Trends in library STEM education projects: A review of publicly funded projects from the institute of museum and library services

Abstract

Considering the growing national investment in informal STEM education and libraries' emerging role within that landscape, it is timely to systematically review library-based STEM education projects to understand how libraries have contributed to STEM education over time in the US. This study conducts a systematic review of grant-funded projects related to STEM education from 2012 to 2022 from the Institute of Library and Museum Services (IMLS). One hundred and twenty-eight library STEM education projects were analyzed to understand trends in growth and focus of IMLS-funded library STEM education projects. Based on the content analysis of project abstracts and Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) topic modeling method, library STEM education projects contribute to diversification at multiple levels, such as participant populations, program structures, STEM disciplinary focus, funding scale and distribution, and network of collaboration were demonstrated. Findings highlight the unique role libraries have played in broadening the landscape of informal STEM learning.