Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)

Abstract

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS, http://www.imls.gov/) is the primary source of federal funding for the nation's 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute supports library and museum services in the United States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Pacific Territories, and the Freely Associated States through a combination of a formula grants for State Library Administrative Agencies, noncompetitive grants for tribal libraries, and peer-reviewed, competitive discretionary grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, and partnerships that support both libraries and museums. IMLS constituents include public, school, academic, research, and tribal libraries and archives, and museums, including art, history, science and technology, children's, and natural history museums, historic houses, nature centers, zoos, and botanical gardens. Nonprofit institutions of higher education are also eligible to apply to IMLS.