Regrants awarded 2007

Priorities for second round of re-grants

Archival Collections Management and the Archivists' Toolkit

The Archivists' Toolkit is an open source database application that provides a tool for managing many of the most common activities undertaken in the archival enterprise, such as accessioning, description, donor tracking, name and subject authority work, and location management. This project will develop a model implementation of the Archivists' Toolkit at four Yale repositories and investigate the value of system-wide implementation.

Principal contact: Stephen Yearl, Manuscripts and Archives
Participants: (first stage) Arts Library, Divinity Library, Manuscripts and Archives, Music Library

Guides to Collections at Yale

This project will initiate a series of subject-based guides to collections at Yale, which will provide an overview of particular strengths in a given field across a range of the University's special collections and museums. The initial subject areas targeted will be African American Studies, British Studies, Modernism, and Photography.

Principal contacts: Pamela Franks, Art Gallery; George Miles, Beinecke
Participants: Members of the Special Collections Subcommittee

The World War I Experience Phase 2 - Enhancing Discovery, Search and Access to Yale's Digital Collections

The first phase of the World War I project used a subject focus as a catalyst for improving description of and access to research materials scattered across Yale collections. The second phase of this project will focus on developing a cross-collection search interface to provide access to digital collections in various Yale repositories.

Principal contacts: Karen Kupiec & Matthew Beacom, Library; David Gewirtz, ITS
Participants: Thomas Raich, Art Gallery; Larry Gall, Peabody Museum; and other staff.

Coordinating Descriptive Metadata for Print Collections in Libraries and Museums at Yale University:

The goal of this project is to reach agreement upon common or compatible practices for descriptive and imaging metadata and to develop a metadata registry and a metadata application profile for Yale University.

Principal contacts: Cynthia Roman & Ellen Cordes, Lewis Walpole Library; Matthew Beacom, Library; Emmanuelle Delmas-Glass, Center for British Art
Participants: Yale Center for British Art, Yale University Art Gallery, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Lewis Walpole Library, Sterling Memorial Library

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Priorities for second round of re-grants

The two basic criteria for the second round of re-grants are:

• projects must be collaborative, drawing resources and effort from at least two Yale repositories
• projects must contribute toward the Collections Collaborative goal of enhancing access to and use of the museums, galleries, and library special collections across the university.

Students, faculty members, and outside researchers who wish to make use of Yale's vast treasure trove of primary sources are often (understandably) daunted by the complexity and decentralized nature of the collections in which these materials are held. Preference will be given to re-grant proposals that address the issues and conditions that currently impede researchers from discovering and utilizing Yale's collections. Proposals for the continued development of models for cross-searching and creation of customized portals to facilitate research and pedagogical use of special collections will be welcomed, as well as proposals that address the need for university-wide collaboration in developing the underlying infrastructure and tools required for the adequate description and delivery of information and resources. Of particular interest will be projects that can serve as templates, pilots, or "tool kits" for further development in the future.

Guidelines and procedure for second round of re-grant proposals

Guidelines for proposals

• All proposals must involve participation by more than one Yale repository. The Steering Committee is especially interested in projects that have wide application across Yale repositories and across different types of repositories (e.g., museums and libraries).

• Partners may also include Yale academic centers, such as the Center for International and Area Studies, the Digital Media Center for the Arts, the Center for Media Initiatives, and others, but the participation of these centers does not substitute for the participation of at least two collection repositories.

• Projects may include faculty participants, especially in areas that require subject expertise or that address how faculty and students discover and use Yale collections.

• Repositories are welcome to participate in more than one proposal, but should be certain that they have the resources to engage fully with all of the projects.

• Proposed projects should result in tangible products that will advance the goals of making special collection holdings across the University more discoverable and accessible to Yale students and faculty in a more expeditious manner. The Steering Committee is especially interested in projects that build on existing initiatives or recognized needs, that lay the foundation for further needed work, and that lead to sustainable programs and capabilities.

• Proposals might result in prototype or pilot systems, grant applications for larger, focused initiatives, models of practice or standards that can be built upon, or similar outcomes/products that have a life and relevance beyond the immediate project.

• The total amount for all grants in the round of proposals for April 2007 will be $100,000. The Steering Committee expects to award from three to five grants in this second round.

• Funds will be awarded on a 1:1 matching basis. Matching resources from participating repositories may include salaries and benefits of involved staff, funds toward the purchase of equipment, software, or supplies, or other existing repository resources that will be used in the project.

• Funds may be requested for additional staff, consultants, equipment, software, and other resources needed to accomplish the goals of the proposal. Funding will not be provided to offset the time of existing staff, but may be requested to add additional hours for existing part-time staff. Proposals may include requests for travel funds, but such travel must be essential to the proposed project.

• Proposals may be for multi-year projects, but all funds must be expended no later than March 31, 2008.

  Application procedure

• The application process will be in two stages. For the initial stage, groups seeking funding should submit a one page "idea" document describing their proposed project and participants to Martha.Smalley@yale.edu by January 25, 2007. These documents will be reviewed by the Collections Collaborative Steering Committee and a more detailed description of the proposed project, with budgetary information, will be requested from selected applicants.