Funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the GBH Archives Digital Library Initiative has completed three phases. In the first phase, GBH conducted an assessment of the value of our archival collections for scholarly use. In the second phase, “Developing a Public Television Content Delivery System for Academic Institutions,” GBH developed Open Vault Research. Designed in close collaboration with scholars, this prototype web site facilitated research access to the collections. Further, working with Ithaka S+R, we investigated the sustainability of online archives for academic use. In the third phase, we explored the best methods for bringing our catalog online for scholarly and public access and helped drive new interest and scholarly work around our resources. Functionality from Open Vault Research and lessons from all three phases of the Digital Library Initiative have since been incorporated into the design and development of the current Open Vault.
