Library Board of Trustees Agenda and Packet 2011 09 28

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levels of government seems likely to remain unfavorable for at least several more years. Private philanthropy could significantly aid efforts to create a cohesive digitization program for smaller cultural heritage institutions. Many granting institutions participate digitization outlined extending funding, or perhaps forming a collabora- tion between multiple institutions, could fund a national -scale pro- gram, at least temporarily. Many granting institutions also encourage cost sharing, which could create opportunities for multiple funding sources to work together. Leveraging partnerships with other organizations such as the Open Content Alliance, the Internet Archive, the American Association for State and Local History, and many more has tremendous potential to add new dimensions and collaborative energy to a new project. Lessons these organizations have already learned about digitization, content organization, and much more could prove invaluable. Volunteers could contribute significantly to a national digitization initiative as well, particularly because the project is intended to capture historical materials on the local level. Community interest in genealogy and local history not to mention a commitment to public libraries could generate interest and enthusiasm in such a project, as well as help on a practical level. Volunteers could help with tagging and in the efforts above; their Case Study: Close to Home At the Eaton Rapids Public Library in Michigan, the library director suggested that preserving its own institutional history would be a priority. The extensive local history collection includes letters and other correspondence with Andrew Carnegie's secretary about a failed attempt to build a Carnegie Library in the town, as well as 19th century documents like handwritten minutes from the library board and original army rosters and records from the Grand Army of the Republic. NUMBER 1 JUNI crowd sourcing, for example, and a training component could ensure that these contributions would be valuable. Perhaps community members also could be called upon for local fundraising efforts or donations. Another viable funding model could come from projects run by major library consortia, such as the Central /Western Massachusetts Au- tomated Resource Sharing (C /W MARS) group. This group leverages its affiliations to pool digital collections through Digital Treasures, which sets up best practices and a centralized repository for more than 150 members from academic, school, public, and special libraries. The project uses staff time and expertise in selecting materials for digitization, learning the content management system, creating original metadata and catalog records, and more and careful supervision from three staff members who work for library systems in Massachusetts. The consortium provided significant funding for the pilot phase, including "discretionary funds to purchase hardware and software and create a new part -time position. To continue past the pilot phase, private funding plays an additional role; a grant from the H.W. Wilson Foundation in May 2008 helped with conversion efforts, and multiple member libraries also won Wilson grants to help with their specific digitization activities. Support also could come from truly nontraditional sources. One idea is a Digitizing Hidden Collections in Public Libraries I 7