Illinois Digital Archives (IDA)
The Illinois Digital Archives was designed in 2000 as a repository for the digital collections of the Illinois State Library, as well as other libraries and cultural institutions in the State of Illinois. Digitization of many of the collections in IDA has been funded by LSTA digital imaging grants awarded by the Illinois Secretary of State and the Illinois State Library.
The collections of the Illinois Digital Archives contain image, text, and audio files and are provided for educational and research purposes only. For information about the use of individual images, contact the contributing institution.
For additional information and resources related to this topic, visit the Digitization topic under Library Services - Technical Services - Processing & Preservation.
Read about some of the projects funded by the Illinois State Library Digital Imaging Grants in our Digital Imaging Spotlight.
Your Illinois library can join one of the digital consortium institutions that comprise Digital Illinois.
Digital Past
Digital Past is a local history digitization initiative undertaken by libraries, historical societies, museums, and other cultural venues throughout Illinois in partnership with the North Suburban Library System (NSLS) in Wheeling, Illinois. It began in 1998 with a grant from the Illinois State Library and has become a popular resource for researchers of all ages and interests including schoolchildren, genealogists, historians, authors, producers, and special interest groups. Digital Past contains collections from over 30 institutions of varying topics and formats including 55,000+ records in over 100 collections.
If your institution is interested in joining Digital Past, please contact the Digital Past Coordinator. We are open to cultural institutions throughout Illinois. Visit the project's About Us page for additional information.
CARLI
CARLI began operating on July 1, 2005, culminating several years of discussion and planning. CARLI was formed by consolidating three existing Illinois academic library consortia: the Illinois Cooperative Collection Management Program (ICCMP), the Illinois Digital Academic Library (IDAL), and the Illinois Library Computer Systems Organization (ILCSO). CARLI was formed to improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of services, increase the effectiveness of consortial and member library staff efforts, and create opportunities to pursue new programs and services that the three constituent consortia would not have been able to provide on their own.
The CARLI ContentDM services support the digitizing efforts of CARLI institutions, and currently has 34 collections available online.
Digital Illinois
Digital Illinois is a consortium of libraries in Illinois. It contains digital collections from libraries, historical societies, museums, and other cultural institutions in Illinois. Nine of the libraries host their own CONTENTdm server to support their digital collections. Four of the institutions -- CARLI, Illinois State Library, Lincoln Trail Libraries System, and North Suburban Library System -- provide host services for the digital collections of other institutions.
Digital Illinois is powered by ContentDM's multi-site aggregating server that automatically harvests metadata from the hosting institutions and provides the search and discovery engine.The collections of Digital Illinois contain image, text, and audio files.
Related Resources
The Alliance Library System has received an LSTA grant from the Illinois State Library to help digital imaging initiatives. Throughout Illinois incorporate audio descriptions into their websites and archives of digital images. We are calling the project Audio Description Illinois.
