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Institute of Museum and Library Services Awards $796,247 to MIAP Program

The Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Program (MIAP) in the Department of Cinema Studies at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts has received $796,247 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as part of the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program.

This three-year grant aims to increase the number of trained moving image professionals in libraries by providing intensive work experience for MIAP students and graduates, and through extensive discussions with library professionals about the current state of professional positions for moving image specialists.

NYU is one of 31 institutions this year that received grants from this program, totaling $20.3 million. This program, first announced by Laura Bush in 2002, is a result of a federal initiative to strengthen the library profession. The IMLS grant will provide funding for a series of semester and summer internships for MIAP students and several one-year, post-graduate fellowships. The American Museum of Natural History will host the first fellow while the New York Public Library and NYU’s Bobst Library will host the first group of interns. Circulating and archival collections in libraries hold some of the most culturally significant audiovisual artifacts. Despite substantial developments in best practices for film, video, and audio preservation, moving image collections in libraries remain neglected. Those few libraries that do have preservation departments rarely employ moving image preservation specialists.

Through meetings and interviews with library and archive professionals, MIAP will address the various challenges faced by moving image preservation specialists today and identify the obstacles to creating new professional positions, and in the process, develop solutions to address these obstacles. The results will be shared with the preservation community and the public through MIAP’s website and an associated blog.

The MIAP program is a two-year course of study that trains future professionals to manage preservation-level collections of film, video, new media, and other types of digital works. The program provides prospective collection managers and archivists with an international, comprehensive education in the theories, methods, and practices of moving image archiving and preservation.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development.