The Digital Library Center will convert a variety of materials to electronic format. Further, we will assure access to the content by using software and emerging national standards to make the digital files searchable. The search capability will greatly exceed the value of a personal or departmental web site because of its sophisticated search capabilities and links to online catalogs. Kinds of materials to be digitized might include text, such as journal back files, out-of-print publications, and technical reports; visual formats, such as photographs and slides; objects, such as herbarium specimens and museum artifacts; and audio productions, such as speeches or conference proceedings.

High priority will be given to projects with one or more of the following characteristics:

· Material has intellectual quality and research value
· Material has long-term usefulness to scholars
· Material comprises a set with sufficient size and depth to have coherence
· Material can be openly available to the community of scholars
· Material is unique or rare
· Project has the potential for external funding
· Project involves innovative approaches to access

The Digital Library Center seeks a balance of projects across disciplines and media types, and welcomes collaboration on projects that combine internal and external funding. We will begin approximately five to eight projects during the 2001-2002 fiscal year. We will assist with the creation of digital files, provide software to enable searching of the files, add descriptive cataloging tags to make materials accessible, maintain the resulting files, and assist with search strategies for locating information within the electronic content. When a project is completed, a catalog record for the material will be added to the University Libraries catalog.

Application Process

1. Describe a proposed project, including the following information, in two pages or less:

· Project coordinator name, e-mail address, campus address, phone and fax
· Subject of the material to be digitized
· Significance of the material, including relationship to other scholarly materials
· Number of items (pages, records, pictures, etc.)
· Owner of the material
· Location of the material
· Format of the material
· Potential for external funding to digitize the material

2. Have the proposal approved by the appropriate department head.

3. Send proposals to Digital Library Center Project Co-director Jim Lloyd (jlloyd@utk.edu) no later than October 1, 2001.

4. The Digital Library Center Steering Committee will select initial projects and notify participants no later than October 31, 2001.

5. The Steering Committee may meet with potential project coordinators during the selection process to gather more information.

6. Please contact one of the project directors if you have questions. If funding permits, the Digital Library Center will seek additional projects next fiscal year.

Thank you for helping to create scholarly information in electronic form with the Digital Library Center. We look forward to exploring new possibilities for access together.

Digital Library Center Directors:
Jim Lloyd (jlloyd@utk.edu)
Bill Britten (wbritten@utk.edu)

Steering Committee:
Rita Smith
Tamara Miller
Linda Phillips
Pauline Bayne