Subscribe to our newsletter by emailUCI Libraries Awarded an IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program Grant
The University of California, Irvine (UCI) Libraries have been awarded a prestigious Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant in the community anchors category for "Transforming Knowledge/Transforming Libraries." The total award gift of $497,367, will support a three-year research project that will explore the outcomes of undergraduate students applying what they learn in ethnic studies combined with lived experience in contributing to community archives.
The team, led by Audra Eagle Yun, Head, Special Collections & Archives and University Archivist, will partner with the UCI departments of Asian American Studies, Chicano/Latino Studies and African American Studies, as well as stakeholders representing organizations throughout Orange County, California. Further, this collaborative will work to connect library and information studies practice with the ethnic studies curriculum and provide undergraduates with first-hand experience in building and providing access to the digital cultural heritage of the under-documented. Other research team members from the UCI Libraries include Krystal Tribbett, Ph.D., Oral History & Documentation Projects Coordinator and Thuy Vo Dang, Ph.D., Archivist for the Southeast Asian Archive.
"This is a vital time in the history of UCI and our community to begin this work. We look forward to collaborations with students and faculty, in addition to partnerships with important organizations in the community on this project," explains Lorelei Tanji, University Librarian.
The UCI Libraries is also home to the Orange County & Southeast Asian Archive (OC&SEAA) Center, which will play an integral part in the work of this project as a repository, learning, research and oral history center and a model for community-archiving.
According to the grant award letter, IMLS received 58 applications requesting $17,275,700. Of these, 14 projects were selected to receive funding totaling $4,320,327.
For more information on this grant, please contact Audra Eagle Yun at audra.yun@uci.edu or 949-924-2263.