State Librarian’s Update – August 2026

August 7th, 2026

Every year NJSL receives an allotment from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and its Grants to States program. In return, NJSL is required to submit a Five-Year Plan for approval, and toward the end of the plan’s duration, have an independent evaluation conducted. We’ve just started our evaluation process for the current plan. As part of this, we’ll be asking the library community to complete a survey and perhaps attend a focus group to let us know how you benefited from the grant over the last few years.

We use the Grants to State program funds for the statewide interlibrary loan program, statewide databases, JerseyConnect, and the Talking Book and Braille Center. We are often able to provide competitive grant opportunities for libraries, and fund smaller initiatives, like subscriptions to Northstar Digital Literacy for 100 public libraries in the state.

I hope you’ll be able to find the time to help us out with the evaluation this year. If you’re interested in participating in a focus group this fall, please let Maura Walsh, our LSTA Coordinator, know at mwalsh@njstatelib.org. Once we’ve completed the evaluation, we’ll turn to writing a new five-year plan that will take us from 2028 through 2032.

Jen Nelson
State Librarian