For Applicants

Program Timeline

The deadline for final proposals for the 2009 application cycle was Friday, September 4, 2009.

All applicants will be notified of their status by November 30, 2009. All notifications will be sent by e-mail as well as by standard mail.

Information about future application cycles will be available on this website in Spring 2010. If you would like to receive announcements and news about this program by e-mail, please join the Hidden Collection program's distribution list.

Questions and Answers

Jump to: Questions about the program | Questions about final proposals (for reference only)

Why haven't I received an e-mail indicating receipt of my final proposal? Has it been successfully submitted?
No e-mail receipts were sent for final proposals. Your proposal's status can be verified by logging into your account and viewing the "Status" line. Proposals which have been successfully accepted by the system will be marked "Submitted," with the date of successful submittal immediately underneath.

Questions about the program

What is the rationale for this grant program?
The program is designed to overcome the pervasive lack of knowledge about special collections and archives held by libraries, archives, and cultural institutions and to make information about these materials accessible to teachers and scholars.

How will this program reveal hidden collections?
All program applicants are required to submit descriptions of their hidden collections to the program's online registry. Award-winning projects will use appropriate technology and standards for recording accurate descriptive information about collections quickly and cost-effectively. The resulting records and finding aids will be linked to one another within the registry and with existing online records for related materials where possible, resulting in a federated environment that can be built upon over time. Institutions must acknowledge local ownership of the data generated through the program and agree to its persistence.

Will a single technological platform be used?
No. Applicants will be expected to employ software platforms that already exist for swift and efficient entry of data, which can then be translated into standard records formats such as EAD and MARC. Examples of such technologies include the Archon program produced by the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and the Archivists' Toolkit. Further information about current cataloging platforms in use in special collections and archives is available in Archival Management Software: A Report for the Council on Library and Information Resources (Lisa Spiro, 2009).

Because tightly defined fields can impede interoperability, recent reports on hidden collections emphasize the need to make descriptive categories and schemata less rigid than those of the past. Cataloging special collections and archival materials has routinely been defined as a local practice. The shift to understanding hidden collections as a national problem requires an acknowledgment that in the 21st century, collaboration, coordination, and coherence of response to users is fundamental and takes precedence over local practice.

Are there models that can be adopted for use in this program?
Several aspects of ongoing projects could be adopted to save time and expense. Among them is the Uncovering New Chicago Archives Project developed by Jacqueline Goldsby and Jacqueline Stewart at the University of Chicago, in which graduate students catalog hidden collections discovered through a process of national solicitation. Because the students work with a template of well-defined descriptive data fields, a high level of cataloging expertise is not necessary. The students are salaried employees of their respective institutions, and all work is done in rigorous consultation with faculty and librarians. The graduate students bring a disciplinary expertise to the projects and learn firsthand the challenges of organizing information, creating digital records, and other fundamental issues of librarianship. Because the students are often working with collections in their areas of study, they are engaged with source materials that may enhance their mastery of scholarship. Alice Schreyer's short article, "University of Chicago Explores Library-Faculty Partnerships in Uncovering Hidden Collections" (in PDF), provides a description of this project and its goals.

CLIR hopes that its Hidden Collections initiative will bring to light innovative methods of cataloging, description and dissemination. Any examples of methods or technologies mentioned by CLIR, whether here on our website or in other venues, are intended to be just that: examples. CLIR encourages applicants to consider a variety of possible approaches as they develop their proposals, and to make persuasive and cogent arguments for their method of choice.

What will be the typical size of a project grant?
The sizes of the grants will vary. The total disbursed under the program may also vary from year to year, depending on the nature and composition of requests and available funding. To date, applicants have been required to request funds in amounts ranging from $75,000 to $500,000.

Will applicants be allowed to include indirect costs in the budget?
No.

What will be the term of a project grant?
Applicants may request terms as short as 12 months or as long as 36 months, or any period in between. In 2009, projects may begin as early as December 1, 2009 or as late as March 1, 2010. All 2009 projects must be completed no later than February 28, 2013. Each principal investigator receiving a grant will be required to submit an annual report to the review panel.

How do you define "special collections" and "archives"?
For the purposes of this project, special collections are rare, often unique materials generally housed in secure, monitored environments. Archives are unique collections associated with a specific individual or organization. By not limiting these terms to particular topics, sizes, media or formats, CLIR hopes to encourage proposals that encompass the broadest possible range of evidence of our historical, scientific, intellectual, and cultural heritage.

What are the criteria for awards?
The main criterion for determining the priority of the collections to be cataloged is the value of the materials for scholars and students. Rather than solicit for collections by a specific topic, the review panel will consider all nominated collections and then set priorities on the basis of that pool. Scholars increasingly work in a digital environment and are interested in finding related collections across many institutions. Consequently, collaborative proposals that aggregate disparately located but similarly themed collections may be more favorably weighed than those that do not feature such collaboration. Alternately, the review panel might aggregate several candidate collections as a single project. Grants will be allocated to institutions or consortia that agree to employ graduate students, paraprofessionals, and other staff that will contribute to a cost-effective and swift generation of records.

What if some finding aids already exist for the collection?
The collections that will be candidates for cataloging should be truly hidden to scholars; in other words, scholars and graduate students who have a good command of their fields of study would not reasonably be expected to find basic information about the collections using good, thorough research techniques. Some nominated collections may have a type of finding aid that is of no value to scholars. If part of a proposal includes cost-effective reconstitution and enhancement of existing finding aids into a unified, broadly accessible platform, this may be acceptable provided the proposal explains clearly how the new format significantly adds to users' understanding of holdings and their relationships to other, new, finding aids and records.

What formats will be considered?
The range of media that can be termed special collections or archives will not be restricted. Increasingly, valuable collections are composed of many formats: paper, moving images, sound recordings, postcards, photographs, and other realia. Since one goal of the program is to assess the scale and scope of hidden collections, a broad definition of what constitutes an appropriate artifact or medium will be used.

Will conservation be an element of grant consideration?
The physical condition of the materials will be considered, but it will not be a determining factor in an award decision. The focus of this program is not conservation, and no funds will be allocated for conservation purposes.

Will funds be allocated for retrospective conversion?
No. The simple transformation of existing analog records or finding aids into their equivalent digital form is beyond the scope of the program.

Are collections of genealogical materials eligible?
Collections that are primarily genealogical in nature are not eligible for funding through this program. However, CLIR does recognize the importance of collections that are local or regional in nature but may be reflective of larger historical and cultural issues. Applicants may seek funding for such collections, but must show how use of the collections could advance scholarship.

Will digitization activities be covered under this solicitation?
No. The Hidden Collections program supports web-accessible cataloging of collections of high scholarly value. Digitization activities are not eligible under this program. This includes digitization activities that may be generally thought of as necessary to the cataloging process, e.g. conversion of audio files from tape to digital format during the cataloging process. Any digitization must be covered by the applicant institution; funds will not be granted for this purpose in any circumstance.

Can digitization be counted as a cost share?
No.

Are applicants required to show a cost share?
Cost-sharing is encouraged, but not required. However, applicants are advised that the review panel may consider cost-sharing as one indicator of institutional support for the project when evaluating the proposal.

May applicants include in-kind costs in their cost share?
Yes. CLIR encourages applicants to think broadly about what activities or items they may include in their cost share. For example, salaries of full-time staff who will contribute significantly to the project, or time spent training volunteers, may be included as an applicant cost share.

May an institution submit more than one proposal?
Institutions may submit more than one proposal, but each proposal must have a unique principal investigator.

May consortia or multiple partnering institutions, as well as single institutions, apply for a grant?
Yes. CLIR will accept applications from a consortium, or a proposal from two or more institutions. The applicant institution will serve as the administrator, and any division of funds and responsibilities should be addressed in the project plan and other explanatory sections of the final proposal. Applicants submitting a joint or consortial project must incorporate the project plan appendix (see "Application Appendices and Reference Documents" above) into their project plan in the final proposal phase. The submitted budget should aggregate the total funds requested; all funds will be disbursed to the applicant institution. CLIR will not disburse funds for one award to several institutions.

CLIR also encourages applicants to consider working together on a less formal basis. Applicants may, in their applications, note that they will be collaborating with other institutions who hold similar collections, or are engaged in similar activities, without necessarily submitting a joint proposal.

May consortia or multiple partnering institutions submit more than a total of three resumes with their application?
No. Applications submitted by consortia or multiple partnering institutions are limited to three two-page resumes. Applications from multiple partnering institutions and consortia should describe the value added to the submission by virtue of their partnership.

May consortia or multiple partnering institutions submit more than a total of three letters of recommendation their application?
No. Applications submitted by consortia or multiple partnering institutions are limited to three letters of recommendation that speak to the scholarly value of the collective submission as well as the importance of individual collections that make up elements of the submission.

Is the program limited to collections in the United States?
Yes. The current focus of this program will be on collections owned and held in U.S. institutions.

Will all information contained in the proposals remain confidential?
One section of the application will ask for information that will become public, as part of the registry. A second section will request information that will remain confidential to the review panel. The public information can in this way be more easily extracted from the form and ingested into the registry. Information to be made public is requested in the first part of the application, as noted on the application form.

Questions about final proposals

Please note: the following contains information for the 2009 application cycle and is provided for reference ONLY.

How will applicants prepare final proposals?
Applicants who have submitted pre-proposal forms will receive an application ID number from CLIR by e-mail no later than July 1, 2009. The online application system for submitting final proposals will open on July 1, 2009; applicants may then access the system using their application ID number.

Must applicants wait to receive comments on their pre-proposal before beginning to prepare final proposals?
No. Applicants may begin to prepare their final application materials as soon as possible. All applicants are advised that for the final proposal, they will be asked to provide the following in addition to the information requested in the pre-proposal:

• Technical Approach Summary: This is a document in PDF format (1500 words or less) that details the relevant technologies, standards, and working practices that will be employed to realize the project's goals. The approach must be web accessible, interoperable with other systems, and sustainable beyond the life of the project. Applicants should explain how the proposed methods and tools relate to current local practice and emphasize any innovative features of the approach (for example, ways that it expedites cataloging or allows for extensibility in future activities).

• Project plan: This is a document in PDF format (1000 words or less) that details the project plan, including staffing, milestones, and deliverables. The project plan should also address plans to insure the long-term sustainability of the project at the institution(s), and any plans to promote the use of the targeted collections. Consortial applicants will be required to include an additional appendix to the plan outlining participating institutions, collections to be cataloged, number of items and format. This appendix must follow the format outlined here (in PDF): http://www.clir.org/hiddencollections/HiddenCollectionsApplicationProjectPlanAppendix.pdf.

• Résumés: Applicants may provide up to three résumés for key personnel on this project. Résumés must be in PDF format and no longer than 2 pages each.

• Scholarly letters of support: Applicants must provide three letters of support for their projects, in PDF format. These letters must come from individuals knowledgeable about the collections or some other aspect of the project who are not directly affiliated with the project or to participant institutions.

• Institutional letter of support: Applicants must provide one letter, in PDF format, from an administrator at the applicant institution indicating the institution's willingness to house and support the project locally, including sharing costs as indicated in the project budget.

• Budget: Applicants must provide a detailed budget, using CLIR's budget form (see "Important Documents," above).

May applicants revise answers submitted in the pre-proposal during the final proposal phase?
The collection(s) targeted for cataloging in the pre-proposal may not be revised. Final proposals which list collections not included in the pre-proposal phase will be considered ineligible. All other answers may be revised in the final proposal. Please bear in mind that the review panel will have access to your pre-proposal information during the final selection phase, and may request explanations for sections which show large discrepancies between the pre- and final proposal phases.

For additional information, contact Amy Lucko, Program Officer, at hiddencollections@clir.org. Inquiries must be sent by e-mail only—no phone calls please.