The University Library has received a $857,027 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to research ways that emails can be preserved in the form of PDF files, according to a press release from the University Library.

The grant went to a program called, “Email Archives: Building Capacity and Community,” which is designated to help conserve emails for use in the future.

This program will solicit grant applications to fund projects of $25,000 to $100,000, then the projects will be evaluated and chosen.

The project is led by Chris Prom, the associate dean for digital strategies at the University. He is assisted by 13 collaborators on the project, which is estimated to be completed by June.

The project was put into place to help the library and the surrounding research community conserve emails for future research information and scholarship offers.

“Email preservation is a matter of intense public interest and speaks to the functions of public trust that archives and libraries uphold,” Prom said in the press release.

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