March 10, 1999 Final-Round Winners of Library of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Library Competition to Be Announced This Spring

Competition for Grants to Digitize Collections of Other Institutions Draws 70 Institutions

Contact: Guy Lamolinara, Library of Congress, (202) 707-9217 | Karen Sanborn, Ameritech (313) 223-7194, e-mail: karen.sanborn@ameritech.com

The final round of winners in the Library of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Library Competition will be announced in the spring. The winners will be chosen from the 48 applications representing 70 institutions (some applications were submitted by institutional teams) that were submitted last fall.

So far, in the previous two rounds, 21 institutions have shared in awards totaling more than $1.3 million. Once digitized, these winners' collections of important American historical materials will be added to the American Memory Web site of the Library of Congress. They will also be available from the winning institutions' Web sites. Currently, three past winners have added their collections to the Library's American Memory site. Most recently, "The Robert Runyon Photograph Collection of the South Texas Border Area," an assemblage of more than 8,000 visual items documenting the Lower Rio Grande Valley during the early 1900s, has become available.

The Library of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Library Competition, a three-year program made possible by a $2 million gift from the Ameritech Foundation, enables U.S. libraries, archives, museums and historical societies to digitize their collections of American historical materials for inclusion in American Memory. The Library of Congress/Ameritech competition helps fulfill the Library's goals of placing millions of items on-line in collaboration with other institutions and making its digital library effort truly national in scope.

In formulating the competition guidelines and the evaluation process, the Library has once again turned to the National Endowment for the Humanities for expert guidance. Three successive panels will evaluate applications for historical significance, technical viability and the relevance of collections to current and planned American Memory collections.

Additional information on the Library of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Library Competition, including summaries of the projects of the first and second year award recipients, is available at:

The Library of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Library Competition Web site -- memory.loc.gov/ammem/award

The Ameritech Web site -- www.ameritech.com External

The Library of Congress is the world's largest library, with more than 115 million items, including the papers of 23 U.S. presidents. Its collections are in nearly every language and format -- from Chinese woodblock prints to compact disks. Founded in 1800 to serve the reference needs of Congress, the Library has grown into an unparalleled treasure house of knowledge and creativity. It will celebrate its Bicentennial in 2000 (www.loc.gov/bicentennial).

Ameritech (NYSE:AIT) has a strong tradition of giving back to the communities it serves. Last year, the company contributed nearly $27.2 million to more than 3,800 nonprofit organizations, and Ameritech Pioneers -- some 42,700 employees and retirees throughout the Midwest -- volunteered 482,000 hours of community service by supporting health and human services, civic and community projects, and educational and arts programs. Ameritech provides a full range of communications services, serving millions of customers in 50 states and 40 countries.

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PR 99-026
1999-03-11
ISSN 0731-3527