A $2.38 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to Indiana University will be used to develop software to manage print and electronic collections for academic and research libraries around the world, reports Inside Indiana Business. IU will lead the Kuali OLE (Open Library Environment) project, a partnership of research libraries dedicated to managing increasingly digital resources and collections. Together, these libraries will develop open-source software that will be made available to libraries worldwide. Kuali OLE (pronounced Oh-LAY) partners also include a consortium of Florida universities; Lehigh University; Triangle Research Libraries Network (represented by Duke and North Carolina State); and Chicago, Maryland, Michigan, and Pennsylvania universities. Large academic research libraries such as these manage and provide access to millions of items, using software to track interrelated transactions that range from ordering and paying for items to loaning materials to library patrons. As the nature of library collections expands to include more digital materials, including leased electronic journals and digitized photograph collections, libraries are increasingly interested in developing management software for these resources, said Interim Ruth Lilly Dean of University Libraries Carolyn Walters. “Libraries now create, lease, and share digital materials, but the systems in place for cataloging and tracking these items are based on print collections,” said Walters. “With this project, we benefit from working together with a community of academic libraries that want to change the way that information is managed in the scholarly environment.”
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