For centuries, the Harvard University libraries have been regarded as among the most extensive collections of volumes available to scholars. The centerpiece of the Harvard library network is the Widener Library, boasting nearly 3 million volumes within its walls.
Now, a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will help Indiana University students have access to more than 6 million volumes from any one of the university’s libraries – and from anywhere they can bring their laptops. More, the technological developments the grant supports might soon be shared with scholars and libraries around the world.
Online library collections have been growing for years, giving many young scholars access to the kinds of volumes once reserved for the likes of Harvard students. But the development of online collections has surpassed the software available to manage them.
"Research libraries are in dire need of systems that can support the management of research collections for the next-generation scholar," said Robert H. McDonald, IU’s associate dean for library technologies.
The grant will be used to develop software created to manage print and electronic collections for academic and research libraries around the globe. Additionally, IU will use the funds to lead the Kuali Open Library Environment project, a partnership of research libraries dedicated to creating "community source" software to manage digital collections for libraries worldwide.
The partners in Kuali OLE are large academic libraries that provide access to millions of items and track relevant transactions, from book orders to loaned materials. As the nature of library collections expands to include more digital materials – including electronic journals and digitalized photograph collections – libraries could increasingly benefit from this software.
Also, this software could help preserve library materials for future generations of scholars. In light of this, it is not surprising to many librarians that the foundation has offered such a generous grant.
"The Mellon Foundation has a distinguished history of supporting transformative projects for education and cultural preservation," said Brad Wheeler, Kuali Foundation board chair and vice president for information technology at IU. "We are grateful for their support." 