National Leadership Grants for Libraries (2023)

The National Leadership Grants for Libraries Program (NLG-L) supports projects that address critical needs of the library and archives fields and have the potential to advance practice and strengthen library and archival services for the American public. Successful proposals will generate results such as new models, tools, research findings, services, practices, and/or alliances that can be widely used, adapted, scaled, or replicated to extend and leverage the benefits of federal investment.

The goals for this program are to generate projects of far-reaching impact that:

• Build the workforce and institutional capacity for managing the national information infrastructure and serving the information and education needs of the public.

• Build the capacity of libraries and archives to lead and contribute to efforts that improve community well-being and strengthen civic engagement.

• Improve the ability of libraries and archives to provide broad access to and use of information and collections with an emphasis on collaboration to avoid duplication and maximize reach.

• Strengthen the ability of libraries to provide services to affected communities in the event of an emergency or disaster.

• Strengthen the ability of libraries, archives, and museums to work collaboratively for the benefit of the communities they serve.

The application process for the NLG-L program has two phases; applicants must begin by applying for Phase I. For Phase I, all applicants must submit preliminary proposals by the September 21st deadline listed for this Notice of Funding Opportunity. For Phase II, only selected applicants will be invited to submit Full Proposals. Invited Full Proposals will be due March 17, 2023. Make sure you are filling out the application for the correct phase; Grants.gov will not let you submit the application if you accidentally upload it to the wrong phase.