The National Leadership Grants for Libraries Program (NLG-L) supports projects that develop, enhance, or adapt replicable practices, programs, models, or tools to strengthen library and archival services for the American public.

The program supports projects that:

• Serve the learning needs of the public through libraries and archives;
• Improve community prosperity through libraries and archives;
• Provide broad access to and preservation of information and collections through libraries and archives; or
• Provide services to affected communities in the event of an emergency or disaster.

Award amounts and cost share requirements are as follows:

• Planning Grants: $75,000 to $200,000; No cost share required.
• Forum Grants: $75,000 to $200,000; No cost share required.
• Community-Centered Implementation Grants: $25,000 to $100,000; No cost share required.
• National Implementation Grants: $75,000 to $1,000,000; Requests of more than $299,999 in IMLS funds require at least 1:1 cost share from non-federal sources.
• Applied Research Grants: $75,000 to $750,000; No cost share required.

One to two years for Planning Grants, Forum Grants, and Community-Centered Implementation Grants. One to three years for National Implementation Grants and Applied Research Grants.

Eligibility

Eligibility is restricted to organizations that are:

• Located in the United States or any U.S. Territories or freely associated States; AND
• A unit of state, local or Tribal government or a private, nonprofit organization; AND
• One of seven types of qualifying organizations:

1. A library or a parent organization, such as a school district, a municipality, a State agency, or an academic institution, that is responsible for the administration of a library.
2. An academic or administrative unit, such as a graduate school of library and information science that is part of an institution of higher education through which it would apply;
3. A digital library or archives, if it makes materials publicly available and provides library or archival services, including selection, organization, description, reference, and preservation, under the supervision of at least one permanent professional staff librarian/archivist.
4. A library or archival agency that is an official agency of a State, Tribal, or other unit of government and is charged by the law governing it with the extension and development of public library and archives services within its jurisdiction;
5. A library or archives consortium that is a local, statewide, regional, interstate, or international cooperative association of library or archives entities that provides for the systematic and effective coordination of the resources of eligible libraries or archives, as defined above, and information centers that work to improve the services delivered to the clientele of these libraries or archives; or
6. A library or archives association that exists on a permanent basis; primarily serves libraries, archives, or library or archival professionals on a national, regional, state, or local level; and engages in activities designed to advance the well-being of libraries, archives, and the library, and archives professions.
7. A nonprofit organization affiliated with a library or archives whose sole mission includes supporting the specified library or archives, has the ability to administer the project, and can ensure compliance with the terms of this NOFO and the applicable law, including the IMLS Assurances and Certifications. We require that you provide an agreement from the library or archives that details the activities the applicant and library will perform and binds the library to the statements and assurances in the application.

For further details regarding eligibility, please see the full Notice of Funding Opportunity.

Match Requirement

Cost share is an eligibility criterion and is not considered in the review of applications.

The only project type with a cost share requirement are National Implementation Projects; requests of more than $299,999 in IMLS funds require at least 1:1 cost share from non-federal sources.

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted through the Grants.gov listing, which requires accounts for both Grants.gov and SAM.gov.

If you need help with Grants.gov, you can call 800-518-4726 or email support@grants.gov.

If you need help with SAM.gov, you can call 866-606-8220.

Contact

If you have questions, please contact imls-librarygrants@imls.gov.

Deadline

Applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on March 13, 2026.