South Central Regional Library Council's Board of Trustees is pleased to announce the 2026-2027 grant round for regional digitization projects. Funded projects will start after July 1, 2026 and conclude by June 30, 2027.

Full and affiliate SCRLC members are encouraged to submit projects that allow materials to be accessed regionally through New York Heritage, New York State Historic Newspapers, the Empire Archival Discovery Cooperative, the 360 degree Empire State Immersive Experience (ESIE), or discoverable through Wikipedia.

For 2026-2027, applications are especially encouraged for:
 

●     community partnerships increasing representation of and with communities that have been historically and systematically oppressed;

●     geographically underrepresented communities in the SCRLC region;

●     creative approaches to availing digitized collections, e.g., holding or co-organizing a Wikipedia edit-a-thon to add links to New York Heritage collections, walking tours, virtual tours  through ESIE, or  HistoryForge participation.

All proposals received will be presented to a review panel comprised of expert individuals from outside the SCRLC region for evaluation and funding recommendations. Individual applications are limited to $5,000; partnership applications, to $8,000.

The application packet is available in Word or PDF format at our website. Here are the direct links:

https://scrlc.org/data/16509/Digitization%20Grant%20Application%202026-2027.docx

https://scrlc.org/data/16510/Digitization%20Grant%20Application%202026-2027.pdf

Applications must be completed and submitted electronically to Claire Lovell, SCRLC's Digital Services Librarian, at clovell@scrlc.org by Friday, April 10, 2026. Please contact Claire with any questions.