King County Archives awarded grant to digitize 200 archival items

King County Archives building

The Washington Digital Heritage (WDH) grant program for the 2023-2024 federal fiscal year was developed to support public, tribal, special, and academic libraries in carrying out a variety of digital initiatives focused on archival and special collections. 

Proposals receiving priority consideration for award included those demonstrating: broad accessibility of project outputs to the general public; a desire to develop sustainable local digital programs; and adoption and/or dissemination of regional standards and approaches to digitization.

Thirteen libraries received awards for 2023-2024. Progress on the grant projects will run through August 31, 2024.

This grant was awarded by the Office of the Secretary of State, Washington State Library Division, funded by the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

The King County Archives was awarded $14,495

King County Archives will digitize at least 200 selected archival items from its collections and create an online exhibit about the developments of disability rights and services in King County government. 

The exhibit will highlight how issues of freedom, race, justice, equity, and economic opportunity impacted those with disabilities in King County and Washington state. 

King County Archives will hire student assistants to help digitize materials, a social media and graphic design contractor to help with promotion, a writing and editing contractor for the exhibit narrative, and a specialist from the University of Washington’s Center for Technology and Disability Studies to audit the exhibit to ensure it meets web content accessibility guidelines. 

Through the work in creating the exhibit, King County Archives will also develop a set of best practices for creating accessible online exhibits. The project will be shared through social media, OER commons, and announcements targeted to King County employees and other information professionals.

The archives is located at 1215 E Fir St, Seattle WA 98122