Contact: Kathlin Smith
ksmith@clir.org
202-939-4754
Washington, DC, January 3, 2018—The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) $13,248,000 to support three years of grant competitions for the Digitizing Hidden Special Collections program and a symposium to disseminate best practices for digitizing and preserving rare and unique content.
Launched in 2015, the nationally competitive program awards funds to cultural memory institutions to digitize selected special collections, with the goal of making the resources available on the Web for the long term. To date, the program has funded 35 projects totaling over $8 million, and involving 84 institutions. The new grant ensures the program’s continuation in 2018, 2019, and 2020.
“We are delighted that this extended support for a critical CLIR program will enable the organization to forge strategic collaborations that can sustain digitization projects and build shared capacity over the long term,” said CLIR Board Chair Kathleen Fitzpatrick.
A symposium will be held for program participants, scholars, students, and professionals in 2020 that will focus on establishing priorities, best practices, and preservation strategies for digitized rare and unique content. CLIR will publish contributed papers following the event.
“The broader horizon of activity that this generous grant ensures will help CLIR fundamentally in pursuit of our core mission,” said CLIR President Charles Henry. “Predicated on the belief that genuine, lasting change is a product of interdependence among many types of individuals and institutions, we strive to facilitate a rigorous alliance of and reliance on one another that can counter costly competition and redundant siloes of effort.”
CLIR will announce recipients of the 2017 competition January 4 and will issue a request for 2018 proposals in mid-January. Webinars for potential applicants will be held in late January and February. To stay abreast of program developments, sign up for an electronic bulletin, and follow @CLIRHC on Twitter.
The Council on Library and Information Resources is an independent, nonprofit organization that forges strategies to enhance research, teaching, and learning environments in collaboration with libraries, cultural institutions, and communities of higher learning.
