September 2021
LC LABS LETTER
A Monthly Roundup of News and Thoughts from the Library of Congress Labs Team
Big news about the Connecting Communities Digital Initiative (CCDI)
Apply now to CCDI grants!
The Connecting Communities Digital Initiative (CCDI) currently has three open grant opportunities including 1) a higher education grant and 2) a library, archives, and museums grant, and 3) a program for an artist or scholar in residence. The award amounts range from $50,000 to $150,000.
- Higher Education grant: open to two-year and four-year minority-serving higher education institutions such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions (ANNHs), American Indian Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Native American-Serving, Nontribal Institutions (NASNTIs), and Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs). The grants will support the creation or maintenance of community stories in digital formats, where those stories would benefit from inclusion of Library collections. The Library will award one grant for up to $60,000 to support the development of a digital interface, publication, exhibit or experimental approaches to integrating Library collections in a course, program, or interest group that will make use of the product for educational purposes at the institution. Applications close November 15. Please note: the deadline for submitting questions to [email protected] is November 6.
- Library, Archives and Museums grant: open to local cultural heritage organizations to enable storytelling across a range of platforms. Specifically, the Library seeks to award up to $60,000 to a library, archive or museum to support the design and implementation of digital projects (digital exhibits, interfaces, multimedia productions or publications) that use digital materials from the Library of Congress to engage Black, Indigenous or other community members of color. Applications close November 15. Please note: the deadline for submitting questions to [email protected] is November 6.
- Artist or Scholar in Residence program: open to artists or scholars whose work connects with the intersection of technology and cultural heritage, and engages with the legacies of racial division in the U.S. Proposed projects will help the Library and the American people imagine new ways of preserving, accessing and sharing the stories of underserved communities, connecting the nation’s past to its future. Each Artist/Scholar in Residence will be supported for two years with $50,000 during the first year and $100,000 in the second year of the residency. Applications close November 22. Please note: the deadline for submitting questions to [email protected] is November 14.
Need help? Sign up for one of our webinars!
The Library will be hosting three webinars to provide information and answer questions for each of the grant opportunities. The dates and links to register are below:
Higher Education grant (closes November 15)
Library, Archives, and Museums grant (closes November 15)
Artist or Scholar in Residence grant (closes November 22)
Introducing the CCDI Advisory Board
Nine experts in technology, cultural memory, libraries and archives have signed on to serve as the advisory board for the Connecting Communities Digital Initiative. Board members, who will serve a one-year term, will contribute their expertise, advice and lessons learned from similar public and private efforts to deepen relationships with diverse communities in support of CCDI’s digital projects and partnerships.
Together and separately, this group has rich and deep experience using digital tools and approaches in libraries, archives and other sites of cultural memory to center the lives, experiences and perspectives of communities of color.
Of the People: Widening the Path is a multi-year initiative that creates new opportunities for more Americans to engage with the Library of Congress and to add their perspectives to the Library’s collections, allowing the national library to share a more inclusive American story.
Supported by an institutional grant from the Andrew W. Mellon foundation, Of the People: Widening the Path promotes outreach, technology innovation, and archives development for, and by, Black, Indigenous, and communities of color historically underrepresented in the United States and in the Library’s collections.
Get more information at blogs.loc.gov/OfThePeople
For questions or inquiries about the CCDI program, please contact [email protected]. For questions pertaining specifically to the grant applications, please email [email protected].
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For more information about LC Labs, visit us at https://labs.loc.gov/
Questions? Contact LC Labs at [email protected]