Program Funding

Short-Term Support

Implementation for this long term project started in October 1999, when the U.S. Department of Education's International Education and Graduate Programs Service awarded to the American Institute for Yemeni Studies, acting as lead institution in the project on behalf of itself and all other participating CAORC member centers, a 3-year matching grant under its "Technological Innovation and Cooperation for Foreign Information Access" (TICFIA) program, authorized under Title VI of the Higher Education Act (Section 606, Part A). Matching funds for this initial phase of the project came from participating overseas research centers and collaborating institutions and from non-federal contributors, through grants made either to the participating centers or to their umbrella organization, the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, which is coordinating the project. Other TICFIA-funded projects can be found here.

The Getty Grant Program has been a major supporter at this initial stage of the project, through funds awarded to individual centers and most recently through a $83,000 grant to CAORC for retroconversion of bibliographic records at seven of the center libraries participating in DLIR, at that time known as the American Overseas Digital Library project.

The Institute for Museum and Library Services awarded CAORC a matching grant for the Middle East Research Journals project currently underway. MERJ is a preservation and digitization project intended to create bibliographic and selected full-text access to important materials held in the libraries of seven of CAORC's member centers. We are in the process of formulating a similar project for Greek and Balkan journals.

In addition, funds have been obtained for specific smaller projects that develop approaches to other components that fall within the framework of DLIR. UNESCO funded and cosponsored the African Language Material Archive which makes available West African indigenous language materials for neo-literates and students. The State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Exchange is supporting MedMaps, a multi-disciplinary project intended to catalog and selectively digitize center map holdings and to create learning aids for undergraduate and high school students.

Long-Term Support

The overseas research centers are strongly committed to maintaining and enhancing their individual collections, while overseeing DLIR and adding to its components is a primary concern of CAORC, representing all the centers. The logistical systems developed for the Digital Library for International Research ensure that the union catalog will be maintained as participating collections expand, and a schedule of fees for document delivery services will contribute to the sustainability of the project.

But more is needed to insure that the Digital Library for International Research will indeed continue to be a valuable and current tool for students and researchers. The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded a $350,000 Challenge Grant to CAORC to endow the DLIR program beyond the present stage of initial implementation. CAORC, which must match this amount with $1,050,000 in nonfederal funds, is now actively pursuing its campaign to meet the NEH Challenge Grant.

Financial Contributions

Tax-deductible contributions designated for the Digital Library for International Research program, whether in cash or in kind, may be made to the American Institute for Yemeni Studies or to the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Last updated: December 7, 2004

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