Assistance program
Native American and Native Hawaiian Library Services
$41.8 Million committed in FY2018–FY2026
- Agency
- The Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Institute of Museum and Library Services
- Assistance
- Project Grants;Direct Payments for Specified Use
- CFDA number
- 45.311
- What it does
- The Native American and Native Hawaiian Library Services programs (NANH-L) are designed to assist Native American tribes and Native Hawaiians in improving core library services for their communities. NANH-L Basic Grants has one program goal and four objectives. Program Goal: Improve library and archival services for accessing learning. and preserving information with the community. Objective 1: Support the acquisition of library-related materials. Objective 2: Support programming for identified community priorities. Objective 3: Support training for library staff. Objective 4: Support project activities that include aspects of two or more of the objectives listed above. NANH-L Enhancement Grants has one goal with four associated objectives. Program Goal: Develop, enhance, or disseminate practices, programs, models, tools, or library staff training to strengthen library and archival services for Native American Tribes. Objective 1: Serve the learning needs and interests of the community. Objective 2: Improve community well-being. Objective 3: Provide access to and preservation of information and collections. Objective 4: Provide services to affected communities in the event of an emergency or disaster. The Native Hawaiian Library Services Grant program has one goal with four associated objectives. Program Goal: Develop, enhance, or disseminate practices, programs, models, tools, or staff training to strengthen library and archival services with K?naka Maoli. Objective 1: Serve the learning needs and interests of the community. Objective 2: Improve K?naka Maoli well-being. Objective 3: Provide access to and preservation of information and collections. Objective 4: Provide services to affected communities in the event of an emergency or disaster.
- Who benefits
- Not Applicable
- Who applies
- An applicant to Native American Library Services Basic or Enhancement grant program must be an Indian tribe, meaning any tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, including any Alaska native village, regional corporation, or village, which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians. An applicant to Native Hawaiian Library Services must be a nonprofit organization that primarily serves and represents Native Hawaiians. The term "Native Hawaiian" refers to an individual who is a citizen of the United States and a descendant of the aboriginal people who, before 1778, occupied and exercised sovereignty in the area that now comprises the State of Hawaii.
Committed by fiscal year
* FY2026 is year-to-date — the fiscal year is still in progress, so its total is still filling in. The striped band and dashed line mark that provisional stretch.
Top recipients
By dollars committed.
How to read these numbers
- Committed through this program
Money committed under this assistance listing (its CFDA program), counted in the year each action happened.
- How it's paid
Most programs pay out one way — a grant, or a direct payment to individuals; the flow bar only appears when a program genuinely mixes types.
- Some recipients aren't itemized
For entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, the government reports one aggregate instead of naming tens of millions of people, so the recipient roster isn't part of the public record.
- Awards, counted once
An award count is the number of distinct awards with at least one action that year — each counted once, however many times it was amended.
- The colored bars
Every bar on this page splits by how the money moves:
Direct payments