CDRS Grants
External grant awards received to support Center for Digital Research and Scholarship (CDRS) research initiatives.
We investigate how computational methods can transform digital collections into structured evidence for scholarship and institutional analysis.
Library-wide, Machine-Generated Metadata as First-Class Structural Components
(LG-259840-OLS-26)
Co-PI on a grant that investigates whether large-scale AI-generated metadata can serve as reliable infrastructure for digital libraries. The project studies which categories of machine-generated metadata remain sufficiently consistent across large collections, the structural relationships that emerge from this metadata, and how those relationships affect discovery and interaction with digital materials. Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Leadership Grants—Libraries. 2026. $473,403.
PI: Bipasha Banerjee; Co-PI: Jennifer L. Goyne; Co-PI: William A. Ingram.
Auditable AI Workflows for Evidence Synthesis Library Services
(LG-259841-OLS-26)
Co-PI on a planning grant to investigate the accuracy and auditability of AI-assisted relevance screening for evidence-synthesis library services. The project will conduct iterative experiments informed by evidence-synthesis library professionals and develop prototype workflows, implementation guidance, an AI-enabled evidence-synthesis prototype, an instruction manual, and a report to help libraries incorporate AI-assisted screening while preserving established methodological standards. Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Leadership Grants—Libraries. 2026. $178,994.
PI: Bipasha Banerjee; Co-PI: C. Cozette Comer; Co-PI: William A. Ingram.
Sovereign Library Intelligence (SLI): An Agentic AI Framework for Trustworthy Library Collections Stewardship and Access
(LG-259770-OLS-26)
PI on a grant to research trustworthy, privacy-preserving agentic AI for library collections stewardship and access. The project investigates architectures that combine structured reasoning with tool-based verification to improve descriptive metadata while maintaining transparency and local institutional control. It will develop a validated design framework, an evidence-quality benchmarking methodology, a reference architecture separating curatorial policy from model choice, an open-source toolkit, and a reusable library of agentic AI skills for processing complex archival materials and reducing factual errors in metadata creation. Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Leadership Grants—Libraries. 2026. $613,106.
PI: Yinlin Chen; Co-PI: Chang-Tien Lu (Computer Science); Co-PI: Kelsey James Rydland (Northwestern University Libraries).
Harnessing ETDs: Pioneering AI-Driven Innovations in Library Service
(LG-256638-OLS-24)
PI for a 3-year applied research grant that aims to expand the reach and impact of academic library services through integration with Large Language Models (LLMs). Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Leadership Grants—Libraries. 2024. $441,724.
PI: William A. Ingram; Co-PI: Edward A. Fox.
Enhancing Accessibility of Electronic Theses and Dissertations
(LG-256693-OLS-24)
Co-PI on a 1.5 year planning grant from the National Leadership Grants for Libraries program to support the exploratory phase of enhancing the accessibility of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) for blind and low-vision (BLV) library users. Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Leadership Grants—Libraries. 2024. $117,707.
PI: Vikas Ashok; Co-PI: Jian Wu; Co-PI: Sampath Jayarathna; Co-PI: William A. Ingram.
Preserving Open Access Datasets and Software for Sustainable Computational Reproducibility
(LG-256694-OLS-24)
Senior Personnel on a 3-year Applied Research project for preserving endangered Open Access Datasets and Software (OADS), i.e., publicly and freely available digital datasets and software packages used for reproducing research results reported in scholarly works. Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Leadership Grants—Libraries. 2024. $564,991.
PI: Jian Wu; Co-PI: Sawood Alam.
LIBRAI: Liberating Libraries through Generative Artificial Intelligence Incubator Program
(RE-256655-OLS-24)
PI on a two-year planning project to launch a Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Incubator Program that helps library professionals develop practical GenAI skills and integrate AI into their roles and work environments. The program includes training, workshops, mentoring, and capstone projects focused on AI literacy, collections, preservation, and research. Institute of Museum and Library Services, Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program. 2024. $115,398.
PI: Yinlin Chen; Co-PI: Zhiwu Xie; Co-PI: Edward A. Fox.
Curating Very Large Biomedical Image Datasets For Librarian-In-The-Loop Deep Learning
(LG-254883-OLS-23)
Co-PI on a two-year planning grant to prototype a data-curation pipeline for very large biomedical images, focusing on AI-assisted, human-in-the-loop segmentation of nanoscale biomedical image datasets and investigating how librarians and data curators can contribute specialized expertise to data-intensive scientific research. Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Leadership Grants—Libraries. 2023. $149,216.
PI: Zhiwu Xie; Co-PI: Yinlin Chen.
Joint Professional Development Institute To Cultivate Collaborative Library Scholars
(RE-254915-OLS-23)
Co-PI on a three-year professional development initiative to help academic and research library professionals build deeper interdisciplinary research partnerships. The program combines research-methods training and mentoring, seed funding for collaborative research projects, and research fellowships that provide dedicated time for librarians to conduct scholarly work. Institute of Museum and Library Services, Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program. 2023. $499,966.
PI: Tyler Walters; Co-PI: Yinlin Chen; Co-PI: Zhiwu Xie; Co-PI: Charlene Eska; Co-PI: Mark Phillips; Co-PI: Sarah Ryan; Co-PI: Jamie Wittenberg; Co-PI: Vanessa Seals; Co-PI: Martin Klein.
Ensuring Scholarly Access to Government Records and Archives
(1910-07229)
Support a convening of experts to address machine-learning techniques to enhance public access to government records. Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. 2020. $44,000.
PI: William A. Ingram.
Opening Books and the National Corpus of Graduate Research
(LG-37-19-0078-19)
Bring computational access to book-length documents, through a research and piloting effort employing Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs). Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Leadership Grants—Libraries. 2019. $505,214.
PI: William A. Ingram; Co-PI: Edward A. Fox; Co-PI: Jian Wu.