The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation recently announced a one million dollar grant to the University of California for a project that develops online tools to permit broader access to the world's leading libraries and other cultural institutions. The Hewlett grant funds a proposal, New Frontiers in the Digital Library: Social and Ecological Diversity of the American West, submitted last summer by UC's California Digital Library (CDL). The Interactive University, which began a strategic partnership with the CDL in April 2003, will be one of 10 partners in the project.

The key priority of the Hewlett Foundation's program in support of educational technologies is, "to use information technology to help equalize the distribution of knowledge and educational opportunities for individuals, faculty, and institutions within the United States and throughout the world. Our focus is on creating exemplars of academic content that are free and accessible to all on the web."

. . . Continue on to the IU News December 2003 page to read more about the New Frontiers project.