Atla Awards Digitization Grants

In 2021, Atla launched a digitization grant program for its members aimed at supporting efforts to digitize and describe special collections and archives in the areas of religion and theology. By facilitating digitization of its members’ unique and significant collections, Atla aims to promote access to and use of quality academic and professional resources. These grants also provide members opportunities to develop technical and digital skills and build capacity for sustained digitization work.  

In 2023, Atla is pleased to award nearly $9,000 USD in grants to two member institutions. Atla’s Director of Member Programs Gillian Harrison Cain, in reviewing the award recommendations made by the Scholarly Communication & Digital Initiatives Committee, shared, “We are fortunate to receive several compelling and interesting proposals this year, which demonstrate our member libraries’ awareness of and commitment to providing access to important research materials. The two funded proposals were of exceptionally high quality and will provide access to print and media works from endangered collections and underrepresented groups.” 

The grants awarded for this program year are as follows: 

• Saint Paul University (Ottawa, Ontario) – Capturing Inuit cultural heritage through anthropological and missionary recordings in the Canadian North. This project will digitize and make available audio-visual materials of the songs, oral histories, and stories of the Inuit people. ($5000 USD) 

• Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv, Ukraine) Liturgical literature of the Lviv Dormition Brotherhood. This project will digitize and make available unique editions from the 17th and 18th centuries published by the Lviv Dormition Brotherhood. ($3623.50 USD) 

Upon completion of project work in 2024, the metadata for these collections will be added to the Atla Digital Library to promote discoverability and accessibility. New applications for Atla Digitization Grants will be accepted beginning in the Fall 2023.