreements made
in these assurances, and that the United States Government has the right to seek judicial
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enforcement of these assurances, which are binding on the applicant, its successors, transferees,
and assignees, and on the authorized representative whose signature appears on the application
form.

Certifications Required of All Applicants:
Financial, Administrative, and Legal Accountability
The authorized representative, on behalf of the applicant, certifies that the applicant has legal
authority to apply for federal assistance and the institutional, managerial, and financial capability
(including funds sufficient to pay the non-federal share of project costs) to ensure proper
planning, management, reporting, recordkeeping, and completion of the project described in this
application.
The authorized representative, on behalf of the applicant, certifies that the applicant will cause to
be performed the required financial and compliance audits in accordance with applicable law.
The authorized representative, on behalf of the applicant, certifies that the applicant will comply
with the provisions of applicable OMB Circulars and regulations.
Nondiscrimination
The authorized representative, on behalf of the applicant, certifies that the applicant will comply
with the following nondiscrimination statutes and their implementing regulations:
•

•

•

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended (42 U.S.C. § 2000 et seq.), which prohibits
discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin (note: as clarified by Exec. Order
No. 13,166, the applicant must take reasonable steps to ensure that limited English proficient
(LEP) persons have meaningful access to the applicant’s programs (see IMLS guidance at 68
Federal Register 17679, April 10, 2003));
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. § 701 et seq., including §
794), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability (note: IMLS applies the
regulations in 45 C.F.R. pt. 1170 in determining compliance with section 504 as it applies to
recipients of federal assistance);
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, as amended (20 U.S.C. §§ 1681–1683, §§ 1685–
1686), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs;

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•
•

the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1975, as amended (42 U.S.C. § 6101 et seq.),
which prohibits discrimination on the basis of age; and
the requirements of any other nondiscrimination statute(s) which may apply to the application.
Debarment and Suspension
The applicant shall comply with 2 C.F.R. pt. 3185 and 2 C.F.R. pt. 180, as applicable. The
authorized representative, on behalf of the applicant, certifies to the best of his or her knowledge
and belief that neither the applicant nor any of its principals:

•
•

•

•

are presently excluded or disqualified;
have been convicted within the preceding three years of any of the offenses listed in 2 C.F.R. §
180.800(a) or had a civil judgment rendered against it or them for one of those offenses within
that time period;
are presently indicted for or otherwise criminally or civilly charged by a governmental entity
(federal, state, or local) with commission of any of the offenses listed in 2 C.F.R. § 180.800(a);
or
have had one or more public transactions (federal, state, or local) terminated within the preceding
three years for cause or default.
Where the applicant is unable to certify to any of the statements in this certification, he or she
shall attach an explanation to this application.
The applicant, as a primary tier participant, is required to comply with 2 C.F.R. pt. 180 subpart C
(Responsibilities of Participants Regarding Transactions Doing Business with Other Persons) as
a condition of participation in the award. The applicant is also required to communicate the
requirement to comply with 2 C.F.R. pt. 180 subpart C (Responsibilities of Participants
Regarding Transactions Doing Business with Other Persons) to persons at the next lower tier
with whom the applicant enters into covered transactions.
As noted in the preceding paragraph, applicants who plan to use IMLS awards to fund contracts
should be aware that they must comply with the communication and verification requirements
set forth in the above Debarment and Suspension provisions.
Federal Debt Status

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The authorized representative, on behalf of the applicant, certifies to the best of his or her
knowledge and belief that the applicant is not delinquent in the repayment of any federal debt.
Drug-Free Workplace
The authorized representative, on behalf of the applicant, certifies, as a condition of the award,
that the applicant will or will continue to provide a drug-free workplace by complying with the
requirements in 2 C.F.R. pt. 3186 (Requirements for Drug-Free Workplace (Financial
Assistance)). In particular, you as the recipient must comply with drug-free workplace
requirements in subpart B (or subpart C, if the recipient is an individual) of 2 C.F.R. pt. 3186,
which adopts the Governmentwide implementation (2 C.F.R. pt. 182) of sec. 5152-5158 of the
Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 (Pub. L. 100-690, Title V, Subtitle D; 41 U.S.C. §§ 701–707).
This includes, but is not limited to: making a good faith effort, on a continuing basis, to maintain
a drug-free workplace; publishing a drug-free workplace statement; establishing a drug-free
awareness program for your employees; taking actions concerning employees who are convicted
of violating drug statutes in the workplace; and identifying (either at the time of application or
upon award, or in documents you keep on file in your offices) all known workplaces under your
federal awards.
Trafficking in Persons
The authorized representative, on behalf of the applicant, certifies, as a condition of the award,
that the applicant will comply with the trafficking in persons requirements that are set out in the
General Terms and Conditions for IMLS Discretionary Awards (2 C.F.R. 175.15 Award Term.).
Certification Regarding Lobbying Activities (Applies to Applicants Requesting Funds in
Excess of $100,000) (31 U.S.C. § 1352)
The authorized representative certifies, to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, that:
(a) No federal appropriated funds have been paid or will be paid, by or on behalf of the
authorized representative, to any person for influencing or attempting to influence an officer or
employee of an agency, a Member of Congress, an officer or employee of Congress, or an
employee of a Member of Congress in connection with the awarding of any federal contract, the
making of any federal grant, the making of any federal loan, the entering into of any cooperative
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agreement, and the extension, continuation, renewal, amendment, or modification of any federal
contract, grant, loan, or cooperative agreement.
(b) If any funds other than federal appropriated funds have been paid or will be paid to any
person (other than a regularly employed officer or employee of the applicant, as provided in 31
U.S.C. § 1352) for influencing or attempting to influence an officer or employee of any agency, a
Member of Congress, an officer or employee of Congress, or an employee of a Member of
Congress in connection with this federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative agreement, the
authorized representative shall complete and submit Standard Form LLL, “Disclosure of
Lobbying Activities,” in accordance with its instructions.
(c) The authorized representative shall require that the language of this certification be included
in the award documents for all subawards at all tiers (including subcontracts and contracts under
grants, loans, and cooperative agreements) and that all subrecipients shall certify and disclose
accordingly.
This certification is a material representation of fact upon which reliance is placed when the
transaction is made or entered into. Submission of this certification is a prerequisite for making
or entering into the transaction imposed by section 1352, title 31, U.S. Code. Any person who
fails to file the required certification shall be subject to a civil penalty of not less than $10,000
and not more than $100,000 for each such failure.
General Certification
The authorized representative, on behalf of the applicant, certifies that the applicant will comply
with all applicable requirements of all other federal laws, executive orders, regulations, and
policies governing the program.

Certifications Required of Some Applicants:
The following certifications are required if applicable to the project for which an application is
being submitted. Applicants should be aware that additional federal certifications, not listed
below, might apply to a particular project.
Subawards

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Under IMLS regulations at 2 C.F.R. § 3187.14, a recipient may not make a subaward unless
expressly authorized by IMLS. A recipient may contract for supplies, equipment, and services,
subject to applicable law, including but not limited to applicable Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements
for Federal Awards set forth in 2 C.F.R. pt. 200.
Native American Human Remains and Associated Funerary Objects
The authorized representative, on behalf of the applicant, certifies that the applicant will comply
with the provisions of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (25
U.S.C. § 3001 et seq.), which applies to any organization that controls or possesses Native
American human remains and associated funerary objects, and which receives federal funding,
even for a purpose unrelated to the Act.
Historic Properties
The authorized representative, on behalf of the applicant, certifies that the applicant will assist
the awarding agency in ensuring compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic
Preservation Act of 1966, as amended (16 U.S.C. § 470f), Exec. Order No. 11,593, and the
Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. § 469 et seq.).
Environmental Protections
The authorized representative, on behalf of the applicant, certifies that the project will comply
with environmental standards, including the following:
(a) institution of environmental quality control measures under the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. § 4321 et seq.) and Exec. Order No. 11,514;
(b) notification of violating facilities pursuant to Exec. Order No. 11,738;
(c) protection of wetlands pursuant to Exec. Order No. 11,990, as amended by Exec. Order No.
12,608;
(d) evaluation of flood hazards in floodplains in accordance with Exec. Order No. 11,988, as
amended;
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(e) assurance of project consistency with the approved state management program developed
under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended (16 U.S.C. § 1451 et seq.);
(f) conformity of federal actions to State (Clean Air) Implementation Plans under section 176(c)
of the Clean Air Act of 1955, as amended (42 U.S.C. § 7401 et seq.);
(g) protection of underground sources of drinking water under the Safe Drinking Water Act of
1974, as amended (42 U.S.C. § 300f et seq.); and
(h) protection of endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16
U.S.C. § 1531–1543).
The authorized representative, on behalf of the applicant, certifies that the project will comply
with the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968, as amended (16 U.S.C. § 1271 et seq.), related to
protecting components or potential components of the national wild and scenic rivers system.
The authorized representative, on behalf of the applicant, certifies that the applicant will comply
with the flood insurance purchase requirements of the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973, as
amended (42 U.S.C. § 4001 et seq.), which requires recipients in a special flood hazard area to
participate in the program and to purchase flood insurance if the total cost of insurable
construction and acquisition is $10,000 or more.
Research on Human Subjects
The authorized representative, on behalf of the applicant, certifies that the project will comply
with 45 C.F.R. pt. 46 regarding the protection of human subjects involved in research,
development, and related activities supported by this award of assistance.
Research on Animal Subjects
The authorized representative, on behalf of the applicant, certifies that the project will comply
with the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act of 1966, as amended (7 U.S.C. § 2131 et seq.)
pertaining to the care, handling, and treatment of warm-blooded animals held for research,
teaching, or other activities supported by this award of assistance.
###
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For further information on these certifications, contact IMLS, 955 L’Enfant Plaza North, SW,
Suite 4000, Washington, DC, 20024-2135. Or call 202/653-IMLS (4657).

Getting a D-U-N-S® Number
All non-federal entities are required to have a Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering
System (D-U-N-S®) number (a unique entity identifier) in order to apply for, receive, and report
on a federal award.
You should verify that your organization has a D-U-N-S® number. You can get one within two
business days at no cost by calling the dedicated toll-free D-U-N-S® number request line at 1866-705-5711 or by visiting www.dnb.com/get-a-duns-number/html (link is external).

Registering for SAM.gov
The System for Award Management (SAM) is a federal repository that centralizes information
about grant applicants and recipients. You must be registered with SAM.gov before you register
with Grants.gov. Click here to find information about registering with SAM.gov [external link to
SAM.gov website].
We recommend that you allow at least two weeks to complete your SAM.gov registration. You
must renew your registration in SAM.gov at least every 12 months—and sooner, if your
information changes. An expired registration will prevent you from submitting applications via
Grants.gov and receiving awards or payments. Grant payments will be made to the bank account
that is associated with your SAM.gov registration.

Registering for Grants.gov
You must register with Grants.gov before submitting your application to IMLS. Click here to
learn more about the multistep registration process [external link to Grants.gov website]. Make
sure your D-U-N-S® number and SAM.gov registration are accurate, current, and active. We
recommend that you allow at least two weeks to complete your Grants.gov registration.

Tips for Working with Grants.gov

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•

•

•
•

Start early! Click here to learn more about Grants.gov resources [external link to Grants.gov
page], which include checklists, FAQs, and online tutorials to assist you in preparing your
organization to submit applications.
Designate more than one Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) when you register in
Grants.gov. This will help avoid last-minute crises in the event that your one AOR is unavailable
when you are ready to submit your application.
Update the contact information and password in Grants.gov when the AOR at your organization
changes.
Grants.gov offers online support regarding Adobe® software [external link to Grants.gov site]
and browser [external link to Grants.gov site] compatibility. Contact the Grants.gov help line
[external link to Grants.gov site] (1-800-518-4726) for assistance with hardware and software
issues, registration issues, and technical problems. The help line is available 24 hours a day,
seven days a week, except for federal holidays.

How to Fill Out the SF-424S
The SF-424S is the “Application for Federal Domestic Assistance/Short Organizational Form”
on Grants.gov.
Items 1 through 4
These items are automatically filled in by Grants.gov.
Item 5. Applicant Information
a. Legal Name: Enter your organization’s legal name as it appears in your SAM.gov
registration. This is the organization with the authority to apply directly for funding in this
program. If you have an organizational unit that will be carrying out the project, be sure that it is
specified as the organizational unit on the Program Information Sheet.
b. Address: Enter your legal applicant’s address as it appears in your SAM.gov registration.
c. Web Address: Enter your web address.
d. Type of Applicant: Select the code that best characterizes your organization from the menu in
the first dropdown box. Leave the other boxes blank.

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e. Employer/Taxpayer Identification Number (EIN/TIN): Enter the EIN or TIN assigned to
your organization by the Internal Revenue Service.
f. Organizational DUNS: Enter your organization’s D-U-N-S® number received from Dun and
Bradstreet.
g. Congressional District: Enter your organization’s congressional district. Use the following
format: two-letter state abbreviation, followed by a hyphen, followed by a zero, followed by the
two-digit district number. For example, if the organization is located in the 5th Congressional
District of California, enter “CA-005.” For the 12th Congressional District of North Carolina,
enter “NC-012.” For states and territories with “At Large” Congressional Districts—that is, one
representative or delegate represents the entire state or territory—use “001,” e.g., “VT-001.”
If your organization does not have a congressional district (e.g., it is located in a U.S. territory
that does not have districts), enter “00-000.” To determine your organization’s district, visit the
House of Representatives website by clicking here [external link to house.gov] and using the
“Find Your Representative” tool.
Item 6. Project Information
a. Project Title: Enter a brief descriptive title for your project. IMLS may use this title for
public information purposes.
b. Project Description: Enter a brief description (about 120 words) of your specific project. Tell
us what your project will do, for whom or what, and why. Use clear language that can be
understood readily by readers who might not be familiar with the discipline or subject area.
Note: There is a character limit (including spaces) for this section in Grants.gov. Your
application may be rejected if you exceed this limit.
c. Proposed Project Start Date/End Date: Enter the start date and end date of the proposed
period of performance in the format mm/dd/yyyy. The project period begins on the first day of
the month in which project activities start and ends on the last day of the month in which these
activities are completed. Refer to Section B of this Notice of Funding Opportunity to determine
when your project can begin.

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Item 7. Project Director
Enter the requested information for the person who will have primary responsibility for carrying
out your project’s activities. Be sure to select a prefix.
IMLS requires that the Project Director be a different person than the Authorized
Representative.
Item 8. Primary Contact/Grants Administrator
Enter the requested information for the individual who has primary responsibility for
administering the award. If the Primary Contact/Grants Administrator is the same as the
Authorized Representative, please complete both Items 8 and 9.
In some organizations this individual may be the same as the Project Director. If this is the case,
check the box and skip to Item 9.
Item 9. Authorized Representative
Enter the requested information of the person who has the authority to enter into legal
agreements in the name of your organization. The Authorized Representative cannot be the
same person as the Project Director. By checking the “I Agree” box at the top of Item 9, this
individual certifies the applicant’s compliance with the IMLS Assurances and Certifications
[internal link to Assurances and Certifications doclet] and any other relevant federal
requirements. IMLS will address written correspondence to the Authorized Representative
whose information you enter in Item 9.
The “Signature of Authorized Representative” and “Date Signed” boxes will be automatically
populated by Grants.gov upon submission of the application. This will be the person whose name
was listed as your organization’s authorized representative when you registered with Grants.gov.
Please note that this name might not be the same as the name and other information you entered
in Item 9 above; however, the person whose name appears in the “Signature of Authorized
Representative” box must have authorization from your organization to submit this application
on behalf of your organization.
Submission of the electronic application acknowledges that your organization certifies
compliance with relevant federal requirements, including but not limited to the IMLS Assurances
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and Certifications [internal link to Assurances and Certifications doclet], to the same extent as
the signature does on a paper application.

Performance Measure Statements and Information to be
Collected and Reported for Learning and Community
Projects
On the Program Information Sheet, you selected an IMLS agency-level goal [external link to
IMLS website] of Learning or Community with which your project best aligns, and you selected
at least one performance goal that reflects a measurable change or outcome that you intend for
your project to achieve.
Below is a list of pre-determined performance measure statements that will help IMLS document
the collective achievements of the Learning and Community projects we fund.
IMPORTANT: You will be required to provide specific information directly relating to these
performance measure statement(s) in your Final Performance Report. You may design and
administer a more elaborate survey than what will be required to gather this specific information.
These information-gathering activities must be incorporated into your application narrative, your
work plan, your schedule of completion, and your budget, as necessary.
IMLS Agency-Level Goal 1: Learning

Performance Goal

Train and develop
museum and library
professionals.

Performance Measure
Statement

Information You Will Be
Expected to Report

Survey Respondent:
Program/Project Participants

Data to be Collected

My understanding has increased
as a result of this
program/training:
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neither Agree, nor
Disagree

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Number of participants
Number of total responses
Number of responses per
answer option
Number of non-responses

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Disagree
Strongly Disagree
My interest in this subject has
increased as a result of this
program/training:
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neither Agree, nor
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

Number of participants
Number of total responses
Number of responses per
answer option
Number of non-responses

I am confident I can apply what I
learned in this program/training:
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neither Agree, Nor
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
Support communities
of practice

My understanding has increased
as a result of this
program/training:
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neither Agree, Nor
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
My interest in this subject has
increased as a result of this
program/training:
Strongly Agree
Agree

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Number of participants
Number of total responses
Number of responses per
answer option
Number of non-responses

Number of participants
Number of total responses
Number of responses per
answer option
Number of non-responses

Number of participants
Number of total responses
Number of responses per
answer option

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Neither Agree, Nor
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

Number of non-responses

I am confident I can apply what I
learned in this program/training:
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neither Agree, Nor
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
Develop and provide
inclusive and
accessible learning
opportunities

My understanding has increased
as a result of this
program/training:
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neither Agree, Nor
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
My interest in this subject has
increased as a result of this
program/training:
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neither Agree, Nor
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

Number of participants
Number of total responses
Number of responses per
answer option
Number of non-responses

Number of participants
Number of total responses
Number of responses per
answer option
Number of non-responses

Number of participants
Number of total responses
Number of responses per
answer option
Number of non-responses

IMLS Agency-Level Goal 2: Community

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Performance Goal

Performance Measure
Statement

Information to be
Collected and Reported

Outcome Based
Survey Respondent: Grantee
Strengthen museums
and libraries as
essential partners in
addressing the needs
of their communities.

My organization is better prepared
to provide a program or service
that addresses community needs.
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neither Agree, Nor
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

Data to be Collected

Number of total responses
Number of responses per
answer option
Number of non-responses

My organization is better able to
engage my community.
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neither Agree, nor
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
My organization is better prepared
to develop and maintain on-going
relationships with community
partners.
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neither Agree, nor
Disagree

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Number of total responses
Number of responses per
answer option
Number of non-responses

Number of total responses
Number of responses per
answer option
Number of non-responses

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Disagree
Strongly Disagree
My organization is better prepared
to share knowledge and other
resources as an active contributor
to problem solving in the
community.

Number of total responses
Number of responses per
answer option
Number of non-responses

Strongly Agree
Agree
Neither Agree, nor
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
Survey Respondent: Community
Partner(s)
The museum or library offers
programs, services, or resources
that address community needs.
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neither Agree, nor
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
The museum or library is an
active contributor to problem
solving in the community.
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neither Agree, nor
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

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Data to be Collected

Number of total responses
Number of responses per
answer option
Number of non-responses

Number of total responses
Number of responses per
answer option
Number of non-responses

IMLS-CLR-D-0020

Organizational Profile
An Organizational Profile must be no more than one page and include the following information:
•
•
•

Your organization’s mission or statement of purpose, noting the source, approving body, and
date of the official document in which it appears.
Your service area (communities and/or audiences served, including size, demographic
characteristics, and geographic area).
A brief history of your organization, focusing on the unit that will be directly involved in
carrying out the work.

Schedule of Completion
The Schedule of Completion should reflect each major activity identified in your application
narrative and the project dates identified on the Application for Federal Domestic
Assistance/Short Organizational Form (SF-424S) and IMLS Budget Form. It should show when
each major project activity will start and end. The schedule should be no longer than one page
per project year. See the sample schedule of completion below.

How to Fill Out the IMLS Budget Form
Download the IMLS Budget Form (PDF, 212 KB).

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The IMLS Budget Form accommodates up to three years of project activities and expenses.
Project timelines, allowable costs, and other budget details vary by program. Be sure to review
the Notice of Funding Opportunity for the grant program/category to which you are applying and
the cost principles in 2 C.F.R. pt. 200 and 2 C.F.R. pt. 3187.
The Year 1 columns should include costs for activities that begin on the project start date (as
listed on 6c of the SF-424S) and end 12 months later. If the project timeline exceeds one year,
list the costs for the next 12 months in the Year 2 columns. If the project extends beyond two
years, list the costs for the next 12 months in the Year 3 columns. If the program/category to
which you are applying permits a fourth year as part of the budget, enter Year 4 budget details on
a second copy of the IMLS Budget Form.
The budget should include the project costs that will be charged to grant funds as well as those
that will be supported by cost sharing. In-kind contributions to cost sharing may include the
value of services (e.g., donated volunteer or consultant time) or equipment donated to the project
between the authorized start and end dates of your project. All the items listed, whether
supported by grant funds or cost share, must be necessary to accomplish project objectives,
allowable according to the applicable federal cost principles, auditable, and incurred during the
award period of performance. Charges to the project for items such as salaries, fringe benefits,
travel, and contractual services must conform to the written policies and established practices of
your organization. You must report all revenues generated with project funds during the award
period of performance as program income.
If you need more lines for a specific section, summarize the information in the IMLS Budget
Form and explain it further in the Budget Justification.
1. Salaries and Wages: Include both temporary and permanent staff as well as volunteers
engaged in project activities. Document the method of cost computation (e.g., as percentage of a
person’s time devoted to the project, number of days, number of hours) in your Budget
Justification.
2. Fringe Benefits: Limit direct cost fringe benefits to those not included in your indirect cost
pool. Fringe benefits may be claimed only on the portion of Salaries and Wages identified for
this project.

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3. Travel: Explain the method of cost computation for each travel cost, including subsistence
and transportation, in your Budget Justification.
You must use the lowest available commercial fares for coach or equivalent accommodations,
and you must use U.S. flagged air carriers for foreign travel when such services are available, in
accordance with applicable U.S. legal requirements.
Please refer to the narrative section of this Notice of Funding Opportunity for information about
special travel requirements, if any.
4. Supplies, Materials, and Equipment: List the costs of supplies, materials, and equipment
purchased specifically for the proposed project. For definitions and other information, please see
2 C.F.R. pt. 200. Use the Budget Justification to explain or describe these items in further detail.
5. Contracts and Subawards: List each third party that will undertake project activities and
their associated costs as an individual line item on your budget form. Designate each third party
as either a contract or subaward.
To explain or describe these items in further detail, you may either
•
•

itemize these third-party costs in your Budget Justification or
include a separate IMLS Budget Form as a supporting document and refer to it in the
Budget Justification, for more complex projects.

6. Student Support: If your project includes student support costs, enter them in this section.
Please click here for a definition and examples of student support [internal link to Student
Support doclet].
7. Other Costs: Use this section for costs that cannot be assigned to other categories. Please do
not use this section to list items that do not fit in the lines allotted for another section.
8. Total Direct Costs: These amounts will total automatically.
9. Indirect Costs: Indirect costs are expenses that are incurred for common or joint objectives
that cannot be easily identified with a particular project. Click here for more information about
indirect costs [internal link to Indirect Costs doclet].
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10. Total Project Costs: These amounts will total automatically.

Cost Share
Cost share is that portion of the project costs that is not paid by IMLS funds. Common examples
of cost share include cash outlays; contribution of property and services; and in-kind
contributions, such as staff or volunteer time that support project activities.
All expenses, including cost sharing, must be incurred during the award period of performance
unless otherwise specified and allowed by law. Federal funds from other federal awards may not
be used for cost sharing. All federal, IMLS, and program requirements regarding the use of funds
apply to both requested IMLS funds and to cost sharing. See 2 C.F.R. §§ 200.29 and 200.306 for
more information on cost share.

How to Write Your Budget Justification
Write a budget justification and save it as a PDF. Your Budget Justification should address both
grant funds and cost share and align with your IMLS Budget Form. It should identify the purpose
for each expense and show the method of cost computation used to determine each dollar
amount, including any that you may have consolidated and summarized on the budget form.
Follow the format of the IMLS Budget Form’s section headings.
1. Salaries and Wages
Identify each person whose salary or wages will be paid with IMLS funds or by cost share,
provide their names, describe their role in the project, the percent of time to be devoted to the
project, and their rate of pay. If cost share is being provided by unpaid volunteers, explain how
you arrived at the dollar amount used to represent the value of their services.
If you are requesting IMLS funding for salaries of permanent staff, explain the reason for the
request and how the regular duties of these individuals will be performed during the award
period of performance.
2. Fringe Benefits
Identify your institution’s fringe benefit rate and explain the base for the calculation for each
person. If you have consolidated several persons’ fringe benefits into a single line on the IMLS
Budget Form, break out the detail here.

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3. Travel
For each trip, explain the purpose of the trip and specify the points of origin and destination, the
name of the traveler, and break out the costs of transportation, lodging, per diem, and any other
expenses associated with the travel. Explain how you arrived at the dollar amount.
4. Supplies, Materials, and Equipment
List each type of supply, material, and equipment you propose to purchase or provide as cost
share for the project. Detail the number and unit cost for each item, and explain how you arrived
at the dollar amounts. Provide vendor quotes or price lists as supporting documents with your
application.
5. Contracts and Subawards
List the costs of project activities to be undertaken by third parties for the project. Familiar terms
for third parties can include partners, consultants, subgrantees, collaborators, vendors, or service
providers. Identify each third party by name, describe their role in the project, the activities they
will carry out, and the cost. For each entry, designate the third party as either a subrecipient or a
contractor. Explain costs for third parties and provide relevant supporting documents with your
application. IMLS grant funds may generally not be provided to other U.S. government agencies.
You are responsible for making a case-by-case determination as to whether the agreement you
make with a third party should be a contract or a subaward. That determination will depend upon
the nature of your relationship with the third party with respect to the activities to be carried out.
(See 2 C.F.R. § 200.330 (Subrecipient and contractor determinations).)
6. Student Support
Explain your method for calculating the costs listed in this section. Please click here for a
definition and examples of student support [internal link to Student Support doclet].
7. Other Costs
Use this section for costs that cannot be assigned to other categories.

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8. Total Direct Costs
Indicate the total direct costs, and specify how much you are asking from IMLS and how much
you intend to provide as cost share.
9. Indirect Costs
If you include indirect costs in your project budget, identify the rate(s) and explain the base(s) on
which you are calculating the costs. Click here for more information about indirect costs
[internal link to Indirect Costs doclet].
10. Total Project Costs
Indicate the total project costs here, and specify how much you are asking from IMLS and how
much you intend to provide as cost share.

Indirect Costs
What are indirect costs?
Indirect costs are expenses that are incurred for common or joint objectives that cannot be easily
identified with a particular project. Some examples include utilities, general insurance, use of
office space and equipment that you own, local telephone service, and the salaries of the
management and administrative personnel of the organization. See 2 C.F.R. pt. 200 for additional
guidance.
What are our options for calculating and including indirect costs in our project budget?
You can choose to:
•
•
•

•

Use a rate not to exceed your current indirect cost rate already negotiated with a federal agency;
Use an indirect cost rate proposed to a federal agency but not yet finalized;
Use a rate not to exceed 10% of modified total direct costs if you have never had a federally
negotiated indirect cost rate and you are not subject to other requirements (e.g., for states and
local governments and Indian tribes); or
Not include any indirect costs.

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What is a federally negotiated indirect cost rate, and how do we use one?
Federally negotiated indirect cost rates are negotiated agreements between federal agencies and
non-profit organizations. If your organization already has an existing negotiated indirect cost rate
in effect with another federal agency, you may use this rate to calculate total project costs, as
long as you apply the rate in accordance with the terms of the negotiated agreement and include
a copy of the current negotiated agreement with your grant application. You may also choose to
use a rate lower than your current federally negotiated indirect cost rate. We will only accept
federally negotiated indirect cost rates that are current by the award date.
What if we use an indirect cost rate that we proposed to a federal agency but is not yet
finalized?
If your organization is in the process of negotiating an indirect cost rate with a federal agency,
you may use the indirect cost rate that was proposed to the federal agency to estimate total
project costs. In such situations, if we award a grant, we will accept the rate only if the
negotiations are final by the award date and a copy of the final agreement is submitted to us.
IMLS staff will work with you to adjust your budget prior to awarding the grant.
How do we use the 10% indirect cost rate?
Except for those non-federal entities described in Appendix VII to 2 C.F.R. pt. 200, you may
choose to charge a rate not to exceed 10% of modified total direct costs (MTDC), as long you
have never had a federally negotiated indirect cost rate and you meet the applicable
requirements. See 2 C.F.R. § 200.414 for additional guidance.
Modified total direct costs are direct salaries and wages, applicable fringe benefits, materials and
supplies, services, travel, and up to the first $25,000 of each subaward. MTDC excludes several
cost categories, including equipment, rental costs, tuition remission, scholarships and
fellowships, participant support costs, and the portion of each subaward in excess of $25,000.
See 2 C.F.R. § 200.68 for additional information.
If you are using the 10% indirect cost rate, no additional documentation is required.
Can we apply our indirect cost rate to the cost share portion on our IMLS budget form?

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Yes. You may apply your indirect cost rate to the cost share portion of your total direct costs, but
you must count it as cost share (in the Cost Share column). IMLS funds can be used for indirect
costs, but only for the portion of the total direct costs for which you are requesting IMLS funds
(the Grant Funds column).
Are there any other project costs that cannot be included in our indirect cost calculations?
If you have a federally negotiated indirect cost rate agreement, you must follow its conditions
and requirements.
If you are eligible for and using a rate not to exceed 10%, you may include up to 10% of the
modified total direct costs (MTDC) in your indirect cost calculations. (Please see above section
on this 10% rate as well as 2 C.F.R. § 200.414(f) and § 200.68.)

Student Support Costs
Students are understood to be:
•
•
•

Students enrolled in a graduate or undergraduate program of study.
Individuals participating in post-master’s or post-doctoral programs which are focused on
supporting their career or professional development.
Library, archive, and museum staff participating in education and training activities
focused on their career or professional development.

Examples of student support include:
•
•
•
•
•

Tuition support for students participating in the project.
Salaries or stipends for graduate assistant work, so long as their work is focused on
research and teaching activities (therefore contributing to their education).
Pay and benefits for a resident or fellow to work in a position that is intended to support
their learning outcomes or professional development.
Costs for travel and conference registration provided to support a student or participant’s
learning outcomes or professional development.
Costs of supplies and equipment provided to students to support a student’s learning
outcomes or professional development.

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Activities not considered student support include:
1.

Students employed in roles that are primarily administrative or clerical, doing work that
is not primarily focused on their career or professional development. These costs should
be listed in the Salaries and Wages section of the budget, and tuition paid on behalf of
these students would not be considered student support.

Proof of Nonprofit Status
If your organization is a private, nonprofit institution, you must submit a copy of the IRS letter
indicating your eligibility for nonprofit status under the applicable provision of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1954, as amended. We will not accept a letter of state sales tax exemption as
proof of nonprofit status.

Guidance for MFA Collection Surveys
The following guidance applies only to Museums for America (MFA) Collections Stewardship
grants, which may fund general conservation surveys, detailed conservation surveys, and
environmental surveys, all of which are described here:

General Conservation Survey
A general conservation survey is a broad assessment of all your collections and environmental
conditions. Its purpose is to generally describe conditions, identify conservation problems, and
suggest future conservation activities. For most institutions, it is the logical first step in
collections conservation.
The general conservation survey report should include the following:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

an executive summary
general information about your museum
the goals of the survey
an overview of your collections, their condition, and policies governing their care
descriptions of the condition of your building, facilities, and all exhibition and storage
areas
descriptions of climate control and environmental conditions
information about staffing, including training needs
recommendations for future conservation care in order of priority (to be used as the basis
of a long-range conservation plan)

Detailed Conservation Survey
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A detailed conservation survey is a systematic, item-by-item examination of all or part of your
museum’s collections by a conservation professional. The end product of a detailed conservation
survey should be a set of condition reports that identifies the condition of each object or
specimen, its treatment priority, and the cost and method of treatment. A detailed conservation
survey should precede any request for an MFA Collections Stewardship Grant proposal to fund
treatment.
This type of survey can help your museum identify conservation problems specific to a particular
collection, object, or specimen, including the need for treatment; establish priorities for
treatment; and determine the resources and time necessary to address any issues.

Environmental Survey
An environmental survey is an assessment of your museum’s environmental conditions,
including but not limited to temperature, relative humidity, and light. It is conducted by a
conservation professional with input from other types of consultants as needed. MFA funds may
be used to survey environmental conditions in exhibition areas, storage areas, and other places
where collections are housed.
An environmental survey can help a museum
•
•
•

identify specific environmental problems,
set priorities for making environmental improvements,
design specific solutions for correcting environmental problems,

•

develop a monitoring program to better determine existing environmental conditions, and
map collections (for living plants).

•

Guidance for Projects that Develop Digital Products
What are digital products?
IMLS broadly defines digital products as any digital content, resources, assets, software, or
datasets that you may create, collect, or develop during the course of your project.
What are the IMLS requirements for projects that create, collect, or develop digital
products?
IMLS is committed to expanding public access to federally funded research, data, and other
digital products. The assets you create with IMLS funding require careful stewardship to protect
and enhance their value, and they should be freely and readily available for use and re-use by
libraries, archives, museums, and the public. However, applying these principles to the
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development and management of digital products is not always straightforward. We ask that you
answer questions that address specific aspects of creating and managing digital products in the
Digital Product Form. Download the Digital Product Form (PDF, 87 KB; Word, 50 KB) here
[insert link].
Additionally, IMLS participates in the Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative
(FADGI), a collaborative effort by federal agencies to define common standards, guidelines,
methods, and best practices for creating digital collections. The FADGI website includes a
growing list of links to relevant standards, recommendations, and other resources. While this list
is not exhaustive—nor do we endorse any specific resource—applicants considering digital
projects may find the information useful. Click here to access the FADGI website [external link
to FADGI website].

Guidance for Research Applications
Please note that research and information collection is subject to applicable law, including but
not limited to 45 C.F.R. pt. 46 (Protection of Human Subjects); see also the IMLS Assurances
and Certifications [internal link to the Assurances and Certifications doclet].
An effective research application should answer the following questions in the project
narrative:
What are the specific research questions our project will attempt to answer?
List the question or questions that will drive your proposed activities. Research questions should
be clear and concise to help reviewers understand what you wish to learn.
What is our theoretical framing?
What are the concepts, assumptions, expectations, beliefs, and/or theories that support and
inform your research and guide your approach to data collection and analysis? If you are
proposing to conduct research that will build theory, explain why.
What is the relevance of our proposed research for current practice?
Discuss how your proposed work builds on existing projects or efforts, including those funded
by IMLS. Provide information about how your research can lead to improved museum or library
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practice and demonstrates you are familiar with current scholarship, including empirical work, in
your area of interest.
What research methods will we use to conduct the research?
Detail the methods you will use to collect and analyze data. Say why they are the most
appropriate for addressing the question(s) at hand. Your methods must be replicable and based
on current practices.
What type of data will we gather?
Describe the type of data you will collect and any measures you will take to ensure its validity
and reliability. Detail the methods for collecting information along with any potential privacy or
human subjects concerns that may arise. List potential challenges in gathering data and explain
how you will address them. As noted above, research and information collection is subject to
applicable law, including but not limited to privacy requirements and 45 C.F.R. pt. 46
(Protection of Human Subjects), see also the IMLS Assurances and Certifications [internal link
to the Assurances and Certifications doclet].
How will we analyze and use the data?
Describe how you will analyze the results of your research and relate them to your research
questions. If applicable, outline an analysis plan that links a set of testable hypotheses to the
proposed research question(s). Identify the variables of interest that are key to the investigation,
and explain how you will deal with alternative explanations for the observed phenomena.
How will we report the information?
Address how you will communicate the results to a variety of target audiences with different
levels of expertise, especially practitioners.
How will we manage the research data and make it available for future use (as applicable)?
Explain how you will manage, share, preserve, and document the information and research
products you will create during the project. To do this, complete the Digital Product Form and
include it as part of the application to IMLS.
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Data sharing is an essential component of research and expedites the translation of research
results into new knowledge and practices. If your project involves the collection and analysis of
data, we expect you to include, as part of your application, a data management plan (Part IV of
the Digital Product Form) that provides for long-term preservation and access. We expect you to
deposit data resulting from IMLS-funded research in a broadly accessible repository that allows
the public to use the data without charge no later than the date upon which you submit your final
report to IMLS. The data should be deposited in a machine-readable, non-proprietary digital
format to maximize search, retrieval, and analysis.
Your project budget may include the costs of preparing the data for public release and for
making the data publicly available. In your final report to IMLS, you will be required to identify
where your data has been deposited and can be accessed by the public.
We recognize that data sharing may be complicated or limited in some cases by institutional
policies; local Institutional Review Board (IRB) rules; and local, state, and federal laws and
regulations, including those protecting confidentiality and personal privacy. The rights and
privacy of people who participate in IMLS-supported research must be protected at all times.
Thus, data intended for broader use should be free of anything that could lead to disclosure of the
identity of individual participants. You should identify and explain the reasons for any
limitations in your data management plan.
For the purposes of this section, “data” is defined consistent with OMB guidance (please see 2
C.F.R. § 200.315). We reserve a royalty-free, worldwide, nonexclusive, and irrevocable right to:
(1) obtain, reproduce, publish or otherwise use the data first produced under a grant; and (2)
authorize others to receive, reproduce, publish, or otherwise use such data for federal purposes.

Access to Work Products and Documents from IMLSSupported Projects
How should we share our work products from IMLS-supported projects?
All work products resulting from IMLS funding should be distributed for free or at cost unless
we have given you written approval for another arrangement. We encourage IMLS grant
recipients to share their work products (including publications, datasets, educational resources,
software, and digital content) whenever possible through free and open-access journals and
repositories. We expect you to ensure that final peer-reviewed manuscripts resulting from
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research conducted under an award are made available in a manner that permits the public to
access, read, download, and analyze the work without charge. Wide dissemination of the results
of IMLS-funded projects advances the body of knowledge and professional practice in museum,
library, and information services.
What project documents might IMLS make openly accessible?
We may share grant applications, work products, and reports with grantees, potential grantees,
and the general public to further the mission of the agency and the development of museum,
library, and information services. We require that your final report include one copy of each
written product you create, unless otherwise instructed. These materials may be disseminated
broadly and made available in a variety of ways and formats.
What do we need to know about copyright and works produced with IMLS support?
You may copyright any work that is subject to copyright and was developed under an award or
for which ownership was purchased. However, we reserve, for federal government purposes, a
royalty-free, worldwide, nonexclusive, and irrevocable right to reproduce, publish, or otherwise
use the work and authorize others to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use the work. We
encourage you to make your woks produced with IMLS support widely available, including
through the use of open licenses.
What do we need to know about digital products produced with IMLS support?
IMLS is committed to expanding public access to federally funded digital products (i.e., digital
content, resources, assets, software, and datasets). We ask that you answer questions that address
specific aspects of creating and managing digital products in the Digital Product Form. The form
provides additional instructions and guidance. Click here to access the Digital Product Form
[external link to FY16 Digital Stewardship form].

Conflict of Interest Requirements
What conflict of interest requirements must we follow?
As a non-federal entity, you must follow IMLS conflict of interest policies for federal awards.
You must disclose in writing any potential conflict of interest to an IMLS Program Officer, or to

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the pass-through entity if you are a subrecipient or contractor. This disclosure must take place
immediately whether you are an applicant or have an active IMLS award.
The IMLS conflict of interest policies apply to subawards as well as contracts, and are as
follows:
•

•

As a non-federal entity, you must maintain written standards of conduct covering conflicts of
interest and governing the performance of your employees engaged in the selection, award, and
administration of subawards and contracts.
None of your employees may participate in the selection, award, or administration of a subaward
or contract supported by a federal award if he or she has a real or apparent conflict of interest.
Such a conflict of interest would arise when the employee, officer, or agent, any member of his
or her immediate family, his or her partner, or an organization which employs or is about to
employ any of the parties indicated herein, has a financial or other interest in or a tangible
personal benefit from an organization considered for a subaward or contract. The officers,
employees, and agents of the non-federal entity must neither solicit nor accept gratuities, favors,
or anything of monetary value from subrecipients or contractors or parties to subawards or
contracts.
If you have a parent, affiliate, or subsidiary organization that is not a state, local government, or
Indian tribe, you must also maintain written standards of conduct covering organizational
conflicts of interest. Organizational conflicts of interest means that because of relationships with
a parent company, affiliate, or subsidiary organization, you are unable or appear to be unable to
be impartial in conducting a subaward or procurement action involving a related organization.

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