The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in June announced some $28 million in grants to 43 universities, libraries, and library organizations nationwide to recruit and educate librarians. The funds are granted under the 2007 version of the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program, inaugurated in 2002 and designed to address a shortage of school library media specialists, library school faculty, and librarians working in underserved communities, as well as to prepare for “an anticipated shortage of library leaders.”

Atlanta’s Emory University, in collaboration with the University of North Texas (UNT), landed a $773,336 grant with a $291,158 match to “address the need for professional librarians...in north Georgia.” The Emory-led project will “recruit, educate, and prepare an Atlanta-based cohort of 35 diverse graduate students...with an emphasis on digital knowledge management.” The students will get their degrees from UNT via distance learning. The accredited program at Clark Atlanta University closed in 2005.

In Philadelphia, Drexel University’s College of Information Science and Technology landed two hefty awards. A $613,478 grant with a $667,618 match will, in collaboration with the University of Michigan, Florida State University, and the University of Pittsburgh, “transform the Internet Public Library (IPL) into a fully featured virtual learning laboratory for digital reference.” A $992,100 grant with a $309,376 match will support a doctoral-level program to prepare new faculty “in information systems and technologies.”

The Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation received a $999,980 grant with a $653,607 match for a master’s-level program on “community-based librarianship,” aiming to increase minority representation among professional librarians, among other goals.