Milner Projects Funded By Library Services and Technology Grants

Grant funding for library service and technology enhancements is helping Illinois State University's Milner Library digitize its collection of children's artwork from around the world and better share its vast resources with other libraries.

An $85,934 Library Services and Technology grant is aiding Milner Library in its ongoing project "Imagine Illinois and Beyond: Celebrating Creativity Through the Eyes of Our Children!"  The project is creating digital images of the artwork in Milner's International Collection of Child Art.  The collection, begun in the 1960s, contains more than 8,600 pieces of artwork from children in more than 50 countries.   The digitization of the collection will provide global access for scholars, educators and students who wish to use the artwork as primary sources in the study of children and their creativity.

Milner Library's ability to share holdings information with other libraries is being enhanced with the help of a $15, 064 Library Services and Technology grant in support of its "Batching It: Update and Expand Local Serial Holdings Data in OCLC" project.  Under the grant, library faculty and staff are preparing Milner's print and electronic serial holdings records for batch processing and uploading to the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), a library service and research organization that provides worldwide access to library information.

The grant money was awarded by the Illinois State Library, a division of the Office of Secretary of State, using funds provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, under the federal Library Services and Technology Act.