OCLC, the non-profit computer library service and research organisation, has received grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services to advance and sustain professional development and continuing education for information workers across the United States.
The grants will support continued work of the Coalition to Advance Learning in Archives, Libraries, and Museums to produce strategies for effective staff learning programs, and will identify new opportunities for mutually beneficial collaboration among archives, library and museum organisations.
The Coalition was first convened in Arlington, Virginia, in March 2014, through an initial IMLS investment of $289,000, which supports work through March 2015. The Gates Foundation grant of $266,000, and supplemental funding from IMLS of $149,000, will bolster Coalition activities and extend them through October 2015.
The Coalition is now working to publish a joint strategy that will support the shared vision of cross-sector collaboration, and document a plan for well-coordinated, sustainable and effective continuing education and professional development for the field.
