Rochester institute of technology will address the documented need for library, archive, and museum professionals, especially in small and under-resourced institutions, to gain opportunities for…

The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded Rochester Institute of Technology $265,400 on September 1, 2026, under the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program (CFDA 45.313) to develop training and sustainable pathways for library, archive, and museum professionals in standards-aligned digitization.

The planning project encompasses a needs assessment, student pilot program, summer institute, development of openly licensed open educational resources, and microcredentialing. The work targets library, archive, and museum professionals nationwide, with particular focus on small and under-resourced institutions. RIT will measure program success through baseline assessments of participant knowledge, expectations, and institutional context, documented via field surveys, prior institute data, and national workforce studies. The expected outcome is increased capacity among library professionals to plan and sustain high-quality, standards-based digitization programs and better steward historical and personal collections.

Performance occurs in Rochester, New York, with a period of performance from September 1, 2026, through June 30, 2028. The award is structured as a Project Grant, a single-recipient assistance mechanism under the LB21 program, which supports recruitment, development, and retention of library and archives professionals to meet community information needs and build institutional capacity across library and information science graduate programs.

Rochester institute of technology will address the documented need for library, archive, and museum professionals, especially in small and under-resourced institutions, to gain opportunities for hands-on training and sustainable pathways for implementing standards-aligned digitization. This need is documented through field surveys, prior institute data, and national workforce studies, and will be measured by baseline assessments of participant knowledge, expectations, and institutional context. The planning project will encompass a needs assessment, a student pilot, a summer institute, the development of openly licensed open educational resources, and microcredentialing. As a result, library professionals nationwide will gain increased capacity to plan and sustain high quality, standards-based digitization programs, to better steward the irreplaceable community knowledge entrusted to them in historical and personal collections.