Justifcation for Change - LB21

Justification for Change

3137-0029 General Clearance Grant Application and Post-Award Processes

IMLS is requesting a change to a previously approved clearance in order to change the grant program, Laura Bush 21^st Century Librarian. This new grant is requesting the same expiration date of 07/31/2018.

Previous request abstract:

IMLS requests delegation of authority to review and approve all agency information collection requests (excluding surveys, evaluations, and data calls used for policy-making purposes, under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The information collections in this package include all of the guidelines and instructions to (1) apply for IMLS support, (2) identify grant reviewers, and (3) complete post-award reports for the agency's grant programs. In a separate clearance submission (3137-0071) and justification, IMLS is requesting a three-year generic clearance for all forms used in its grant programs, including application materials and post-award reports.

Justification for the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program

The Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program (LB21) supports professional development, graduate education and continuing education to help libraries and archives develop the human capital capacity they need to meet the changing learning and information needs of the American public.

Agency strategic and funding priorities are identified within the LB21 Notice of Funding Opportunity. These priorities are guided by needs of the library community and change from year to year. To ensure IMLS funding of projects is timely and pertinent, IMLS convenes annual meetings of stakeholders to discern community needs. Due to deadlines, IMLS’s agency package was submitted prior to the 2015 meeting which determined FY16 funding priorities. The attached, proposed version of the FY16 LB21 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) contains the correct funding priorities, as identified at the recent meeting, as well as published in the report from the meeting (available at http://www.imls.gov/news/imls_focus.aspx).

The attached draft also contains a few minor language clarifications to reduce applicant confusion in several sections of the NOFO; removes a few errors introduced during the agency standardization of NOFOs; and responds to requests from both internal staff, as well as the applicant community, to better align the LB21 grant program language with that of its “sister” program, IMLS’s National Leadership Grant (NLG) for Libraries. In the latter area, the few changes align language around agency priorities, funding categories, and project categories to make the LB21 NOFO more consistent with the NLG NOFO, as well as adjust the maximum award amount and baseline cost sharing rules for LB21 projects. The changes allow for LB21 projects to address training and knowledge needs identified through NLG projects and potentially, later, empower librarians to fill gaps in community needs through NLG project proposals themselves.

The respondent burden should remain the same.