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WGBH Awarded Grant by Institute of Museum and Library Services for Public Broadcasting Preservation Fellowship

Grant of $229,772 will fund students� work on digitization of historic, at-risk public media content from underrepresented regions and communities

BOSTON, September 28, 2017 � WGBH Educational Foundation is pleased to announce that the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has awarded WGBH a $229,772 Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant to launch the Public Broadcasting Preservation Fellowship. The fellowship will fund 10 graduate students from across the United States to digitize at-risk audiovisual materials at public media organizations near their universities. The digitized content will ultimately be incorporated into the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB), a collaboration between Boston public media station WGBH and the Library of Congress working to digitize and preserve thousands of broadcasts and previously inaccessible programs from public radio and public television�s more than 60-year legacy.

�We are honored that the Institute of Museum and Library Services has chosen WGBH to lead the Public Broadcasting Preservation Fellowship,� said Casey Davis Kaufman, Associate Director of the WGBH Media Library and Archives and WGBH�s AAPB Project Manager. �This grant will allow us to prepare a new generation of library and information science professionals to save at-risk and historically significant public broadcasting collections, especially fragile audiovisual materials, from regions and communities underrepresented in the American Archive of Public Broadcasting.�

WGBH has developed partnerships with library and information science programs and archival science programs at five universities: Clayton State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Oklahoma, University of Missouri, and San Jose State University. Each school will be paired with a public media organization that will serve as a host site for two consecutive fellowships: Georgia Public Broadcasting, WUNC, the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority, KOPN Community Radio, and the Center for Asian American Media in partnership with the Bay Area Video Coalition.

�As centers of learning and catalysts of community change, libraries and museums connect people with programs, services, collections, information, and new ideas in the arts, sciences, and humanities. They serve as vital spaces where people can connect with each other,� said IMLS Director Dr. Kathryn K. Matthew. �IMLS is proud to support their work through our grant making as they inform and inspire all in their communities.�

The first fellowship will take place during the 2018 spring semester, from January to April of 2018. The second fellowship will take place during the summer semester from June to August of 2018. The grant also will support participating universities in developing long-term audiovisual preservation curricula, including providing funding for audiovisual digitization equipment, and developing partnerships with local public media organizations.

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About WGBH
WGBH Boston is America�s preeminent public broadcaster and the largest producer of PBS content for TV and the Web, including Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, Nova, American Experience, Arthur, Curious George, and more than a dozen other prime-time, lifestyle, and children�s series. WGBH also is a leader in educational multimedia, including PBS LearningMedia, and a pioneer in technologies and services that make media accessible to the 36 million Americans who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, or visually impaired. WGBH has been recognized with hundreds of honors: Emmys, Peabodys, duPont-Columbia Awards�even two Oscars. Find more information at www.wgbh.org<http://www.wgbh.org/>.

About the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the world�s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States - and extensive materials from around the world - both on site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.  Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov, access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.

About the American Archive of Public Broadcasting
The American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB) is a collaboration between the Library of Congress and the WGBH Educational Foundation to coordinate a national effort to preserve at-risk public media before its content is lost to posterity and provide a central web portal for access to the unique programming that public stations have aired over the past 60 years. To date, nearly 50,000 hours of television and radio programming contributed by more than 100 public media organizations and archives across the United States have been digitized for long-term preservation and access. The entire collection is available on location at WGBH and the Library of Congress, and more than 22,000 programs are available online at americanarchive.org.<http://www.americanarchive.org/>

About IMLS
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is celebrating its 20th Anniversary. IMLS is the primary source of federal support for the nation�s 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums. Our mission has been to inspire libraries and museums to advance innovation, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic engagement. For the past 20 years, our grant making, policy development, and research has helped libraries and museums deliver valuable services that make it possible for communities and individuals to thrive. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.


best,


Casey E. Davis Kaufman
Associate Director, WGBH Media Library & Archives
Project Manager, American Archive of Public Broadcasting

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