The Wayne State University Library System was recently awarded one of ten 2005 Digitization for Preservation and Access grants from the Library of Michigan totaling $150,000. These grants represent a statewide effort to digitize valuable and significant local and state-related information held in Michigan libraries.

“The number-one job of a library is providing unlimited, open access to information," said Acting State Librarian Nancy Robertson. "Before digitization was a possibility, a library customer was limited to the collections of the libraries to which he or she had physical access. Now, with digitization efforts, someone in Marquette will be able to see and research the holdings of a library hundreds of miles away in Monroe. That\'s pretty remarkable."

The funds from the grant will be used to further develop the Virtual Motor City photo collection, an online resource already containing more than 15,000 digitized images from the Detroit News Collection, a photojournalistic resource held at the Reuther Library. Donated to Wayne State in 1997, the full collection consists of more than 800,000 photonegative images, many of them on vintage glass plate. The Detroit News was a pioneer in the use of photojournalism equipment and techniques, which gives many of the early images recorded on glass and film additional historical significance. The collection is the largest single collection of graphic images of any kind at the Reuther Library.

“Virtual Motor City is an outstanding resource that depicts countless significant events from times past,” said Sandra Yee, dean of the Wayne State University Library System. “This grant will allow us to make significant strides in digitizing more of this collection so that everyone can experience these important moments in history.”

The Wayne State University Library System consists of the universities\' five libraries: The David Adamany Undergraduate Library, the Purdy/Kresge Library, the Shiffman Medical Library, the Arthur Neef Law Library and the Science and Engineering Library, the Library and Information Science Program and the Office for Teaching and Learning.

Wayne State University is a premier institution offering more than 350 academic programs through 12 schools and colleges to more than 33,000 students in metropolitan Detroit.