With $2.2 million in support from the
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and in partnership with Artstor, the Council of
Independent Colleges (CIC) is offering 42 liberal arts colleges and universities
the opportunity to join its Consortium on Digital Resources for Teaching and
Research. The Consortium intends to improve teaching and learning, enhance
faculty and student/faculty research, and streamline administrative capabilities
through a uniform digital system of cataloging research material
collections.
The grant will support three years of workshops for
librarians and faculty and staff members and will subsidize use of Shared Shelf,
Artstor’s digital asset management service already used by institutions such as
Harvard and Cornell. With this grant, digital documentation of collections held
by institutions such as Presbyterian College (SC), Tuskegee University (AL), and
University of St. Mary (KS) will now be maintained and made publicly accessible
via the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) through Artstor, the nonprofit
organization that provides Shared Shelf and serves as one of DPLA’s
content-providing “hubs.”
The collections include Russian icons from
Allegheny College (PA); Civil War history objects from Central Methodist
University (MO); oral histories of Erie area refugees from Gannon University
(PA); the story of Buddhism in the Catskills from Hartwick College (NY); the
record of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s visit to Keuka College (NY); Egyptian
Papyri from the Robert C. Horn Collection at Muhlenberg College (PA); and many
others.
CIC President Richard Ekman said, “As
digitization allows hidden collections to be shared, teachers and scholars all
over the country will benefit. The Mellon Foundation’s grant will jump start
these efforts at 42 institutions.”
Ekman added, “These institutions—some
of which are in remote locations—are known for their dedication to
teaching and for providing life-changing liberal arts education to students from
all backgrounds. Through the Consortium, they will be able to gain access to an
important national digital resource. Their one-of-a-kind collections will be
more visible and more widely used.”
In the networked age, the treasures
of small colleges can add to shared national digital resources. Jim Voorhies,
director of Harvard University’s Carpenter Center, emphasized the value of the
archives when discussing Consortium participant Bennington College’s collection
of glass slides of the late art historian and museum director, Alexander Dorner.
Voohies noted that they “will be beneficial to scholars and complement the
collection of his papers held at Harvard.”
Artstor President James
Shulman said, “The Mellon Foundation’s support will enable important
collections—oral histories of the Ottawa people, the Civil Rights movement in
Greensboro, 17th century maps—to be managed and cared for. But the collaboration
among these CIC colleges also will provide an on-ramp for these collections to
flow into an emerging national digital platform. We are delighted to partner
with CIC in supporting these projects.”
View a list of participating
institutions and their project descriptions.