FAQ
Stale listings, dead programs, and deadlines
Why library-grant roundups are unusually unreliable right now, and how to tell a live program from a dead one before you invest time.
- Why do different sites say opposite things about IMLS?
- Because 2025 was chaotic and most articles froze at whatever moment they were written. Some captured the March 2025 order that tried to eliminate IMLS and say the agency is dead. Others predate 2025 entirely and describe the old program lineup as if nothing changed. Both are unreliable. The verified truth as of mid-2026: the order was permanently blocked, grants were reinstated, and a settlement secured the agency. Trust imls.gov this week over any dated article — in either direction.
- How do I tell if a grant program is still real?
- Run what we call the Live-or-Dead Check: confirm the program on the funder's own current website, not on a blog or a 'top library grants' roundup. If the only evidence a program exists is someone else's list, treat it as dead until the funder's own page proves otherwise. Roundups almost never get updated, so dead programs and superseded dollar figures live on them for years.
- Which programs look alive but aren't right now?
- Two big ones. Accelerating Promising Practices for Small Libraries (APP) — once the go-to IMLS small-library program — is defunct and no longer on the IMLS list, yet still cited everywhere. And CAP (Collections Assessment for Preservation), the entry-level museum conservation assessment, is paused with no funds allocated for the 2026 program year, though many museum roundups still show it as open. We track both, plus the reversed 'IMLS/NEH is dead' stories, on our kill list.
- The deadlines I find keep being wrong. What can I count on?
- Anchor to the ones verified to a funder's own page, and treat annual programs as patterns rather than fixed dates. Solid anchors right now: IMLS Inspire! and Museums for America both close November 13, 2026 (IMLS calls its posted dates tentative — confirm before drafting); Pilcrow's book grant closes October 1; USDA Community Facilities is rolling with no deadline; E-Rate's Form 471 window generally runs about January to March. For annual private grants like United for Libraries / Penguin Random House, watch for the window rather than assuming last year's dates.
Library and museum grants have a staleness problem that runs in both directions right now — some sources declared live agencies dead, others still list programs that ended years ago. These questions cover how to protect yourself. The short version: go to the funder’s own page, every time.
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