Please see below for a message from the Recollection Wisconsin Governing Board and Steering Committee chairs.
Dear Digital Stewardship Community of Practice: In the next few weeks, we have an unprecedented opportunity to secure Recollection Wisconsin’s future. Our funding request in the 2023-25 state budget is essential to our ability to continue operations, and will serve as a foundation for the next era of digital history in Wisconsin. The state legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance is currently soliciting the public’s feedback on the proposed biennial budget. This feedback is key to demonstrating citizen support for our budget request. We encourage content partners and anyone else who has benefitted from Recollection Wisconsin to submit comments through the Finance Committee’s online portal by April 26, 2023. Here are some suggestions for what to include in your comment: Identify yourself and your relationship to Recollection Wisconsin. What library, archives, museum, or other organization are you associated with? What is your role there? If you’re a content partner, how many years have you contributed to Recollection Wisconsin and DPLA? What types of content do you contribute? You may mention specific Finance Committee members by name if you are their constituent. Share a specific example of how Recollection Wisconsin has made a difference for you, your organization, or your community. Are students or teachers using your digital collections in the classroom? Have genealogists or local historians in your community been able to find answers to research projects or uncover new family connections? Have Recollection Wisconsin’s training events or resources helped you get a project off the ground? Has sharing your collections online led to any new partnerships, donations, or other opportunities? Summarize the budget request. Adapt this sentence in your own words (or simply copy and paste): I’m writing to support an allocation for Recollection Wisconsin of $450,000 in segregated revenue over two years as part of the Department of Public Instruction’s 2023-25 biennial budget, in order to ensure that vulnerable historical resources from communities across the state are digitized, preserved, and made accessible for future generations.
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