Library Awarded Federal Grant

Buncombe County Public Libraries has been awarded a $66,750 grant to be used for scanning the Six Associate’s Architectural Drawings Collection to serve patrons of the library and the community at large.  LSTA funds awarded by the State Library of North Carolina are made possible through funding from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.

These federal funds are investments that help libraries deliver relevant and up-to-date services for their communities. At Buncombe County Public Libraries, the LSTA grant will enable us to purchase a large bed scanner, employ a person part time for one year to scan and enter data, and to purchase new software that will make all of our digital information more web searchable.

The project also will include the library partnering with The Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County in a Scan the Plan Project, which will enable citizens who own older local architectural drawings, to have them scanned at the library. This step in preservation will also add to our cities architectural information base.

A second partnering project will be adding the scans of the Richard Sharp Smith Architectural Collection, currently owned by the Asheville Art Museum, to our library database.  Fran Thigpen, the Director of the Library, Recreation and Culture Department said, “This grant will greatly add to Asheville’s built environment information base and further the study of it now and into the future.”

Buncombe County Libraries received one of the 56 competitive grants for fiscal year 2014-2015 awarded to North Carolina libraries from this year’s federal allotment of $4,173,865.  The LSTA grant program administered by the State Library of North Carolina funds library projects across the state that advance literacy and lifelong learning, expand access to library resources and expertise, promote partnerships and collaboration, and digitize materials important to the cultural heritage of North Carolina.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. Through the LSTA Grants to States program IMLS provides funds to State Library agencies using a population-based formula. State libraries may use the appropriation to support statewide initiatives and services; they may also distribute the funds through competitive subgrants to public, academic, school, special, and research libraries.  To learn more about the Institute, please visit www.imls.gov.

For more information about North Carolina’s LSTA program visit the State Library of North Carolina’s LSTA web page or contact the State Library’s Federal Programs Consultant at 919-807-7423.