[May 17, 2006] To be eligible for Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds, each state library agency submitted a five-year strategic plan to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) describing how LSTA funds would be expended to meet the priorities of the law and fulfill the particular needs of the state. Once IMLS accepted each state’s plan, states had two further responsibilities: 1) submit an annual narrative report describing how the state met its five-year plan objectives and activities during the preceding federal fiscal year and 2) submit an overall evaluation of how it fulfilled the goals of the plan during the five year course. The latter evaluation is to be submitted to the IMLS by March 31, 2007.

Six states in the Council of State Library Agencies in the Northeast (COSLINE) are issuing a Request for Proposals for evaluations of their LSTA five-year plans. The following states are collaborating: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maryland, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. Each state will receive a complete and separate evaluation of its five-year plan from the successful bidder.

View the complete Request for Proposals. [pdf, 5 pages]