Shared Shelf

Albright College was selected to participate in the Council of Independent Colleges’ Consortium on Digital Resources for Teaching and Learning. Made possible by a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the grant provides two years of full funding for Artstor’s Shared Shelf product and a portion of costs for two additional years. Grant participation requires that colleagues from two different campus areas (one of which must be a librarian) participate in Consortium workshops in Fall 2015,  2016, and 2017. The selection committee was impressed by the high quality of our proposal describing the project for the digitzation of the Yashek Holocaust Collection. This grant opportunity arrived at an ideal time as we seek innovative affordable ways to improve access to resources and to collaborate with others on campus.

The Yashek Collection serves as model pilots for other potential campus partners, improves access to unique digital materials held at Albright, and offer opportunities for faculty and students to engage more fully with our resources.

This grant provides essential funding for us to implement a much needed digital management solution. By using Shared Shelf, it is anticipated that other institutions and individuals beyond Albright will have greater opportunity to discover our unique collections. It also provides an opportunity for us to bring newly emerging digital projects initiated by Albright’s faculty into the Shared Shelf environment. Conversations are already underway with faculty in a variety of disciplines about ways they might also utilize Shared Shelf. It is exciting to consider the many new opportunities made possible through this grant.