Assessment of the Digital Library of Appalachia

FAIN: PG-280647-21

Appalachian College Association, Inc. (Lexington, KY 40517-2062)
Heather Tompkins (Project Director: January 2021 to November 2023)

The Digital Library of Appalachia (DLA), a 23-year-old digital library concerning the region, in its engagement of a digital preservation consultant to draft a new collections policy and assess long-term sustainability for the DLA to inform the addition of new items to the collection and new Appalachian College Association (ACA) member institutions to the DLA, as well as identify planning necessary for digital preservation. The DLA provides online access to archival and historical materials related to the culture of the southern and central Appalachian region, with contents drawn from the special collections of 23 of the 35 ACA member libraries. The collection contains over 30,000 digital objects. These include digitized music, photographs, memorabilia, manuscripts, maps, oral histories, and documents. ACA staff, in collaboration with archives staff at member institutions, would finalize the collections policy and develop more concrete plans for maintaining and sustaining this regional resource. In addition, the consultant would work with ACA staff and archives staff at member institutions to provide a framework and guidance for staff to develop online training modules to help faculty, staff, and students at member institutions digitize items and load them to the DLA.

This project will engage a consultant to support the ACA's assessment of the current state of the Digital Library of Appalachia (DLA). The consultant will draft a collections policy for the DLA that will then be finalized by ACA staff and archives staff at member institutions. In addition, the consultant will identify planning necessary for digital preservation, and a framework and guidance for staff to develop online training modules to assist member institutions' efforts to add materials to the DLA. and recommend strategies for training archives staff at member institutions. ACA and member institution staff will utilize the consultant's work to develop plans for maintaining and sustaining this important resource on the history and culture of Appalachia. This project responds to the NEH "A More Perfect Union" initiative in that it provides access to important resources for deepening public understanding of this often-misunderstood region.