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PALNI Receives 2020 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Grant for Digitization of Rare Materials

Pair of hands holding a rare book in Saint Meinrad's archives room
Librarian of Saint Meinrad Theological Seminary showcasing one of the many books in the library’s “Rare Book Room”

The Private Academic Library Network of Indiana, INC (PALNI) is the successful recipient of a 2020 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant for the digitization project entitled, Collaboratively Preserving Rare Scholarship in Religiously Affiliated Libraries: PALNI Last Copies. The project will expand upon existing workflows established through the ALI-PALNI Shared Print digitization project and digitize 240 scarcely-held circulating monographs from PALNI’s supported institutions via the Internet Archive in Fort Wayne.  

Phase one of the project, Data Analysis, will start as soon as possible in Fall 2020. PALNI will research scarcely-held titles to identify a picklist for each institution of unique-in-Indiana titles in the public domain and not yet digitized. Between October and January, each PALNI library will select ten books each from the scarcely-held list and send them to the Internet Archive in Fort Wayne for digitization.

About Indiana State Library Services and Technology Act Grants:
The Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) was signed into law September 30, 1996 as part of the Museum and Library Services Act. As a result, federal LSTA funds are distributed from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to states for the purposes of increasing the use of technology in libraries, fostering better resource sharing among libraries, and targeting library services to special populations.