in short: News | Grants | Events | Ideas | Webinars | Jobs

We would love your feedback on the draft of our 2021-2016 Plan of Service! If you have a moment, please take a look and leave comments so that we can better serve you over the next five years.

The Documentary Heritage Program has just announced their grant opportunities! Starting this year, DHP will fund projects that improve access to historical records including but not limited to digitization, conversion of descriptive tools for online access, community archiving, documentation planning, and arrangement & description. Grants will be made in amounts up to $25,000. Application deadline is Tuesday, March 30, 2021 for projects to be carried out from July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022. Read more.

[ICYMI from last month] Planning & Assessment Services from DHPSNY

Applications are open for DHPSNY's Archival Needs Assessments, Preservation Surveys, Condition Surveys, and Strategic Planning Assistance. An experienced archivist will discuss your collection, recommend solutions, and help set priorities. Their preservation surveys are excellent tools for fundraising efforts! Applications for this free assistance are due March 26, 2021.

Grant requests up to $5,000 will be considered for technology equipment, facility maintenance equipment, furnishings, major material purchases, renovations, refurbishments, remodeling, and rehabilitation. Eligible 501(c)(3) history-related organizations must have a budget under $150,000. Applications are due by March 22.

The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) has announced a new grant opportunity, open now and due by April 30. If interested, check out their informational webinar on March 17.

Grants of up to $7,500 are available for conservation treatments of paintings, drawings, textiles, and objects, and can include in-state transportation costs for the objects and/or the conservators, and the cost of insurance for the work(s) to be treated.

We are VERY happy to say we'll be able to offer digitization grants this year. The schedule is a little different than usual, and our grant application still needs to be reviewed and approved by our board.

I expect to be able to include the application in our next newsletter, and we will be sure to send out a special announcement to the general SCRLC listserv (as well as posting it to our website).

The History Center of Tompkins County's Executive Director Ben Sandberg was just awarded a Fab5 Young Professional "Rookie of the Year" award for his creativity and commitment as a new leader of The History Center during this challenging year. Congratulations, Ben!

The curatorial team at the Fenimore Art Museum has unveiled a new site: collections.fenimoreart.org. Take a look for some inspiration and to see some of their lovely items. Fenimore Art Museum also has a long list of upcoming virtual events you might be interested in, from virtual gallery tours to online lectures.

“We have partnered with the Newfield Historical Society to open a ‘History and Activity Center’ on Main Street!” wrote the library. They've moved the Historical Society's collection from the 2nd floor of the library to a rented space next door. Stop by between 10 am and 2 pm on Monday, March 15 and Saturday, March 20 for a tour and enjoy an exhibit of Newfield’s history.

HistoryForge is a digital mapping and transcription project developed through the History Center in Tompkins County. Visit the original implementation centered around Ithaca here. Retired Cornell GIS Librarian Bob Kibbee geo-rectified historic maps to the modern street map, software developer Dr. David Furber built the platform, and Dr. Eve Snyder serves as the project coordinator. As part of their last grant from the National Archives, they've expanded to Elmira, Auburn, and Oberlin (OH). Click the links to see the progress of each implementation, and feel free to send Eve an email for more information.

The Greater Oneonta Historical Society has a new exhibit all about the history of firefighting in Oneonta.

Yates County History Center's Executive Director and Curator Tricia Noel is hosting an online workshop this month. On Saturday, March 20 at 11 am, join her over Zoom to learn how to research online. The cost is $25. Save the date and make a team for their Yates County Scavenger Hunt, which will run between April 24 and May 10. These fundraising events will help YCHC meet a matching donation of $4,000 to be spent on Past Perfect software.

Last week was Library Advocacy Day in New York (see NYLA's webpage for helpful resources year-round) and national Museums Advocacy Day as arranged by the American Alliance of Museums, which has a great list of resources. Use the infographics, templates and messages found on these sites to contact your legislators locally and nationally and encourage support for our institutions.

The New York Archives Conference is looking for poster presentations - but virtual! The online conference will be free to attend and held on Friday, June 11. Proposals are due by March 15.

Our sister library council, WNYLRC, has developed a platform to host 3D immersive experiences called ESIE (Empire State Immersive Experiences). They have an upcoming webinar to explain the platform and technology required to get involved on March 23 at 10 am. Locally, Gregg Kiehl of Tompkins Cortland Community College's Library has offered to help other SCRLC members with 3D virtual tours as he's done for the college. He's also offered to lend out his 360 camera and share his subscription to kuula.org to host. If either of these opportunities is of interest to you, drop me a line!

The Saint Albans Museum in Vermont just ran a successful virtual fundraiser on the murder mystery dinner party theme. Their registration page is still up so you can read some of the logistics at work and their promotion.

To the right, you can see their Executive Director and Librarian dressed for the occasion!

Monday, March 8 at 1 pm

Free from SENYLRC through your SCRLC membership

Thursday, March 11 at 1 pm

Friday, March 12 at 12 pm

Monday, March 15 from 1 to 4 pm

Free from LILRC through your SCRLC membership (click Other Library Resources Council)

Wednesday, March 17 at 3 pm

Learn about the CLIR grants for digitization.

Wednesday, March 17 through Friday, March 19

A virtual symposium to "address collections and deaccessioning in the context of the economic fallout of the pandemic and the national call to rethink the role and responsibilities of museums and their collections in an increasingly diverse and complex world." $50 to register.

Tuesday, March 23 at 10 am

Tuesday, March 23 at 7 pm

A free lecture over Zoom from the Geneva Historical Society featuring Yates County Historical Center's Tricia Lewis Noel.

Thursday, March 25 at 2 pm (EST)

Free book discussion hosted by the Society of American Archivists with a panel of distinguished guests.

Tuesday, March 30 from 10 am to 12 pm

Tuesday, March 30 at 7 pm

Nellie Ludemann of the Seneca Falls Historical Society will present over Zoom about the early women's rights activist whose name became famous in association with women's fashion!

Have you found DHPSNY's backlog of recorded webinars? Check them out, on demand!

That's all for this month! Send me an email if there's anything at your organization you'd like me to include in the next newsletter: clovell@scrlc.org | Claire Lovell, Digital Services Librarian