[PADG:1103] University of Maryland receives NEH Grant to upgrade climate

[Yvonne Carignan <carignan@xxxxxxx>]

   *UM Libraries Receive $700,000 NEH Grant
   To Stabilize Valuable Special Collections
   *

*College Park, MD* – The University of Maryland Libraries have received 
a $700,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to 
create more appropriate environmental conditions for its Special 
Collections, Dean of Libraries Charles B. Lowry announced. The funds, 
made available through NEH’s /Stabilizing Humanities Collections/ 
program, will be used primarily to make upgrades to the HVAC systems in 
Hornbake Library, where many of the Libraries’ most valuable Special 
Collections are housed. The NEH grant was matched by funds from the 
University Provost.

“With the receipt of this grant, Hornbake Library – housing collections 
valued in excess of $100 million – will become one of the premier 
special collection library facilities in the United States,” said Lowry.

The NEH grant will be used to acquire and install machinery and related 
systems to provide the stable humidity levels required of special 
collection materials, and also to upgrade lighting controls, air 
filtration and environmental controls for the building. These upgrades 
will stabilize the environment in which these often fragile materials 
are kept, thereby increasing their longevity. Most of the materials held 
in the Libraries’ Special Collections are not available in libraries or 
archives elsewhere, these improvements are crucial to guarantee their 
continued availability and accessibility to current and future 
generations of researchers and scholars everywhere.

Special Collections housed in Hornbake Library include the photo archive 
of /The Baltimore News American/; the literary archives of Katherine 
Anne Porter and Djuna Barnes; the National Trust for Historic 
Preservation library; and the Library of American Broadcasting and 
National Public Broadcasting archives. In fall 2006 the Gordon W. Prange 
Collection, the most comprehensive collection in existence of 
publications issued in Japan during the immediate post-World War II 
years, 1945-49, will also move to Hornbake Library.

The University of Maryland is the only nationally-ranked public 
university in the Baltimore/Washington area. With a total student 
enrollment approaching 40,000, the University is supported in its 
academic endeavors by the University of Maryland Libraries, a system 
comprised of eight libraries and more than three million volumes. The 
University of Maryland Libraries represent the largest library system in 
the state.

For more information on the University of Maryland Libraries, please 
visit www.lib.umd.edu <http://www.lib.umd.edu>

--
***********************************************************************
Yvonne Carignan
Head of Preservation
University of Maryland 
McKeldin Library
College Park, MD 20742

carignan@xxxxxxx
(301) 405-9343
(301) 314-9971 FAX