I
n the fall of 2019, WiLS began a cooperative agreement with the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to mentor a cohort of small, rural, and tribal libraries around the country working on community memory projects. These libraries received grants in IMLS’s Accelerating Promising Practices funding category, which is designed to build capacity at small libraries through participation in a community of practice. For two years, WiLS team members Emily Pfotenhauer and Vicki Tobias mentored and supported this cohort as they took on oral history initiatives, community digitization events, and other projects to document and share their unique local stories.
In September of 2020, a second cohort of seven small, rural, and tribal libraries from around the country embarked on community memory projects thanks to the Accelerating Promising Practices funding opportunity from IMLS. Once again, WiLS is serving as a mentor organization, and from September 2020 through August 2023, Emily Pfotenhauer and Community Memory & Digital Archives Consultant Ellen Brooks, with the help of Vicki Tobias and Kristen Whitson, offer support and cohesion for these projects and their managers.
Visit the IMLS Community Memory Tools and Resources page for links to many of the slide decks, handouts, worksheets, and other materials created by WiLS and by an array of guest experts to support the cohort.
WiLS provides the following services for the IMLS APP Community Memory Cohort:
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant LG-19-0292-19.
Astoria Public Library (Astoria, Oregon)
Benzonia Public Library (Benzonia, Michigan)
Forbes Library (Northampton, Massachusetts)
Hudson Area Library (Hudson, New York)
Huna Heritage Foundation (Hoonah, Alaska)
Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Library (Sequim, Washington)
Jaquith Public Library (Marshfield, Vermont)
Pella Public Library (Pella, Iowa)
Scott County Library System (Eldridge, Iowa)
Southern California Library (Los Angeles)
Aniak City Library (Aniak, Alaska)
Belfast Free Library (Belfast, Maine)
Edith B. Ford Memorial Library (Ovid, New York)
Lakeview Community Library (Random Lake, Wisconsin)
Moore Free Library Association (Newfane, Vermont)
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (Philadelphia)
Twin Lakes Library System (Milledgeville, Georgia)
