AUSTIN, Texas, July 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services has awarded the University of Texas at Austin two grants totaling more than $1.3 million.
"We have made education of leaders for the information field a strategic part of our mission," said Andrew Dillon, dean of the university's School of Information, which received the funds. "Awards of this kind are both a recognition of the efforts we are making and a means by which we can attract the very best students to our program."
The school was awarded $911,928 to develop faculty leaders in preservation education and to produce high-level administrators for major cultural repositories who are educated in preservation. A master's level program, "Stepping Up: Library Leaders for the 21st Century," received $407,780 from the IMLS.
The grants are part of a $28 million allocation under the 2007 Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian program. The program supports tuition assistance, curriculum development, service expectations, job placement, recruitment of non-traditional library students and support for doctoral candidates to teach library science and research.
The U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums.
