Press Release: Lyrasis Announces the 2023 Catalyst Fund Recipients and Their Projects

Atlanta, GA – July 11, 2023 – Lyrasis, a non-profit member organization serving the global landscape of academic and public libraries, scholarly research, archives, museums and galleries, is pleased to announce the 2023 recipients of the Lyrasis Catalyst Fund. The Catalyst Fund is an award program that provides support for new ideas and innovative projects from the Lyrasis membership. This year, to support our open and inclusion initiatives, and our Catalyst Fund theme of community-driven projects and projects with community impact, all Lyrasis members voted on which projects to fund.

The Lyrasis Membership selected five projects and one idea to be funded for the benefit of the community at large. 

Capital for the Catalyst Fund comes from the $1.2 million research, development and innovation budget approved by the Lyrasis Board of Trustees. The program is managed within the Lyrasis Research and Innovation division led by Erin Tripp. Through the Catalyst Fund, now in its seventh year, Lyrasis has directly invested more than $800,000 in its members to support and promote scalable innovation. 

The five projects awarded in the 2023 Catalyst Fund are: 

• City University of New York: A model for a scalable peer review process for OER and library-based open publishing $28,500
• Emory University - Woodruff Library: Increasing Accessibility of Audiovisual Content Using Whisper $28,047
• Valdosta State University: Community Archives Digitization, Access and Preservation Program $22,205
• Rowan University: Values-Based Agreements: Developing a Sustainable Licensing Process for Academic Libraries $35,300  
• Appalachian College: Finding the Way Forward: Risk, Reward, and Building Capacity Together $39,950

In addition, the Lyrasis Leadership team has selected the idea "Creating a Micro-credential Model: Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Recovery for Libraries, Museums, and Performing Arts Centers". This idea will provide librarians, museum professionals and performing arts professionals with a micro-credential focused on disaster preparedness, crisis communication, response and recovery to assist them in responding to crises brought on by climate change, natural disasters and future pandemics.This will be planned, coordinated and implemented by Lyrasis in partnership with William Paterson University.

This year the Sandy Nyberg Award, named for Sandy Nyberg's pivotal role in the Catalyst Fund and her dedication to grants throughout her career, is awarded to City University of New York and the project, A model for a scalable peer review process for OER and library-based open publishing. The goal of this project is to develop a new, collaborative and open peer review model that recognizes vital work in Open Educational Resources (OER) rather than importing traditional peer review models.The award is $28,500.

Leigh Grindstead, the Catalyst Fund Program Manager states, "Once again, I am so excited to announce the recipients of this year’s Catalyst Fund. I’m always struck by all the creative work that goes into crafting the applications that the membership submits each year. I think these projects will generate a number of new and innovative solutions that organizations across the field will be able to adapt and apply at their own institutions. I look forward to working with them over the coming year."

Since its inception, the Catalyst Fund has funded over 35 projects. The Catalyst Fund application cycle opens every January. Lyrasis welcomes inquiries about the process year round. If interested, contact Leigh Grinstead.