Illinois Digital Academic Library

[Sloan, Bernie]

I want to call your attention to a project we're working on here in
Illinois.

The Illinois Digital Academic Library (IDAL) is a program proposed by 
the Electronic Resources Committee of the Illinois Library Computer 
Systems Organization (ILCSO). For the first year of the initiative (FY 
2000) we are requesting $870,000 from the Illinois Board of Higher 
Education (IBHE). The staff of the IBHE has recommended funding the 
initiative, and the full Board of the IBHE has included a funding 
recommendation in their FY 2000 higher education budget recommen-
dations to the Governor. If the Governor approves the recommendation, 
the final allocation is up to the Illinois General Assembly.

The following is a capsule summary of the proposed IDAL initiative.
For the full proposal, go to: http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~sloan/idal.html. 
If you have questions, feel free to contact me.

"The goal of the Illinois Digital Academic Library initiative is to provide
a digital library of full text and full image digitized resources for the
students, faculty and staff of Illinois institutions of higher education. 
This particular initiative would be an integral part of a broader
information 
infrastructure that has been developed by a number of sectors of the 
Illinois library community, including the Illinois State Library, the
Illinois 
regional library systems, and the Illinois Library Computer Systems 
Organization (ILCSO). To be eligible for participation in the Illinois
Digital 
Academic Library program, an institution must be accredited by the 
Illinois Board of Higher Education, and the institution's library must be 
a member of the Illinois Library and Information Network (ILLINET), an
organization consisting of more than 3,300 libraries in Illinois. In other 
words, virtually all Illinois institutions of higher education would be 
eligible to participate."

Bernie Sloan
Senior Library Information Systems Consultant
University of Illinois Office for Planning & Budgeting
338 Henry Administration Building
506 S. Wright Street
Urbana, IL  61801
Phone: (217) 333-4895  
Fax: (217) 333-6355
Email: bernies at uillinois.edu