IMLS Grant Awarded to UNT/LEAP ONE Graduate

The  Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced the recipients of six competitive library grants totaling $243,944 for the Pacific Territories and Freely Associated States. Congratulations to Justin Maga, territorial librarian for the Feleti Barstow Public Library in Pago Pago, American Samoaa, one of the libraries that received a grant. Maga is a graduate of the LEAP I cohort.   

Feleti Barstow Public Library, the designated State Library Administrative Agency for the U.S. Territory of American Samoa was awarded 42,000.00. They will use the funds to support the Polynesian Photo Archives, a digital repository of visual images related to Samoan culture and traditions. The project will preserve and make accessible, archival materials that are historically and culturally significant to the Samoan Islands and Polynesia, dating from the 1840s to the present. A portion of the Polynesian Photo Archives has been digitized, and grant funds will support continued efforts to process and digitize this collection. The project will also fund staff to attend the biannual Pacific workshop organized by IMLS. In addition to Justin Maga, UNT LEAP II student, Loring T. Faiivae, is also a staff member at the library.