LYRASIS Selects Participants of the HBCU Library Alliance Photographic Preservation Project

Posted by cboyce on February 11, 2016 Leave a comment (0) Go to comments

This article originally appeared in InfoDocket, in Library Journal:

LYRASIS and its partners, the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA), HBCU Library Alliance, Image Permanence Institute (IPI), and University of Delaware (UD) Art Conservation Department, have selected five Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) to participate in the third HBCU Preservation Project. The 28-month project, funded with a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, addresses the preservation needs of special photographic and magnetic media collections and enables increased use of this content for instruction and research.

All of the HBCUs that participated in the first two Preservation Projects were invited to apply and the following were selected for participation in the project based on the significance of their collections and institutional capacity related to preservation, special collections and community engagement:

The Atlanta University Center – Robert Woodruff Library (GA),
Fisk University (TN)
Hampton University (VA)
Johnson C. Smith University (NC)
Tuskegee University (AL)

These HBCUs hold extensive and important collections that document the African American experience from Reconstruction through the Civil Rights Era in photographs and magnetic media (e.g., audio cassette tapes, video tapes, and reel-to-reel tape recordings). Access to much of the content in these collections has been limited or non-existent. Each of these institutions will receive grants of up to $50,000 to fund preservation and access efforts for photographic and/or magnetic media special collections. This may include: repair, cleaning, and re-housing of materials; reformatting of selected collection items; and/or consulting to improve environmental conditions for special collections. During the project, library and archives staff will conduct outreach to faculty and other HBCUs, as well as speak at professional conferences in order to promote use and awareness of the contents of their collections. All five HBCUs will also employ student interns to work on project materials to cultivate an interest among undergraduates in careers in librarianship as well as archival conservation and environmental science.

“I am excited to continue this important work by collaborating with these five institutions and build on the momentum from the first two projects,” stated Steve Eberhardt, HBCU Preservation Project Coordinator at LYRASIS. “This project will increase the impact that these formerly inaccessible, yet extremely valuable and unique collections will have on scholarly research and the documenting of U.S. history.””LYRASIS is honored to be a part of this effort in preserving and sharing this invaluable and culturally rich information with the larger community,” stated Kate Nevins, Executive Director of LYRASIS. “This project is yet another example of our commitment to working with libraries to increase access to content by leveraging digitization, technology and expertise of a diverse and collaborative group of information professionals.”