New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. (I, D, WF-Sag Harbor), chair of the Assembly Committee on Libraries and Education Technology announced today that the New York State Library Conservation Preservation Discretionary online grant application for 2015-16 is now available at https://eservices.nysed.gov/ldgrants.

The New York State Program for the Conservation and Preservation of Library Research Materials provides a total of $500,000 in law each year for preserving materials in the collection of libraries, archives, historical societies and similar agencies. This program is administered by the New York State Library's Division of Library Development and provides State funding for libraries and other organizations engaged in efforts to preserve deteriorating library research materials. The grant awards for 2015-16 will be limited to a minimum of $2,500 and a maximum of $40,000.

There are two important requirements for grant applicants this year. All applicants are required to comply with the New York State Education Department’s Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBE) participation goals for this grant http://www.esd.ny.gov/mwbe.html. Secondly, New York State has implemented a prequalification requirement for not-for-profit entities applying for grants. In order to be eligible to apply for an award under this grant, any not for-profit entity who is the lead applicant must prequalify using the Grants Gateway http://grantsreform.ny.gov/grantees. More information is available about these requirements within the grant application.

Applications must be received by 5:00 pm on January 30, 2015.