With a $375,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Cornell University Library and the HBCU (historically black colleges and universities) Library Alliance will continue to help dozens of historically black colleges and universities across the country create and manage digital collections.

"Developing sustainable digital collections provides a public forum for knowledge that was virtually hidden from public view. By opening the doors to it, we're enabling a new dialogue on American history and the African-American experience," said Anne R. Kenney, Cornell's Carl A. Kroch University Librarian.

The project will expand the number of HBCU digital collections available for research and teaching; create a business plan for HBCU Library Alliance digital initiatives and programs; and host an online workshop devoted to digital services. The collections foster research and teaching of scholars specializing in African-American studies, the American South, American democracy, cultural pluralism and other related disciplines.

Since 2005, Cornell's library has been partnering with the alliance, a coalition of HBCU library deans and directors working to strengthen the role of libraries on historically black campuses and expand access to their resources. During the first two phases of the project, the library trained 23 HBCU library staff in building digital collections. The result of that training is a searchable collection of more than 7,000 digital images from the archives of 20 HBCUs.

The new funding is for the next phase. "We're moving into a critical third phase of our collaboration, which aims to ensure the sustainability of HBCU digital initiatives for many years to come," said Ira Revels, associate librarian at Cornell and project manager.

Cornell, the HBCU Library Alliance and the Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center will provide administrative, staffing and logistical support for the 24-month initiative. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has provided $375,000 for this phase.

"This opportunity to sustain our rich collection of historic images enables libraries of the HBCU Library Alliance to preserve the imprint that historically black colleges and universities have made on American society," said Janice Franklin, chair of the Alliance's Committee on Digitization.

Gwen Glazer is a staff writer at Cornell University Library.