Apr 21, 2016 IMLS Grant Awarded to Marriott Library
The Marriott Library was recently informed that it would be receiving a $50,000 grant through the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) for a two-year collaborative project starting May 1 that will improve search capabilities for those using digital collections.
The project will create a pilot dataset called the Western Name Authority File (WNAF), which will be structured with Linked Open Data (LOD) to create new ways of visualizing the connections between the people, collections, and digitized items in digital collections of different libraries. The project will collaborate with additional libraries in the Mountain West Digital Library network of partners, with Utah State University and Brigham Young University serving as primary partners.
Anna Neatrour, Metadata Librarian for the Marriott Library says, “This project is an exciting extension of the authority control work that the Marriott Library has been pursuing over the past several years. While there are currently methods in place to make it easy for people to search for unique names within library catalogs, there is a great deal of inconsistency in personal name across the digital collections, and this inconsistency is further magnified when the region’s digital collections pool together in regional portals like the Mountain West Digital Library (MWDL) or national portals like the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). This pilot will allow us to examine best practices and workflow issues with other libraries as we develop a shared dataset of personal names to improve discovery for our digital library users.”
The grant comes from IMLS’s National Leadership Grants for Libraries program. This program supports projects that address challenges faced by the library and archive fields and that have the potential to advance library and archival practice with new tools, research findings, models, services, or alliances that can be widely replicated. This year, more than $31 million was requested, and $6,339,441 was awarded for 20 projects. Grantees will provide $3.7 million in cost share.
Visit the IMLS website for more information about the National Leadership Grants for Libraries program.
Staff Training Enhances Employee Development & Grant Opportunities
In Spring 2014, the library offered a training program meant to help library employees learn the ins and outs of submitting grant proposals. The program was designed to be hands-on, with each participant bringing a specific idea for a project that could potentially be turned into a full proposal. Each class session included time to complete writing exercises that would move the idea further and further along in the proposal process. The library takes a proactive approach in providing staff training in order to enhance employee development and to further the mission of the library.
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