Access & Digitization Grants
We will begin accepting applications for the next grant cycle in November 2024, with a projected deadline of January 31, 2025
CLRC’s Access & Digitization Grant program, previously known as “RBDB Grants,” empowers member libraries and institutions to make resources available to a wider audience. Grants are available to facilitate projects involving digitization and metadata creation. In order to be eligible for a grant, an institution must be a CLRC member in good standing at the Affiliate or Full level; for more information, see our Membership page.
Access & Digitization Grants are awarded through a competitive application process for projects that have broad regional appeal. Applications are reviewed by our Library Resources & Services Committee and an external review committee, then approved by our Board of Trustees.
We offer an informational webinar every grant cycle to go over all aspects of the application process and requirements. Applicants who have not previously received an Access & Digitization Grant are required to attend the webinar, view the webinar recording, or receive a private consultation. Previous grant recipients are strongly encouraged to arrange a private consultation prior to applying. Please contact Ashley Beavers (abeavers@clrc.org) to arrange for a consultation.
CLRC offers in-house digitization and metadata services through our DigLab. We can handle digitization and metadata for print-based documents and photographs. Through this service, we handle all aspects of the project, including uploading to NY Heritage or NYS Historic Newspapers.
Grant Program Timeline:
December 20, 2023: Informational webinar (will be recorded)
January 22, 2024: Deadline for requesting a direct consultation
January 31, 2024: Application submission deadline
February 2024: Library Resources & Services Committee will review the applications, followed by a review by an external committee
March 2024: Board of Trustees will review the recommendations of the committees
April 2024: Grant recipients announced
4 Elements Studio: $5,000 to continue digitizing historic and contemporary artwork by older local artists and make them available on NY Heritage.
Baldwinsville Public Library: $2,376 to digitize microfilm reels of Baldwinsville Messenger from 1988-2008 and make them available on NYS Historic Newspapers.
Center for Historical Research at Utica University: $1,950 to finish digitizing and creating metadata for several collections and making them available on NY Heritage.
Everson Museum of Art: $3,065 to digitize museum bulletins from 1911-1990s and make them available on NY Heritage.
Fabius Historical Society: $1,600 to digitize Irving Skeele’s Diaries from 1893-1946 and make them available on NY Heritage.
Oneida County History Center: $3,876 to digitize and create metadata on materials related to Indigenous people’s history and expand on existing collections, and make them available on NY Heritage.
Onondaga Historical Association: $7,000 to digitize 16mm newsreel films of happenings and events in the Syracuse area during the mid-1960s and make them available on NY Heritage.
SUNY Polytechnic Institute: $7,920 to digitize microfilm reels of Utica Daily Press from 1904-1914 and make them available on NYS Historic Newspapers.
Syracuse University Libraries: $5,000 to continue transcribing the remaining two Oakwood Cemetery Registers and make them available on NY Heritage.
Town of Elbridge Public Historian & Archives: $2,546 to digitize Jordan businesses ledgers from 1839-1979 and make them available on NY Heritage, the Town of Elbridge Archives repository, and the Jordan Historical Society website.
Town of Elbridge Public Historian & Archives: $816 to digitize four volumes of Village of Jordan Board of Trustees minutes from 1881-1941 and make them available on NY Heritage.
Town of Elbridge Public Historian & Archives: $769 to digitize the minutes and records of the women’s Study Club organization and make them available on NY Heritage.
Tully Area Historical Society: $582 to take digitized microfilm of the Tully Times from 1855-1945 and The Tully Independent from 1946-1978 and make them available on NYS Historic Newspapers.
Waterville Historical Society: $7,500 to digitize microfilm reels of Waterville Times from 1855-2023 and make them available on their website and on NYS Historic Newspapers.
Erwin Library and Institute: $5,000 to digitize microfilm reels of the Boonville Herald from 1884-2020 and make them available on NYS Historic Newspapers.
SUNY Polytechnic Institute: $6,413 to digitize microfilm reels of Utica Daily Press from 1882-1904 and make them available on NYS Historic Newspapers.
Baldwinsville Public Library: $4,000 to digitize microfilm reels of Baldwinsville Messenger from 1993-1999 and make them available on NYS Historic Newspapers.
Town of Elbridge Archives: $410 to Digitize two rolls of microfilm containing local newspapers from 1854-1919 and make them available on NYS Historic Newspapers.
Oneida Community Mansion House: $2,000 to digitize The Quadrangle, an Oneida Community, Limited publication dating from 1908-1914, and make them available on NY Heritage.
Onondaga Historical Association: $7,000 to digitize 16mm film footage of pre-urban renewal Syracuse and Onondaga County and make them available on NY Heritage.
Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities: $5,033 to digitize 56 yearbooks from the Convent School/The Franciscan Academy College (1922-1987) and 25 yearbooks from Maria Regina College (1965-1988), and make them available on NY Heritage.
SUNY Polytechnic Institute: $9,313 to digitize Utica Observer newspaper issues from August 27, 1914 – December 29, 1925 and make them available on NYS Historic Newspapers
Baldwinsville Public Library: $8,600 to digitize Baldwinsville Messenger newspaper issues from 1958 – 1992 and make them available on NYS Historic Newspapers
Erwin Library and Institute: $3,660 to digitize 7 hotel registers from the Hulbert House which contain the signatures of historic figures and make them available on NY Heritage
Liverpool Central School District Libraries: $6,525 to create a union catalog for the district, in preparation for a reconfiguration of buildings by grade level.
Town of Pompey Historical Society: $1,080 to digitize 60 additional paintings by John Calvin Perry and $512 to digitize 41 additional glass plate negatives by Pompey residents Gary Lyon and Roy Clapp, both to be available on NY Heritage
Manlius Library: $1,140 to digitize 11 additional Fayetteville-Manlius high school yearbooks and make them available on NY Heritage
Kirkland Town Library: $420 to digitize 10 library scrapbooks and make them available in NY Heritage
Hamilton Public Library: $7,500 to digitize paper copies of MidYork Weekly newspapers from 1947 – 1954 and make them available on NYS Historic Newspapers
4 Elements Studio: $5,000 to digitize artwork by local artists (John Loy, Sylvia de Swaan, and Laurence Pacilio) and make them available on NY Heritage
Skaneateles Historical Society: $2,660 to digitize Skaneateles Central School Districts yearbooks from 1938 – 2021 and make them available on NY Heritage
Syracuse University Libraries: $4,000 to continue transcription by SU students of Oakwood Cemetery Registers and make them available on NY Heritage
Everson Museum of Art: $3,160 to digitize exhibition catalogs, books, and brochures ranging from 1965 to 2010 and make them available on NY Heritage
Onondaga Historical Association: $10,000 to digitize a selection of news and film reels containing WSTM-TV and WTVH-TV broadcasts from 1965 – 1978 and make them available on NY Heritage
New Woodstock Free Library: $150 to create metadata for up to 40 pieces of digitized artwork by New Woodstock artist Mary Padgett and make them available on NY Heritage
LaFayette Public Library: $1,720 to digitize 11 LaFayette High School Yearbooks from 2002 – 2022 and make them available on NY Heritage
Russian History Museum: $6,404 to migrate approximately 1,200 artifact records to a new, cloud-based collections management system that will provide public access to the museum’s collections
Canastota Public Library: $2,500 to digitize Canastota Bee Journal newspapers, from 1888-1909.
New Woodstock Free Library: $450 to digitize 30 works of art by Jim Ridlon, a former professor from the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University.
Hamilton Public Library: $1,760 to digitize remaining Hamilton High School yearbooks, from 1919 to the present.
SUNY Polytechnic Institute: $8,600 to digitize Utica Observer newspapers, from 1894 – 1918.
Colgate University Libraries: $480 to digitize the papers of Alma Gracey Stokey, a noted botanist.
Community Library of DeWitt & Jamesville: $7,600 to finish digitizing Suburban Life newspapers, from 1975-1978 and 1985-1989.
Town of Pompey Historical Society: $350 to digitize 40 glass plate negatives, by local residents by Gary Lyon and Roy Clapp, circa 1910-1930.
Baldwinsville Public Library: $8,600 to digitize Baldwinsville Gazette, Farmers’ Journal, and Messenger newspapers, ranging from 1846-1965.
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry: $5,000 to digitize 1,000 images from the Roosevelt Wild Life Station collection.
Manlius Library: $1,380 to digitize remaining Fayetteville-Manlius yearbooks.
Onondaga Community College Library: $1,452 to digitize five music score titles from the donated collection of a local composer.
Oneida Community Mansion House: $4,500 to create metadata for 1,500 photographs of Oneida Community members, workers, and properties, from 1848-1900.
Syracuse University Libraries: $1,000 to create metadata for 200 objects from the collection of La Casita Cultural Center; $5,000 to digitize and transcribe Oakwood Cemetery burial registers, dating back to 1859.
Skaneateles Historical Society: $5,000 to create metadata for over 450 photographs of local residents and locations.