The Cornell and Columbia university libraries have received an 18-month, $150,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to expand the preservation of e-journals and implement strategies that will sustain the initiative beyond the duration of the project.

The project, a joint undertaking of the 2CUL partnership between the libraries, will identify priority content from the perspective of the research library community and make progress toward increasing the number of e-journals archived by major preservation programs. Cornell and Columbia hold the preservation of, and continuity of access to, knowledge and culture as a core aspect of their missions.

“The main objective of this project is to increase the number and range of e-journals that will be preserved, but it’s equally important to develop and promote methods that can be broadly adopted to expand our work,” said Oya Rieger, Cornell associate university librarian for digital scholarship and preservation services. “Making sure that the vital content in e-journals is available to scholars and researchers is an essential part of the process.”

Electronic serials originate in all regions of the world, with the libraries of Cornell and Columbia each providing access to more than 100,000 titles. They are significant as a record of scholarly research and contribute to cultural expression, report current events, and convey scientific, economic, legal and governmental information. In many fields, e-journals have become the predominant means of access to current research. As libraries consolidate their print collections, users increasingly rely on digitized versions of historical titles.

“Libraries are eager to see more progress, and this project is an important step toward engaging more parties in a broad effort,” said Bob Wolven, associate university librarian for bibliographic services and collection development at Columbia.

The 2CUL partnership began in 2009 with a grant from the Mellon Foundation that allowed Cornell and Columbia to join forces to address budgetary challenges posed by the Great Recession, improve library efficiencies, promote innovation, and meet new and emerging academic needs.