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HELIN Library Consortium awarded Davis Foundation Grant

The HELIN Library Consortium, made up of ten academic libraries in Rhode Island and Massachusetts - including Bryant University, has received funding to create a digital repository. The grant was received from the Davis Educational Foundation established by Stanton and Elisabeth Davis after his retirement as chairman of Shaw's Supermarkets, Inc.

The goal of the Digital Repository will be to preserve and archive historical and current materials held by each member institution, and make these materials accessible to students, faculty and staff at all of the HELIN Library Consortium schools to enhance teaching and learning.

The Digital Repository will use ProQuest's Digital Commons platform as the technology for storing, searching and accessing the digital materials, including papers, images, and videos created by the students and faculties of the HELIN member institutions.

Examples of materials:

  • Senior theses and capstone papers from each of the member institutions
  • Faculty publications from each of the member institutions
  • University of Rhode Island's Political Papers of John Chafee, Claiborne Pell, Frank Licht, Bruce Sundlun, etc.; also, the Narragansett Indians Oral History Collection and the Commercial Pattern Archive
  • Roger Williams University's Roger Williams Family Association Papers and the Frank Lloyd Wright Image Collection
  • Providence College's John O. Pastore Collection and John E. Fogarty's Papers; also, the William E. Walsh Civil War Diary and the Quonset Point Naval Air Station Collection
  • Johnson & Wales' Distinguished Visiting Chefs' Videos and their world menu collection
  • Rhode Island College's Cape Verdean Collection (largest in North America)
  • Salve Regina's Newport History Collection

The HELIN Consortium includes nearly all the academic institutions in the state of Rhode Island, including both public and private colleges, and its digital repository would reflect that same broad inclusiveness. This blended collection will allow undergraduate students access to nearly 5 million titles.