Published: July 04, 2008 11:02 pm         

Library launches Web portal to state history, culture

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana State Library officials this week launched Indiana Memory, a statewide collaborative effort to provide access to sources in Indiana libraries, archives, museums and other cultural institutions.

Indiana Memory is a gateway to Indiana’s history and culture found in digitized books, manuscripts, photographs, newspapers, maps and other media.

As a portal to the collections, Indiana Memory assists individuals to locate materials relevant to their interests and to better appreciate the connections between those materials.

“Essentially Indiana Memory connects many of Indiana’s most historically significant collections and materials into a single search engine,” Roberta L. Brooker, Indiana state librarian, said. “We believe this will be an excellent and useful resource for students, historians or anyone else researching Indiana history and culture.”

Preliminary discussions and planning for Indiana Memory began in 2003. The program has been made possible through the collaborative efforts of academic libraries, public libraries, historical societies, museums andarchives to create and share their digital collections reflecting Indiana’s cultural heritage.

Indiana Memory’s eight original collections are provided and hosted by Ball State University, Indiana Historical Society, Indiana State University, Indiana University, Purdue University-Fort Wayne, Indiana University, Purdue University-Indianapolis, Madison-Jefferson County Public Library, Morrisson-Reeves Library (Richmond) and Purdue University.

Indiana Memory’s mission is to create and maintain a digital library that enables free public access to Indiana’s unique cultural and historical heritage. Through the various digital materials available on the Indiana Memory Web site, the program seeks to enhance education and scholarship of Indiana’s past.

To secure content for Indiana Memory, the program provides grant funds to Indiana libraries and their partnering organizations that have plans to digitize materials and make them freely available on the Internet.

The project is made possible through grant funding from theInstitution of Museum and Library Services to the Indiana State Library under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act.

For more information about Indiana Memory, contact Connie Rendfeld,Digital Initiatives Librarian, Indiana State Library, at crendfeld@library.in.gov.



Indiana Memory Web site

• The Web site is: http://www.indianamemory.in.gov/