Athens, Ga. – The Digital Library of Georgia is accepting applications for original, unpublished historic materials significant to Georgia to be digitized and included in a nationwide digital library.
Georgia libraries, museums, historical societies, archives and other cultural heritage repositories are invited to submit applications for up to five collections each to be considered for digitization and subsequent inclusion in both the Digital Library of Georgia and the Digital Public Library of America. The deadline is Jan. 25. Applications can be found at http://tinyurl.com/d8yt8k6.
The Digital Public Library of America is a groundbreaking project to make the country’s local archives digital, searchable and freely accessible. Launched last summer by Harvard University, the DPLA recently received a boost when the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation gave $1 million to create seven pilot sites with libraries in Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, South Carolina and Utah to serve as regional hubs. Georgia’s share of the grant, together with additional funding from the Arcadia Foundation, is $350,000.
Based at the University of Georgia Libraries, the Digital Library of Georgia has operated since 2000 as part of Georgia’s GALILEO virtual library. According to Toby Graham, director of the Digital Library of Georgia, the DLG already includes more than a million digital files.
“This project will allow us to issue a call for nominations from libraries and archives and other institutions around the state to add more content to the Digital Library of Georgia, which will serve as a pipeline into the Digital Public Library of America,” Graham said.
Selection of materials to digitize will be made according to the availability of resources and the DLG collection development policy, which can be found at http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/About DLG/CollectionDevelopment.html. DLG will be partnering with Lyrasis for the conversion of selected content, and staff hired through the grant funds will create descriptive records.
“Georgia’s public archives—libraries, colleges and universities—have a rich collection that we’re eager to share with the world,” said Beverly Blake, Macon program director with the Knight Foundation. “Perhaps most importantly, this project will help ensure that our local communities engage with that history and contribute to the collection, helping our libraries become dynamic, digital community centers.”
For more information on the Digital Public Library of America, see http://dp.la/.