CSUN Receives Grant for Digital Library

Cal State Northridge’s library has received a $153,298 grant from the California State Library to digitally preserve documents and images involving the San Fernando Valley’s history, university officials said.

CSUN’s grant is among 60 awards totaling $5.4 million given by the state library for a variety of statewide projects involving technology, literacy and services, officials said.

The university’s digital library database will bring together about 2,400 historical items, including maps, photographs, illustrations, manuscripts and graphics. The items will be digitally copied and made available to the public via the Internet.

Material will be culled from CSUN’s Center for Photojournalism and Visual History, the geography department’s map library and the university library’s special collection, officials said. The project will also tap collections of local historical societies and museums.

“This is the first time that all of the historical societies, the library and a museum have come together to make available the Valley’s history,” said Susan Curzon, dean of the CSUN library.

“This not only increases the profile of Valley history,” she added, “but teachers, students and researchers will now have access to a wide range of material.”

The digital collection will be maintained by the university’s Oviatt Library, which includes 1 million volumes, 3 million microfilms and 125,000 government publications.

Work will begin this month and take about a year.