Information Today
Volume 17, Issue 10 • November 2000
Libraries Receive Grants to Digitize Resources

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the federal agency that lends support to the nation’s museums and libraries, has announced the recipients of its Library Preservation and Digitization Grants. These awards will give over $2.7 million dollars to 12 libraries for projects that will digitize library resources and make them available on the Web.

“Commercial Web sites are transforming the way we do business,” said Beverly Sheppard, acting director of IMLS. “But for the American people to fully realize the benefit of the Internet, it must also offer high-quality educational content. Libraries hold a wealth of resources that once were only available to scholars. Making library collections available on the Web contributes much-needed educational content to the Internet.”

One project funded this year will create a digital repository of research material related to the Louisiana Purchase. Another will digitize materials, including sound files of campaign songs and candidate biographies from 19th-century American political campaigns. And another will digitize fragile and endangered materials relating to the early history of Arizona.

Library Preservation and Digitization Grants is a category of funding through IMLS’s prestigious National Leadership Grants. Thirty-five libraries requesting over $7.4 million applied for these grants.

IMLS is an independent federal agency that fosters leadership, innovation, and a lifetime of learning by supporting the nation’s 15,000 museums and 122,000 libraries. Created by the Museum and Library Services Act of 1996, IMLS has an annual budget of $190 million. The Institute receives policy advice from two presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed entities: the National Commission for Libraries and Information Science and the National Museum Services Board.

Source: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Washington, DC, 202/606-8536; http://www.imls.gov.


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