[PADG:1104] RE: University of Maryland receives NEH Grant to upgrade climate

["Cybulski, Walter \(NIH/NLM\) [E]" <Cybulskw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

WOW - Congratulations, Yvonne!  This is great news.

- Walter 

-----Original Message-----
From: Yvonne Carignan [mailto:carignan@xxxxxxx] 
Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 12:18 PM
To: padg@xxxxxxx
Subject: [PADG:1103] University of Maryland receives NEH Grant to
upgrade climate


    *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