FY2009 Grant Round Announcement 

Memorandum

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) is pleased to announce the FY2009 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant round. In Massachusetts, the focus of the federal program continues to be programs that encourage cooperation among libraries and other service agencies at the local level and to support projects that meet the needs of the diverse libraries and library users in the state.

The MBLC awards LSTA grant monies through an open competitive grant process. Fact Sheets for special programs for this grant round, and for the round as a whole, are now available at http://mblc.state.ma.us/grants/lsta/opportunities/ (See Grant Fact Sheets in the box on the right.)

Any awards made for this round will be announced in July and projects will begin no earlier than October 1, 2008 and end on September 30, 2009 (for one year projects) or September 30, 2010 (for two year projects). A calendar including deadlines for Letters of Intent (pdf) and applications is included in this mailing.

Please note: This federal program is not forward funded and this grant round is being held on the assumption that an appropriation for FY2009 will be made to enable us to fund any grants awarded in this grant round. Please note also that figures on the program budgets and the number of grants available in each category listed in the "Grant Round At a Glance" chart are subject to change. Statewide needs identified as the fiscal year goes on may reduce the amount available for direct grants, and make the grant round more competitive.

A Note On Eligibility:To be eligible, an applicant must be a member of a regional library system and have a long-range plan on file at the MBLC that meets the requirements of the Massachusetts Long-Range Plan, 2008-2012 (see LSTA Policies and Procedures). Although your library or group may have a plan on file (approval may be pending for recently submitted plans), an update of that plan for FY2009 may not yet have been submitted. If this is the case, one must be on file by December 3, 2007 to remain eligible for this grant round. In addition, for public libraries, the municipality must have been certified in the FY2007 State Aid Program, and remain certified throughout the application and award process.

A Note on Letters of Intent: To start the grant process, applicants for mini- and targeted grant programs must file an original and two copies of a Letter of Intent with the MBLC postmarked by December 3, 2007. Letters of Intent will be reviewed by staff for eligibility and applicants will be invited to attend a workshop held during late January/early February, if appropriate for the program. Attendance at a workshop is not mandatory, but we strongly recommend you plan to attend. See the LSTA application workshop announcement for specific dates, locations, and times. We recommend you file only one, or at most two, Letters of Intent. In general, except for Preservation Surveys, libraries will receive only one LSTA project award. (Please contact MBLC staff if you intend to file for more than one program. The EqualAccess grant does not require a letter of intent, please see the EqualAccess fact sheet.)

Open Projects - If you are planning on applying to the Open program you must attach a one page summary of your proposed project with the Letter of Intent. We recommend you speak with a consultant about your program idea as soon as possible. We would also like to point out that programs from past grant rounds that are no longer listed as discrete programs may be used as the basis for applications under the Open category. links are provided to these programs.

We strongly urge you to contact the various MBLC Program Specialists listed on the individual Fact Sheets if you have questions or need more information in selecting a program before submitting a Letter of Intent. They will be happy to assist you. General questions about LSTA, this grant round, or your library's eligibility may be directed to my attention. We are looking forward to your participation in this grant program!