LSU Libraries has received a $190,320 grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents to expand the statewide capacity for digitizing historical materials and enhance public access to Louisiana’s cultural heritage. The project, “Digitizing Louisiana History: Enhancing Digitization and Access Capabilities for LSU and the State,” is led by Gina Costello, Associate Dean of Technology and Special Collections, with co-principal investigator Elisa Naquin, Metadata and Digital Strategies Librarian, along with technology leads Michael Stewart, Assistant Director of Libraries Technology; and Gabe Harrell, Digitization Lab Manager. 

This grant will enable LSU Libraries to significantly grow the Louisiana Digital Library (LDL), the state’s foremost online repository of historical and cultural content. Managed by LSU Libraries, the LDL includes digital collections from 32 institutions across Louisiana and serves everyone from K–12 students and educators to researchers and genealogists across the globe.

With the funding, LSU Libraries will modernize the LDL’s infrastructure and improve content accessibility and site usability for LDL visitors. These advancements will allow the Libraries to expand its support of Louisiana libraries, archives, and museums participating in the LDL and begin a large-scale project to digitize and preserve previously inaccessible collections.

A key component of the project involves the digitization of more than 200 reels of microfilm from the Works Progress Administration’s Louisiana Historical Records Survey Louisiana Police Jury Minutes Collection (LLMVC MSS. 2984), which contains unpublished historical data from 60 Louisiana parishes dating from 1811 to the 1940s. Once digitized, these materials will be freely available online, providing access to a wealth of primary sources that support research in Louisiana history, politics, law, and culture.

In addition to its research impact, the project will offer undergraduate and graduate students hands-on experience in digitization, metadata creation, and digital project management—valuable training for future careers in archives, libraries, and museums.

“Our team at LSU Libraries is committed to providing a robust digital library platform to support the discovery of unique historical Louisiana materials. We are excited to expand the Louisiana Digital Library and provide better digitization tools for our institutional partners around the state. The current funding is a welcome extension to previous Board of Regents’ supported work, including projects that made mass digitization of Louisiana newspapers possible,” says Costello. By expanding digitization capabilities and improving access to historical records, this grant will strengthen the research infrastructure at LSU, support teaching and learning across the state, and preserve Louisiana’s stories for generations to come.