Ohio University Libraries and 13 Other Institutions Awarded $1.2 Million, Five-Year Grant From Henry Luce Foundation to Develop Southeast Asia Digital Library

From Ohio University:

Ohio University Libraries has been awarded a $1.2 million grant to develop the Southeast Asia Digital Library in collaboration with 14 other institutions.

The five-year grant was awarded by the Henry Luce Foundation. The project will update the Southeast Asia Digital Library with a new generation of digital initiatives and expand its collection of materials to further enhance studies of Southeast Asia, including language program support.

“When the grant opportunity came up, it was almost like the call for proposals was written for us. It was perfect,” said Jeff Shane, OHIO’s Southeast Asia reference librarian and principal investigator and author of the grant. “Its emphasis was on sustainability and finding new innovative ways to collaborate, to develop human resources and to develop an infrastructure to make sure that whatever we do is sustainable — and that it lives well beyond the life of the grant.”

The collection will include a collaborative effort with the Thai Film Archive, including the digitization, translation and English-language sub-titling of approximately 60 Thai feature and documentary films produced primarily between 1957 and 1977.

[Clip]

Ohio is partnering with 14 institutions that are all members of the Committee on Research Materials on Southeast Asia (CORMOSEA). The grant will fund two positions, a web developer at Northern Illinois University and a digital librarian at Cornell University, to spur infrastructure development and capacity building.

[Clip]

The new upgrades funded by the Luce grant will create a new, state-of-the-art web platform and discovery tools, and will launch the next generation of cutting-edge, digital initiatives, allowing libraries and librarians to play a more active, direct role in strengthening and innovating the scholarly infrastructure. This project will open new avenues for collaborations for faculty in the U.S. and counterparts in Southeast Asia, including with the University of Humanities and Social Sciences Ho Chi Minh and the National Library of Cambodia.

Learn More, Read the Complete Announcement

See Also: Luce Foundation Grant Info Page

Filed under: Digital Collections, Digital Preservation, Funding, Interactive Tools, Libraries, National Libraries, News