The university of idaho in partnership with penn state university will plan a project to complete a national inventory and needs assessment survey on archival aerial photography in academic libraries

The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded the University of Idaho $261,304 on September 1, 2026, under the National Leadership Grants program (CFDA 45.312) to plan and complete a national inventory and needs assessment survey of archival aerial photography collections held by academic libraries.

The University of Idaho, in partnership with Penn State University, will produce a nationwide inventory of library-based archival aerial photography collections and conduct an institutional needs assessment to improve accessibility of these collections to academic library users and the broader public. The project will generate an online inventory for reference by the academic library community, map librarians, geospatial librarians, archivists, and other service providers. The needs assessment will identify institutional requirements for developing library services around archival aerial photography.

The award is a project grant with a period of performance from September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2027. Work will be performed in Moscow, Idaho. The National Leadership Grants program supports projects addressing critical needs in the museum and library fields with potential to advance professional practice through models, tools, research findings, services, practices, and alliances that can be widely used, adapted, scaled, or replicated.

This project will result in the completion of a national inventory of library-based archival aerial photography collections and an institutional needs assessment to make these collections more accessible to a broad audience of users and the general benefit of society. The primary audience of the project will be librarians who work with archival aerial photography including map and geospatial librarians and archivists. The project will produce a nationwide inventory of aerial photography collections held by academic libraries that will be posted online for reference by the academic library community as well as other users and service providers. IT will also complete a needs assessment of academic libraries with respect to developing library services around archival aerial photography.