Project CERES funds Nebraska preservation project

Project CERES, a collaboration between the Center for Research Libraries, the United States Agricultural Information Network (USAIN), and the Agriculture Network Information Collaborative (AgNIC) has awarded the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries and seven other organizations a total of $50,000 for digitization projects in 2019-2020.  

Leslie M. Delserone, associate professor, University Libraries, wrote the award application to digitize the extant run of historical Circulars of the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station (1917-1971). Many of these circulars serve to interpret the science published in the Stations’ Research Bulletins for a lay audience. The historical Research Bulletins, digitized with funding from a previous Project Ceres award, are available via the Digital Commons (https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ardhistrb/) and number more than 25,000 downloads.

Project CERES supports ongoing print and digital preservation and access to important source materials which shed light on agricultural history and practice, rural life, industry and trade, and environmental change, all vital areas to understanding the country’s economic, social, and technological development over time.

A subcommittee of the USAIN Preservation and Digital Library Committee, chaired by Joel Cummings of Washington State University, selected the Project CERES 2019-20 participants. The other projects include:

• Colorado State University, Preservation of Colorado Agriculture Literature, Colorado County Agent Annual Reports, Third Phase
• Cornell University, The Rural New Yorker Phase II
• Michigan State University, Michigan Tradesman
• Montana State University, Montana Agricultural Related Microfilm Digitization Project
• South Dakota State University, Digitization of South Dakota State University's Agricultural Publications: Cooperative Extension
• University of Maryland, Preserving the History of Maryland Agriculture and Rural Life: Microfilm to Digital
• University of Arkansas, Digitization of Annual Report / Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station