Community Digitization at Washington State Library: Washington Rural Heritage

Washington Rural Heritage is a community memory project headquartered at the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State. The project brings together unique local history materials from libraries, museums, and private collections of citizens across Washington State. Local communities retain the original materials and send digital copies to Washington State Library for preservation and access. Washington Rural Heritage provides the infrastructure for libraries and other cultural heritage organizations to post digital objects to an online portal where they will be available to the public and provides both long-term access and preservation for digital materials.

Participating in Washington Rural Heritage

Washington Rural Heritage is open to libraries located within Washington, including public, tribal, academic and special libraries. See our collection development policy for more information on what materials are appropriate for inclusion in Washington Rural Heritage.

Collections on Washington Rural Heritage are usually set up by a single library but may include contributions from multiple organizations. Most collections cover a single geographic area, either a town and surrounding environs or a county. Organizations within the same geographic area are encouraged to work together to avoid creating overlapping collections and to simplify user access. Washington Rural Heritage does not accept items directly from individuals, however, we encourage libraries to work with their communities to digitize materials that might otherwise not be accessible to the public. Members of the public in possession of historical materials that they would like to contribute should contact the coordinating institution for the collection relevant to their materials.

Libraries wishing to participate should contact Washington State Library. Washington Digital Heritage grants are available on an annual basis. Libraries may use these grants to purchase equipment, contract digitization work, or pay for additional staff time to work on digital projects. Learn more about Washington Digital Heritage grants at washstatelib.libguides.com/washington_digital_heritage_grants.  Libraries do not need to receive a Washington Digital Heritage grant to participate in Washington Rural Heritage. All libraries in Washington are welcome to participate whether or not they are current or former Washington Digital Heritage recipients.