Cornell Library Expands HBCU Collections Project
By Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 9/1/2009
Cornell University Library (CUL), in cooperation with the HBCU Library Alliance, which includes dozens of historically black colleges and universities, has received a $375,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to promote sustainable digital collections that reflect the unique history of the HBCUs.
The extant Digital Collection Celebrating the Founding of the Historically Black College and University includes several thousand scanned items. The project, “Building Collections, Building Services, and Building Sustainability III: A Sustainable Framework for the HBCU Library Alliance,” expands the number of HBCU digital collections chosen for research and teaching, plus a business plan to market HBCU Library Alliance digital initiatives and programs. It also will include an online workshop devoted to digital services.
In the first two phases of the project, beginning in 2005, CUL trained 23 HBCU library staff in building digital collections; that's led to a searchable group of more than 7000 digital images from the archives of 20 HBCUs. Project manager Ira Revels said the “critical third phase” aims to ensure sustainability.
