About Council on Library and Information Resources
CLIR forges strategies to enhance research, teaching, and learning environments in collaboration with libraries, cultural institutions, and communities of higher learning. CLIR aspires to transform the information landscape to support the advancement of knowledge.
Focus Areas
LibrariesInformation resourcesDigital librariesArchivesCultural heritage preservationDigitizationAudio and audiovisual preservationResearch and higher educationProfessional developmentLeadership developmentPublications and knowledge access
Who They Fund
archives and libraries (university and historic archives)
About Council on Library and Information Resources
Council on Library and Information Resources centers its grantmaking on preserving at-risk cultural and research materials, with major support flowing through Digitizing Hidden Collections and Recordings at Risk. In the recent grants list, those programs reach libraries, museums, universities, archives, and cultural organizations working on special collections, audio, film, and legacy media. The foundation also backs fellowship activity, including support for emerging scholars in African American/African studies and energy social sciences. Recent awards show the range of its preservation work. Creative Growth Inc. in Oakland received $349,343 for a Digitizing Hidden Collections audiovisual pilot, while the Regents of the University of California, Irvine received $349,081 for a Digitizing Hidden Collections award. Other large grants went to the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Chicago, the Smithsonian Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, DC, and Northeastern University in Boston, each through digitization-focused awards. Alongside that project funding, the foundation supports individual scholars through fellowship grants and institutions that host them. Its grantmaking connects preservation with access: digitized archives, recordings, and collections are meant to be made publicly available, and fellowship support strengthens research and professional development in higher education and cultural heritage settings.
What Council on Library and Information Resources Funds
Digitization and audiovisual preservation are central to the foundation’s recent work. Creative Growth Inc. in Oakland received $349,343 for a Digitizing Hidden Collections audiovisual pilot, and the Smithsonian Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, DC received $334,000 for a Digitizing Hidden Collections audiovisual pilot cycle award. The foundation also funds preservation of audio and media collections through Recordings at Risk. Washington State University received $334,000 for that program, and the University of Florida received $49,751 for preserving journalistic recordings. Heritage-specific preservation appears across multiple grants. The Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Chicago received $343,779 for a Digitizing Hidden Collections award, while the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles received $168,787 for a digitizing audiovisual pilot cycle award. CLIR also supports scholarship and workforce development through fellowships. The University of Maryland, William Marsh Rice University, Grinnell College, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art each received $91,000 to support fellows in African American/African studies as emerging leaders.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$3.5M
Total Assets
$20.8M
Total Revenue
$11.3M
Total Expenses
$9.6M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $25K and $91K, with a median of $45K.
25th Percentile
$25K
Median
$45K
75th Percentile
$91K
Geographic Reach
National32 states funded
About 4% of grants go to recipients in CA.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
CHARLES HENRY
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