Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Grants Awarded to HSL for Digital Initiatives

Note: See June 21, 2010 blog post for announcement of second year NC ECHO award for $42,675.

The UNC Health Sciences Library has just been awarded $34,850 for the first year of a $94,050 three-year NC ECHO digitization grant project funded by the State Library of North Carolina through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). Building on a pilot project that resulted in the digitization of historical North Carolina journals in public health, dentistry, and eugenics, the proposed North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection will contain over 800 volumes (approx. 300,000 pages) of core journals in medicine, public health, dentistry, pharmacy, and nursing from 1849 to 1977.

These materials document the development of health care and the health professions and are thus a significant part of the state’s cultural heritage and history. The digital library will be keyword searchable and browseable, and will provide consolidated online access to materials that are currently difficult for students, researchers, and the public to find and utilize in print. The digital library will also provide historical context for the digital resources and K-12 educational materials for selected content. Daniel Smith, Special Collections Librarian, is the principal investigator and project manager, and will coordinate each phase of the grant.

HSL and the University Library were also successful in obtaining other grant funding from the State Library. HSL's NC Health Info was awarded $54,057 for its consumer health portal, and the University Library received several awards:

:: "Ensuring Democracy Through Digital Access," a collaborative project between ECU's Joyner Library, the State Library of North Carolina, and the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library, was awarded $124,693 for year one of a two-year project.

:: "Driving Through Time: The Digital Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina," a project of Wilson Library, received $74,553 for year one of a two-year project.

:: "Creating Online Access to Legacy Finding Aids," a project of Wilson Library, received $73,695 for year two of a three-year project.

:: "North Carolina Maps," a collaborative project of the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library, the North Carolina State Archives, and the Outer Banks History Center, received $144,284 for year three of a three-year project.

The State Library's support will go far to develop and enhance UNC's digital collections for the use of researchers everywhere. A list of all grant awards for 2009-10 is available online. 185 projects were approved for a total of $4,717,109. These awards are made possible by LSTA grant funding from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal grant-making agency. Congratulations to everyone!

Note: The images below are from the Health Bulletin of the North Carolina State Board of Health.

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