The U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has announced 30 libraries and museums as finalists to receive the National Medal for Museum and Library Service, including seven ASTC-member institutions. The National Medal is the highest honor given to museums and libraries in the U.S. for exemplary service to their communities. The seven ASTC-member finalists are:

• Amazement Square, Lynchburg, Virginia
• Chabot Space & Science Center, Oakland, California
• Louisiana Children’s Museum, New Orleans
• Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science, Miami, Florida
• New York Hall of Science, Queens
• The Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose, California
• The Wild Center, Tupper Lake, New York

The rest of the museum nominees include:

• Tuckerton Seaport & Baymen’s Museum, New Jersey
• Children’s Museum of Brownsville, Texas
• The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, Massachusetts
• Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff
• Nantucket Historical Association, Massachusetts
• Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• The Strong, Rochester, New York
• Gladys Porter Zoo, Brownsville, Texas

The National Medal winners will be announced this spring and honored at a ceremony in Washington, DC. If you have visited one of the museum or library finalists, IMLS would like you to share your story on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/USIMLS.

To see the full press release, visit www.imls.gov/thirty_museums_and_libraries_tapped_as_finalists_for_national_medal.aspx. To learn more about the IMLS National Medal, visit www.imls.gov/about/medals.aspx.