Library and Archives Canada Announces New $7.5 Million Funding Program for Local Documentary Heritage Communities

Published Jun 16, 2015

Library and Archives Canada has announced a new $7.5 million funding program for local documentary heritage communities.

This program is a great opportunity for archives, museums, historical societies and other cultural institutions to digitize their collections, develop search engines and virtual exhibits for them, and other activities that preserve and promote their valuable resources.

The objectives of the program are to:

Increase access to, and awareness of Canada's local documentary institutions and their holdings; and
Increase the capacity of local documentary heritage institutions to better sustain and preserve Canada's documentary heritage.

The program is aimed at non-governmental organizations specifically, including:

Archives;
Privately funded libraries;
Historical societies;
Genealogical organizations/societies;
Professional Associations; and
Museums with an archival component.

Businesses, government and government institution (including municipal governments and Crown Corporations), museums without archives, and universities and colleges are not eligible.

Types of projects which would be considered for funding include:

Conversion and digitization for access purposes;
Conservation and preservation treatment;
The development (research, design and production) of virtual and physical exhibitions, including travelling exhibits;
Conversion and digitization for preservation purposes;
Increased digital preservation capacity (excluding digital infrastructure related to day-to-day activities);
Training and workshops that improve competencies and build capacity; and
Development of standards, performance and other measurement activities.
Collection, cataloguing and access based management; and
Commemorative projects.

Two categories of funding available:

small projects under $15,000; and
large projects up to $100,000.

Further program details, requirements and application procedures are available at http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/documentary-heritage-communities-program/Pages/dhcp-portal.aspx

The program runs from June 12 to September 4, 2015, so there's only a short window to prepare a proposal and seek funding.

How can Andornot help?

Andornot has worked with many clients on the types of projects which would qualify for this grant. Some examples are detailed in these blog posts:

We have extensive experience with digitizing documents, books and audio and video materials, and developing systems to manage those collections and make them searchable or presented in virtual exhibits.

Contact us to discuss collections you have and ideas for proposals. We'll do our best to help you obtain funding from this great new program.