This book is a collection of essays on sustaining digital libraries. The essays report on early findings from pioneers who have worked to establish digital libraries, not merely as experimental projects, but as ongoing services and collections intended to be sustained over time in ways consistent with the long-held practices of print-based libraries. Particularly during this period of extreme technological transition, it is imperative that programs across the nation and indeed the world - actively share their innovations, experiences, and techniques in order to begin cultivating new standard practices. The collective sentiment of the field is that we must begin to transition from a punctuated, project-based mode of advancing innovative information services to an ongoing programmatic mode of sustaining digital libraries for the long haul.

These grant materials were prepared for the National Digital Newspaper Program, a project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to provide access to historic American Newspapers. The Library of Congress serves as the technical adviser for the NDNP. The Award funded digitization of Oklahoma historical newspapers. For the grant, the Oklahoma Historical Society served as the lead institution and partnered with UNT as the technical partner. For this proposal, UNT’s sub-contract as technical partner was $236,024.