The American Library Association (ALA) announced the distribution of $1.25 million to 34 recipients of emergency relief grants to libraries that have experienced substantial economic hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic. Through the ALA COVID Library Relief Fund, grantees representing academic, public, school, and tribal libraries will receive grants between $30,000 and $50,000 to support library services and operations through the end of 2021.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is now accepting FY22 proposals for National Leadership Grants for Libraries and the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian program. Applicants have through September 24 to submit their two-page preliminary proposals.

Library and Archives Canada Foundation, home of the Jacob M. Lowy Collection of old and rare Hebraica and Judaica, has funded the purchase of 70 contemporary Canadian Judaica items ranging over a century from 1906 on. The acquisition includes examples of foreign and Canadian ephemera that address cultural and educational issues for the Canadian Jewish community and beyond.

The Library of Congress (LC) announced on June 22 the membership of the new Copyright Public Modernization Committee (CPMC), convened to enhance communication and provide a public forum for technology-related aspects of the U.S. Copyright Office’s modernization initiative. CPMC will meet twice a year through 2024 to publicly share information and answer questions; the first meeting will be hosted by LC on July 22.

In June, LC announced the acquisition of audio diaries featuring more than 200 frontline healthcare workers in the fight against COVID-19, providing firsthand testimonies from hospitals and communities across the country, donated by the Nocturnists, a San Francisco-based independent medical storytelling community and podcast. The majority of the recordings were originally collected for the “Stories from a Pandemic” series in spring 2020.

The National Endowment for the Humanities has distributed $51.6 million in funding to the 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils and interim partners, the agency’s first awards under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. These funds will support humanities organizations, programs, and professionals at the local level, advancing economic recovery within a cultural sector devastated by the COVID pandemic.

Open Access publisher Public Library of Science (PLOS) and the Training Center in Communication, based at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, (known as TCC Africa), announced a partnership to ensure that the interests and values of African research communities are represented in PLOS publications, policies, and services. The two organizations will work together to cocreate pathways to Open Research that work for African researchers and stakeholders.

The German-British Springer Nature Group, publisher of Nature and Scientific American, has launched a new U.S. Research Advisory Council (USRAC) to build stronger understanding of U.S. research needs. The USRAC will meet annually in a roundtable workshop format, with members drawn from institutions, funders, policy makers, and research-driven organizations.

The assets of book publisher Upper Access, Inc., Hinesburg, VT, have been acquired by Square One Publishers, Inc., of Garden City Park, NY.