Digital Initiatives
The Digital Initiatives Division of the Indiana State Library provides researchers and libraries with the tools they need to digitize Indiana's rich history. The division's flagship programs are Indiana Memory, a digital library of Indiana's cultural heritage, and Hoosier State Chronicles, our statewide historic digital newspaper library. More information on both programs is below. For questions, please contact Justin Clark, Digital Initiatives Director of the Indiana State Library, at jusclark@library.in.gov
Indiana Memory, a program of the Indiana State Library (ISL) made possible through grant funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, is a statewide digital library that provides access to the aggregated wealth of primary sources in Indiana libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions. With 700,000 items from over 170 partners, Indiana Memory is the state’s premier gateway to Indiana’s history and culture found in digitized books, manuscripts, photographs, newspapers, maps, films, oral histories, and other media.
Indiana Memory’s mission is to create and maintain a digital library that enables free public access to Indiana’s unique cultural and historical heritage. By providing access to the various digital materials available on the Indiana Memory website, the program seeks to enhance education and scholarship regarding Indiana’s past.
An institution can become an Indiana Memory partner in a variety of ways. The easiest way is for the partner to use CONTENTdm for their digital collections, via the Indiana State Library’s statewide CONTENTdm license. ISL can provide partners with a free collection or collections for their digitized materials, which are then added to Indiana Memory. We do not charge any hosting fees for participation.
If an institution is using its own CONTENTdm license or a different collection management software program (like PastPerfect), it can also become an Indiana Memory partner, also at no charge.
The Indiana State Library also provides equipment through our mobile scanning unit lending program. We have an Atiz BookDrive scanner for larger materials such as newspapers and broadsheets and Epson flatbed scanners for any materials smaller than 11x17in. ISL will supply this equipment, along with training in scanning and metadata creation, at no cost to our partners.
Indiana Memory digital collections must meet the provisions of ISL’s digital collection development policy as well as our scanning and metadata guidelines, which can be viewed at https://www.in.gov/library/collections-and-services/indiana/indianamemory/.
Institutions interested in participating in Indiana Memory should discuss their digitization projects with the State Library before they begin the actual scanning and/or metadata work.
Contact Justin Clark, Digital Initiatives Director of the Indiana State Library, at jusclark@library.in.gov to schedule an Indiana Memory consultation or ask any questions.
Hoosier State Chronicles is Indiana’s statewide historic digital newspaper program, operated by the Indiana State Library and funded by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act. We provide free, online access to high quality digital images of Indiana's historic newspapers by digitizing our collection and assisting other organizations in making their collections digitally available. To date, Hoosier State Chronicles contains 186,601 issues comprising 1,589,638 pages from 1804-2018.
This online resource originated in 2011 with grant funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities that enabled us, in partnership with the Indiana Historical Society, to digitize Indiana newspapers for the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). The Indiana titles digitized through NDNP are also available at the Library of Congress's Chronicling America, along with over 20 million newspaper pages from around the United States. You can find additional digitized Indiana newspapers from other sources from a listing on our blog.
The Indiana State Library has received 5 NDNP grant awards from 2011-2022 and has also received support from the Central Indiana Community Foundation and the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services for additional newspaper digitization.
We are currently interested in projects that are: 50,000 pages or less, highlight time periods, locations, and communities currently underrepresented in our collection (1804-1807, 1811-1815;
Northwest, Northeast, and Southwest regions of the state), and are on microfilm (either master or service reels).
The Indiana State Library Newspaper Division has the largest collection of Indiana newspapers either in print, microfilm, or digital format. For an overview of the available resources for Indiana newspaper research visit their website.
Hoosier State Chronicles projects are completed to National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) specifications, which requires an outside vendor to complete the imaging and metadata work. Our recommended vendors are Digital Divide Data and Apex Covantage. Please review the NDNP guidelines online at the Library of Congress.
Contact Justin Clark, Digital Initiatives Director of the Indiana State Library, at jusclark@library.in.gov with any comments, questions or suggestions.