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An Update from the


Library Construction Grant Announcements

The Board voted to award $21.5 Million in provisional grant awards to the following communities: Acushnet, Bolton, Cambridge, Milton, Wendell, Wilbraham and Wilmington. A waiting list for communities waiting for further funding was also established. For complete details please go to: mblc.state.ma.us/mblc/news/2005/nr050707.php

Congratulations to Wilmington Memorial Library, whose building project is included in this most recent construction grant round!

Congratulations to Boxford Town Library, Gloucester Lyceum & Sawyer Free Library, and Shute Memorial Library Branch in Everett. These libraries are on the wait list for the next library construction budget round.

More Than $1.2 Million in LSTA Grants Awarded to 71 Massachusetts Libraries, Regional Library Systems & Library Networks

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners is pleased to announce $1,242,580 in grants has been awarded to 71 public, academic, school, special libraries, regional library systems and library networks across the Commonwealth under the Federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). (See a complete list of Grant Awardees and Abstracts at http://mblc.state.ma.us/mblc/news/2005/nr050708.php.)

Grants were awarded in 15 categories:

  • Community Languages
  • Customer Service and Marketing the Library
  • Digitizing Historical Resources: Management of Special Collections
  • Discovery Kits
  • LibQual Survey
  • Manuscript Arrangement and Description: Management of Special Collections
  • Mother Goose On the Loose
  • Network Connections and Servers
  • On the Same Page
  • Open Projects
  • Preservation Survey
  • Reader's Advisory
  • School Library Incentive
  • Small Libraries in Networks
  • Statewide Database and Promotion
LSTA is administered on the federal level by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in the Commonwealth by the Massachusetts by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.

Congratulations to:

  • Andover: Merrimack Valley Library Consortium - Small Libraries in Networks
  • Danvers: North of Boston Library Exchange, Inc. - Network Connections
  • Danvers: North of Boston Library Exchange, Inc - Open Project: Improving Access to Information via NOBLE Libraries
  • Littleton: Reuben Hoar Library - Statewide Database Promotion and Training
  • Lowell: Pollard Memorial Library - Mother Goose on the Loose
  • Lowell: Pollard Memorial Library - Preservation Survey
  • Lynn: Lynn Public Library - Community Languages
  • North Andover: Merrimack College/McQuade Library - LibQual Survey
  • North Reading: Flint Memorial Library - On the Same Page
  • Westford: Westford Public Schools - School Library Incentive

Beverly and Lynn Granted Temporary FY2006 Certification

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners granted temporary FY2006 certification to Beverly and Lynn. This temporary certification restores reciprocity of library services to the two communities. Both Beverly and Lynn completed a preliminary state aid compliance form and must successfully complete the annual certification process required by the Board in fiscal 2006.

See the MBLC site for more information and FY2006 Budget Language: mblc.state.ma.us/grants/state_aid/awards/index.php.