Library and Archives Canada, March 2004
Digitization projects
Financial assistance for the archival community
Program Guidelines
Table of contents
Background 3
Selection process 3
Role of the LAC 3
Role of the CCA 3
Contact information 3
General information 4
Projects 4
Evaluation criteria 4
Eligible expenses and calculations 7
Conditions of funding 8
Project Budget 8
In-kind contributions 9
Matching Funds 9
Reporting Requirements 10
Announcements and Communications 10
Application deadline 10
How to assemble your proposal 12
Application form 14
ANNEX 1 – Budget Template 26
Background
For fiscal year 2004-2005, the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) will administer the granting process of Canadian Memory Fund /Canadian Cultural Online Program (CCOP) funds within the archival community. Financial assistance will be provided to archival institutions for digitization projects. Projects must propose the development of unique, digitized online cultural content, available free of charge via the Internet.
Selection process
Projects will be submitted to the LAC: a Steering Committee, composed of members from the LAC, the Canadian Council of Archives (CCA), the National, Provincial and Territorial Archivists Conference (NPTAC) and representatives of the historical and education communities will examine all submissions according to the selection criteria listed below and make funding recommendations to the National Archivist.
Projects meeting all criteria are not guaranteed funding.
Role of the LAC
The LAC will administer and distribute the funds within the archival community. The LAC will also be represented on the Steering Committee. The LAC will assist archival institutions throughout the entire process, from submitting an application to the implementation of projects and promotion of the final result. Geneviève Allard has been assigned as the project coordinator from LAC.
Role of the CCA
The CCA will be represented on the Steering Committee. The CCA will also provide advice and support on all aspects of the projects, including communications with the archival community and promotion of the Archives Canada portal.
Contact information
Questions regarding project eligibility, submission dates or any other information on receiving financial assistance for digitization should be addressed to Geneviève Allard.
Telephone: (613) 324-9373
Fax (819) 992-1560
E-mail:
Mailing address: 395 Wellington Street
Room B-145
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0N3
General information
Projects can take the form of virtual exhibitions, image repositories or large scale digitization. Funded projects will be displayed on the institution’s own website (if possible) as well as on the Archives Canada portal.
Projects resulting in the digitization of significant quantities of records will be preferred. Institutions lacking the technical infrastructure to support such projects will be able to receive help regarding scanning and storage of images as well as long term preservation of the digitized content. Please contact Geneviève Allard (contact information above) for more information.
Copyright on all digitized content, descriptive records and metadata remains with the institution of origin. Provision of funding at the institutional level is contingent on an archives agreeing to make its digitized content, descriptive records and metadata accessible through the Archives Canada portal. LAC and CCA may use the digital products (with the institution's permission) for promotion purposes. Funds received under this program may not be used for any purpose other than that indicated on the approved application. All expenditures may be subject to financial audit.
Projects
To be eligible for funding, projects will:
- Propose the development of unique digitized online cultural content based on a specific theme;
- Target the general Canadian public or Canadian youth;
- Be cleared of copyright for digitization and reproduction;
- Be accessible on the web for a minimum of five years;
- Be accessible free of any charge.
Evaluation criteria
Eligible projects will be evaluated based on the following criteria (the numbers in brackets determine the amount of points allocated for each element in the evaluation process) :
1. Content (40 points)
- A compelling story will be told and will be centered around specified theme(s), time period(s) and location(s);
- Presentation of content in the appropriate historical context and in a way that will be easily understood by the target audience;
- Stakeholders and subject matter experts will be consulted, as appropriate, in the selection of content to be digitized;
- Demonstration that the content to be digitized is of significant importance in Canada’s history;
- The applicant has made reasonable efforts in taking advantage of opportunities for partnering with other organizations for the development or linkages of content on common themes.
2. Educational Resources (20 points)
- The project may include the creation of online learning materials, to be used in conjunction with the collection, which meet the needs of students and teachers or as learning tools for the general Canadian public;
- If educational resources are being created for students, linkages should be created with schools and teachers in order to conduct user testing and focus groups during website development.
3. Accessibility (15 points)
- The project will promote accessibility through ease of use, clear navigation and any other element facilitating the access of the user to the digitized content.
- The project will also include a strategy to make the content accessible to users with various disabilities and low-speed Internet users. Elements of the strategy may include, but are not limited to some of the following examples:
o Providing written transcripts for audio recordings;
o Including captions or storyboards for animated, video or audiovisual content;
o Making full use of alternate text and long descriptions for digitized images;
o Designing site navigation and interactive elements with due consideration for the needs of mobility impaired users;
o Testing project web pages using browsers specifically designed for visually impaired users (including text-only and screen-reading software), etc.
o Providing low resolutions for sites using 3D modelling;
o Providing a “Skip Intro” option and an HTML version for Flash sites;
o Using appropriate web image formats (i.e. JPEG, GIF) when presenting digitized content, etc.
4. Innovation (15 points)
- The project will use technology to create and present content which embraces innovation and new forms of communication, interaction, and expression, and will provide an engaging Internet experience for users. (Examples include, but are not limited to: using flash, animation, 3D modelling, zoom technology, improved research tools, databases, etc.). Applicants are encouraged to seek partnerships to share ideas and costs.
5. Marketing (10 points)
- The application includes a reasonable marketing plan to promote the project to a general Canadian audience or Canadian youth, including:
o A clearly identified audience and appropriate measures to reach it;
o A reasonable amount of resources allocated to marketing given the size and type of project;
o A detailed description of both online and offline marketing activities to be undertaken to make the project known to Canadians and to maintain interest in it overtime; and
o A plan to gauge the effectiveness of the marketing plan and of the promotional activities.
Applicants are responsible for presenting a regional or provincial marketing plan. The projects will also be promoted at the national level by LAC and CCA. Funding for national promotion should not be included in the marketing plan.
The following criteria are mandatory. Although no points will be awarded for these elements, if they are not included in the applicant’s proposal, the proposal will be not be considered.
6. Project Planning (mandatory)
- The application includes a reasonable budget showing planned expenditures by category and documenting all sources of revenues (including cash and in-kind);
- The project is well planned, includes a realistic project timeline, and will make efficient use of resources (i.e. human, financial, and technological);
- The project plan includes appropriate technical expertise in order to effectively face possible technical challenges.
7. Financial leverage (mandatory)
- The extent to which the applicant and its partners have made reasonable efforts to secure a significant portion of project funds from sources other than CCOP.
8. Sustainability (mandatory)
- Proposals will include a strategy for long term preservation of the records. If applicants are unable to ensure long term preservation of the records, LAC will be able to provide solutions. Please communicate with Geneviève Allard (contact information above) for more information.
9. Feedback mechanism (mandatory)
- Archives are responsible of ensuring that there is a feedback mechanism attached to their project, available for receiving comments and information from Internet users. The Canadian Council of Archives will supply a basic set of questions which institutions may supplement. Projects must also have a mechanism to track standard usage statistics of the web product. A feedback report will be produced at the end of fiscal year 2005-2006 and submitted to the CCA and LAC.
Eligible expenses and calculations
The following are eligible expense categories:
(The percentage range for the expense categories listed below should be a guide for establishing the total cost of each component of the project. The total of all percentages should not exceed 100%.)
· Project Management and Administration (cannot exceed 15% of budget)
· Content Development/Presentation (unlimited)
· Digitization/Scanning (unlimited)
· Web Development (Design, Development, Integration and Testing) (cannot exceed 25% of budget)
· Infrastructure/Hardware (cannot exceed 10% of budget)
· Educational Materials (cannot exceed 25% of budget)
· Promotion and Marketing (cannot exceed 10% of budget)
Indirect expenditures are not eligible and must not be represented in the project budget. These include various overhead costs, ongoing operational expenses, staff time not spent directly on project related activities, rent, telephone, office supplies, etc.
Activities that are not eligible for funding include:
· The development of CD ROMs (unless used for promotional purposes only)
· Traditional photography and film developing
· Physical storage items (acid free boxes, shelving, etc.)
· Ongoing website maintenance or updating
· Creation or printing of learning materials that are not online
The determination of expenditures eligibility and actual project funding is at the discretion of the Program, but in no case will the funding exceed 50% of total eligible expenses.
Applicants and their partners are encouraged to seek additional project funding through other sources. Under no circumstances would CCOP, through its various programs, contribute more than 50% of the total eligible expenses of the project. All sources of financial assistance and contributions, i.e. cash and in-kind, must be documented in the budget.
Financial assistance that may have been received in previous years is not to be construed as a guarantee, express or implied, of financial assistance for subsequent requests.
Conditions of funding
Successful applicants will receive a letter from the National Archivist of Library and Archives Canada indicating that funding has been approved for their project(s). Recipients are required to sign a Memorandum of Understanding, which is a legal contract outlining the responsibilities of both the LAC and the Recipient.
Project Budget
The Canadian Memory Fund through LAC provides financial assistance on a project basis and, as such, funds are not available for ongoing operational support. Applicants and their partner(s) are also required to make cash and in-kind contributions to their project, and to leverage resources from the public, private and not-for-profit sector.
Applicants may use up to 50% of the total project cost in financial assistance from Department of Canadian Heritage sources to support a project. The total assistance for a project from all government sources (federal, provincial, territorial and municipal) cannot exceed 100% of total project budget.
The project budget must include a detailed list of all project costs and revenue sources, identifying the amount of funding requested from CCOP, which cannot exceed the thresholds as identified in the Program Guidelines.
Only expenditures directly related to the project should be included. In your budget, please also include the following elements:
- Details regarding the various sources of revenues (i.e. cash contributions and in-kind, and whether they are from the applicant, other levels of governments, non-governmental)
- A table detailing the percentage of funding sources relating to the project (i.e. leveraging of funding sources).
N.B each partner must be clearly identified with corresponding cash or in-kind contribution as well as detailed information on any in-kind contributions.
In-kind contributions
For the purposes of the Canadian Memory Fund, applicant or partner contributions towards project costs may be in the form of "in-kind" donations to the project, so long as an actual expense of that value would otherwise have been incurred to complete the project. The term "in-kind" means any non-monetary good or service provided by an interested party (without any expectation of reciprocal favourable treatment).
To be considered a genuine in-kind contribution, the otherwise incurred expense must be:
- Essential to the project's success;
- Eligible under the program's terms and conditions; and
- Otherwise would be purchased and paid for by the applicant.
Examples include, but are not limited to: individuals’ time, volunteers’ work, advice from experts.
Matching Funds
One or more of the following non-federal sources of contributions are eligible in calculating matching funds for provincial/territorial archival councils and institutional members:
a) Provincial/territorial government funds;
b) Direct and in-kind contribution in provincial/territorial archives operating budgets;
c) Direct and in-kind contribution in the budgets of archival institutions and their sponsoring organizations and;
d) Donations from individuals, foundations and the private sector.
For council-wide projects, provincial/territorial councils may calculate their requisite matching funds at the provincial/territorial level rather than at the institutional level per project. Thus if an institution cannot provide sufficient matching funds, the provincial/territorial council may use appropriate matching funds from another institution in its jurisdiction. Two or more provincial and territorial councils and associations and/or institutions may combine their matches and submit joint submissions for inter-provincial/territorial, regional or inter-institutional digitization projects.
Reporting Requirements
The fiscal year for funding purposes is 1 April to 31 March.