The university of maryland, baltimore's health sciences and human services library will implement the creation of a unified, publicly accessible digital portal for the nation's first public medical…

The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded the University of Maryland, Baltimore $199,906 on September 1, 2026, under the National Leadership Grants program (CFDA 45.312) to create a unified, publicly accessible digital portal consolidating over 2,900 digitized items from the Health Sciences and Human Services Library's historical collections documenting two centuries of medical, pharmaceutical, dental, nursing, and social work education at the nation's first public medical school. The project will use Islandora and the Archival Artificial Intelligence protocol to implement governed AI workflows for transcription, metadata enhancement, and sensitivity review. Deliverables include sustainable access platforms, five community-informed digital exhibits, and an openly available white paper containing reusable workflows and configuration models for use across the library and archival professions. Performance occurs in Baltimore, Maryland through August 31, 2028. This is a project grant, an assistance type that funds discrete time-limited initiatives rather than ongoing operations. The award supports the National Leadership Grants program's mission to advance practice in the museum and library fields through models, tools, and services that can be widely adapted and scaled.

The university of maryland, baltimore's health sciences and human services library will implement the creation of a unified, publicly accessible digital portal for the nation's first public medical school. The project will consolidate and modernize over 2,900 digitized items composed of extensive physical historical collections documenting two centuries of medical, pharmaceutical, dental, nursing, and social work education. The project will use islandora and the archival artificial intelligence (AI) protocol and will implement governed AI workflows for transcription, metadata enhancement, and sensitivity review while ensuring ethical, transparent practices. The project will produce sustainable access platforms, five community informed digital exhibits, and an openly available white paper with reusable workflows and configuration models.