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2009-2010 Smathers Libraries Mini Grant
APPLICATION COVER SHEET
Application due: Thursday, October 1, 2009, 5:00 PM


Principal Investigator (PI) Name: William H. Canova
Department: Digital Library Center
Email address: wcanova@uflib.ufl.edu
_Check here if this is your first grant application as PI.


Phone: 352-273-2900


Additional applicants, please give nanf and email for each:
Joseph Kaleita-joekaleita@ufl.edu J/ q Q

Title of grant application project: Creat&bn of a Digital Military Newspaper Library

_ Check here for Emerging Technologies (ET) Funds
_ Check here if any IT support is necessary

Project abstract (no more than 100 words):

This proposal requests funds to establish a Digital Military Newspaper Library. There are 16
military newspapers published at various military bases that would be included in the grant.
These newspapers are an extremely important resource both topically and historically and
would make a valuable addition to the University of Florida's collections. Fifteen of the sixteen
titles are available for us from the publisher in electronic form (pdf) and we'd like to archive them
here at the University and start a Digital Military Newspaper Library that could be used by
students, Faculty and other researchers.

Funds requested (Limit of $5,000): $4,391.06

Describe how the10% mandatory cost share will be met (be specific):

Mandatory cost share will be met through labor associated with Joe Kaleita, Library Assistant 2
in the Digital Library Center who will convert the pdfs received from the publishers of 15 of the
16 military newspaper titles.

Please list the library resources to be used in this project and the name/and initials of the person
authorizing the intended use and date authorized. If you need more room, continue on a
separate page.

Resources Required for Project as applicable including Authorizing Date
cost share contributions Individual Athorized
Initials .L% "
DLC-Digitization Laurie Taylor 07 Aug 2009


Submitted by:


PI Signaturb

Approved by:


Dept. Chair ignature


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2009-2010 Smathers Libraries Mini Grant
PROJECT PROPOSAL NARRATIVE
Application due: Thursday, October 1, 2009, 5:00 PM


Description of the project:
This proposal requests funding to start a digital library to house, organize and preserve 16
contemporary and historic military newspapers (15 of which are born digital). For the 13
contemporary newspapers we will begin acquisition with issues beginning in January, 2009.

These newspapers represent Naval and Air Force bases from many geographical regions around
the state of Florida and will include Kennedy Space Center, a submarine base at King's Bay
Georgia, the Panama Canal Zone, and two newspapers in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This
undertaking will seek to build on the success of other projects including the Florida Digital
Newspaper Library and the Caribbean Newspaper Digital Library.

Historical Context:
In the United States the military press achieved its historic peak in terms of numbers and
influence during World War II. From the commencement of U.S. participation in the war,
numerous publications sprang up in training camps, on battlefronts, and at tactical positions
around the globe to report the news of home and the war, keep morale high, and support the war
effort. Many of the newspapers which will be included in this proposal have their roots in this era.

Value of the project:
In spite of their sustained history, scholars and librarians have seldom given much consideration
to American military newspapers. These newspapers are depended upon by active duty, reserve
and retired military personnel, and defense decision-makers for specific and precise news
coverage. Access to these titles will enable students and faculty to acquire general information
concerning issues of importance to the military, and particularly allow Journalism faculty and
students to compare reporting in military newspapers versus civilian papers.

Important benefits that will be gained by the creation of a Digital Military Newspaper Library
include:
Understand military endeavors to promote cultural awareness of countries where U.S.
forces are stationed.
Become aware of statistical military benchmarks that are less likely to be reported in
standard media
Inform students and faculty of these resources allows them to obtain improved
understanding of how soldiers live and what they are encountering
Learn about accomplishments of military personnel that are not conveyed by
conventional news sources
Discover how combatants react to daily working situations and stresses of battle
Get first-hand point of view of soldiers in peacetime and wartime circumstances

With regard to scholarly endeavors at UF, the priceless information contained within Military
newspapers is of particular interest to students and faculty concerned with research projects and
graduate degree seeking programs in Journalism, History, Political Science and various other
disciplines across campus.

The Florida Digital Newspaper Library is a national leader, as the only state newspaper library
that has converted from microfilming to digitization for current newspaper titles and as one of the
largest of all of the state digital newspaper libraries (the others are simpler operations, including
only historic newspapers. The true value of the Florida Digital Newspaper Library draws from
the sheer volume of the contents and the variety of years and titles included (445 newspaper
titles, years spanned= 1757-2009, total number ofpages= 806,450); however, that explanation








covers an inclusive, high level value. Studies of online sales and fundraising have shown that
high sales and donations are in direct relation to more personalized stories that contextualize the
materials or projects The goal of the Military Newspaper Digital Collection mini-grant is thus to
preserve and make accessible important newspapers as well as to develop the story of these
newspapers individually, and as a collection within the Florida Digital Newspaper Library as a
whole. Similar future projects envisioned for which this proposal will serve as a model include a
"Florida College and University Student Newspaper Digital Collection" and a "Florida African-
American Newspaper Library."

This project sustains the following existing and potential collaborative projects and groups:

Panama Canal Museum (with inclusion of the Spillway)
Federal Depository Library Program
Digital Library of the Caribbean and Caribbean Newspaper Digital Library

It will also support a new collaborative on military newspapers with:

Association of Southeastern Research Libraries
Southeastern Conference Academic Consortium
+ State of Florida University Libraries

Resources needed:
The majority of these newspapers are born digital and will be ingested from electronic files.
Harvesting these digital newspapers dramatically reduces the time and effort required for ingest.
Only one newspaper, The Spillway from the Panama Canal Zone, will be digitized from paper
copies. It was selected because it supports multiple existing projects and because having one
military newspaper digitized from a hard copy shows the possibility for growth for larger
collaborative projects.

The greater part of the funding requested for the Military Newspaper Digital Collection is
budgeted to hire an OPS student to research the newspaper titles, write newspaper biographies for
each of the titles, and collaborate with the Libraries' Development Office to develop materials for
use in fundraising for the Military Newspaper Digital Collection and the Florida Digital
Newspaper Library as a whole.

As well as collaborating with the Development Office to develop the necessary supports for the
Military Newspaper Digital Collection, the OPS student will refine the materials to create more
generalized templates for brochures and landing pages that can be used by partner institutions in
creating their own military newspaper digitization projects independently or in collaboration with
the University of Florida Libraries.2 These templates may be of interest to libraries in the
Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL) and the Federal Depository Library
Program. They will also help build some of the basis for future possible collaborative projects on
college and university student newspapers, which may be of interest to the Southeastern
Conference Academic Consortium (SECAC).


1 See: eBay, "Top 10 Tips" (2009: http://pages.ebav.com/sell/topl0tips.html), and Ted Hart, James M.
Greenfield, and Michael W. Johnston, Nonprofit Internet Strategies: Best Practices for i ,, .,. i,,'-.
Communications, and Fundraising Success (John Wiley and Sons, 2005; see section "Introduction to
Building an Integrated Fundraising Strategy").
2 Currently, no centralized directory or access point is available for military newspapers. The US
Army has a directory of Army newspapers (http://www.army.mil/newspapers/) and librarians often
compile guides (http://libguides.lib.ucf.edu/content.php?pid=44322&sid=381137#1156784).
However, a discussion on ALA Connect from June 2009 highlights the current and continuing
need for coordinated support to catalog and provide access to military newspapers
(http://connect.ala.org/node/76731).








In addition to the funding requested to hire an OPS student to promote and develop sustainability
of the Digital Military Newspaper Library, the resources required for this project to be successful
include the following:
Existing equipment and established procedures in the DLC for processing digital files
The time and labor of Joe Kaleita in the DLC for performing Copyright and QC
procedures on the individual newspaper issues
The time and effort of the PI to administer all aspects of the project

Plan of action:
r Project Set-up
First, the PI would request and obtain permissions to harvest and post content from
publishers. Then, the PI would work with DLC staff to derive any available bibliographic
records from OCLC and enter the newspaper information into the DLC's tracking
database.

r Acquisition and Processing
After that, DLC workers will acquire the PDF print master files from the publishers and
then convert those to TIFFs by means of an automated process. Next, DLC workers will
perform post-harvest processing on TIFFs. Subsequently a DLC full-time staff member
will perform Quality Control. After that the OCR process will be performed by
automated means. If necessary, structural metadata will be added and enriched with
secondary text-markup. Lastly an automated process will mount the complete packages in
the Military Newspaper Digital Collection within the UFDC.

r Webpage creation and newspaper biography writing
The acquisition and processing stage will be followed up by the hiring of an OPS student
to design custom interfaces and create landing pages (which are the pages that appear
when a patron clicks on a search-engine result link. They will usually display content that
is a logical extension of the link that is optimized to feature specific keywords or phrases
for indexing by search engines- See Appendix B) and write newspaper biographies (See
Appendix C) for each of the newspaper titles. By developing these supports and digitizing
or ingesting born-digital files for the titles in the Military Newspaper Digital Collection,
each of the newspapers will have a story that can be further refined for use in developing
donor funding opportunities. One potential opportunity is for each title's current and
future years to be placed as available for "adoption" by personal and corporate
donors.The OPS student hired to research and create contextual materials for this project
will work approximately 13 hours per week, with variances for semester cycles. During
the first semester (16 of the total 32 weeks), the student will research and write
newspaper biographies for each of the grant newspapers and for the Jax Air News and the
Tyndall Target, two existing military newspapers already digitized and online from the
UF Libraries. Published for the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida, the Jax Air
News has 1,000 issues already online spanning 1945-2009. The Tyndall Target was
published at Tyndall Air Force Base in the 1940s. It ceased publication with the closing
of the base like many military newspapers, and could have been lost if it were not for the
copies preserved in paper and film by only four institutions including the USF Libraries,
and now online in the Florida Digital Newspaper Library. After the student finishes
researching, writing, and editing the newspaper biographies in collaboration with the
Development Office, the student will give the biographies to the PI. The PI will
incorporate these biographies into the citations which will then feed into the catalog
through the MARCXML records automatically created for the Military Newspaper
Digital Collection through the infrastructure provided by the UFDC System.








SPromotion
During the second semester of the project (the final 16 of the total 32 weeks), the student
will work with the Development Office to develop brochures and other materials for use
in supporting donor development for the Military Newspaper Digital Collection and the
Florida Digital Newspaper Library as a whole.

Project success measurements:
Achievement of the project's goals will be based on the following criteria:
V Successful harvesting and processing of the 16 newspaper titles
V Promotion of the collection that generates use of the resources for teaching and research
among faculty, students and the general public
V Potential future use of the Digital Military Newspaper Library as a demonstration of the
viability of more digital newspaper sub-collections

Financial implications:
Harvest and Capture- hours per week x 52 weeks = 208 hours per year @ $8.00/hr = $1664
annual cost for harvest and capture.

Storage andArchiving- Based on 40 megabytes per page average: 866 pages x 12 months x 40
megabytes = 405 GB disk storage- 405GB = .39551 TB.

Costs for archiving in Tivoli for 405GB would be $138.04 for transfer in and then $86.62 for the
annual storage, for a total of $224.66 for the first year.








Budget and cost share data:


2009-2010 Application Budget Worksheet


1. Salaries and Wages (no fringe benefits required)
Name of Person Salary times % of effort Grant Funds Cost Share Total
Joe Kaleita $25,307 x 32 weeks x .10 of FTE $0.00 $1,558.00 $1,558.00
OPS Student $10/hr. x 32 weeks x .3255 FTE $4,166.40 $0.00 $4166.40
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
SUBTOTAL $4,166.40 $1,558.00 $5,724.40

2. Equipment
Item Quantity times Cost Grant Funds Cost Share Total
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
SUBTOTAL $0.00 $0.00 $0.00

3. Supplies
Item Quantity times Cost Grant Funds Cost Share Total
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
SUBTOTAL $0.00 $0.00 $0.00

4. Travel
From/To # of people/# of days Grant Funds Cost Share Total
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
SUBTOTAL $0.00 $0.00 $0.00

5. Other (services vended, etc.)
Item Quantity times cost Grant Funds Cost Share Total
$138.04 for transfer in and then
Storage and Archiving $86.62 for the annual storage $224.66 $0.00 $224.66
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
$0.00 $0.00 $0.00
SUBTOTAL _$0.00 $0.00 $0.00

Grant Funds Cost Share Total
Total Direct Costs (add subtotals of items 1-5) $4,391.06 $1,558.00 $5,949.06









Appendix A: Components of the proposal


There are 10 current military newspapers published at various military bases in Florida. All of
these would be harvested as born digital papers, thus would not require physical subscriptions,
receipt, cutting, scanning, and would need minimal or no image correction.


Eglin Dispatch
o weekly
o 28 pages
Jax Air News NAS Jax
o weekly
o 24 pages
GOSPORT -NAS Pensacola
o weekly
o 16 pages
Hurlburt Warrior
o weekly
o 23 pages
MacDill Thunderbolt
o weekly
o 25 pages


There are 2 published in Cuba:

Guantanamo Gazette -
Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay
o weekly
o 12 pages
The Wire Joint Task Force
o weekly
o 15 pages
o Archive: June 2002-current


Mayport Mirror
o weekly
o 20 pages
Missileer Patrick AFB
o weekly
o 12 pages
Southermost Flyer NAS Key West
o weekly
o 16 pages
Whiting Tower NAS Whiting Field
o weekly
o 6 pages
Spaceport News Kennedy Space Center
o biweekly
o 7 pages


1 published at a submarine base just across
the Georgia border:

Kings Bay Periscope
o weekly
o 16 pages


There are 2 ceased publications in Florida that also have digital files available:

Gulf Defender Tyndall AFB
o weekly
o 20 pages
o Archive: May 2006- Mar 2008
Coastal Courier Naval Support Activity, Panama City
o weekly
o 12 pages
o Archive: Jan 2004- Nov 2008

Finally, there is one ceased publication published in the Panama Canal Zone. The Panama Canal
Spillway was the first Canal newspaper and began publishing in 1962. It was published in both
English and Spanish and contains articles about the Panama Canal, its operation, administration
and infrastructure.

*The Panama Canal Spillway
o weekly/biweekly
o 18 pages
o Holdings: Dec 1984- Dec 1999







AoDendix B: Example Landin2 Pa2es


Landing Page for the Florida Digital News 3a ser Library


Help I Giving I 0 RSS Feeds


Sin Full Citation [G


The Florida Digital Newspaper Library (FDL) exists to
provide access to the news and history of Florida. All of the over
800,000 pages of historic through current Florida newspapers in
the Florida Digital Newspaper Library are openly and freely
available with zoomable page images and full text.
The Florida Digital Newspaper Library includes:
Current Florida newspapers, digitized from 2005 -
present
Historic Florida newspapers
Historic News Accounts of Florida
With the exception of the East-Florida Gazette in the
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Customized Landing Page Exam ale: The Florida Alligator


tAligator


About Digitization Costs


Alumni Gifts Years Requiring Funding


Acknowledgements


The Alligator, The Florida Alligator, The Summer Gator, The Independent Florida Alligator and under each it remains the
University of Florida's student newspaper. The University of Florida Libraries have begun digitizing these historically important
papers to provide online access. The Florida Digital Newspaper Library serves researchers in the State Universities of Florida, but
this collection of issues of the now-titled Independent Florida Alligator will especially serve all University of Florida students,
former, present, and future.
As the student newspaper for the University of Florida, one of the largest institutions in the country, the Alligator provides a
unique lens into the interpretation of historical events by generations of college students.
Ways to Give


Contact Us I Preferences I Technical Aspects I Statistics I Privacy Policy
@2004- 2005 University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries.
All rights reserved.
Acceptable Use, Copyright, and Disclaimer Statement
Last updated July 19, 2006 mvs


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AoDendix C: Newsopaer Biographv Example


Bradford County Telegraph




Title: Bradford County telegraph.
Published: Starke, Fla.: L.C. Webb, 1888-
Description: v.
Additional form: Also available on microfilm from the University of Florida.
Frequency: Weekly
Publishing history: Vol. 9, no. 41 (Apr. 13, 1888)-
Continues: Starke telegraph (DLC)sn 95047405 (OCoLC)33901150
Notes: Publishers: Mathews & Farmer, <1893-1897>; E.S. Mathews, <1900-1926>.
The first issue of this ongoing weekly was issued July 26,1879 under the title Florida Telegraph [LCCN:
sn95047402], published by William Wyatt Moore, a native Floridian, a staunch Democrat and an experienced
newspaperman. He had previouslyworked for a newspaper in Tallahassee (FL) and had published
newspapers in the Florida cities ofJacksonville, Lake City, Cedar Key and Pensacola. After publishing for a
shorttime as the Weekly Florida Telegraph [LCCN: sn95047403] and reversion backto the Florida Telegraph
[LCCN: sn95047404], the name was changed to the Starke (FL) Telegraph [LCCN: sn95047405]. In 1887,
Sterling Moore sold a half-interest in the newspaper to I.C. Webb, who became sole owner within a few months
and changed the name to the Bradford County (FL) Telegraph [LCCN: sn95047406] in 1888. In 1893, Eugene
S. Matthews, who had previously worked for newspapers in the Florida cities of Gainesville and Ocala,
Summary: purchased the Bradford County Telegraph with Ben J. Farmer, who then sold his interest to Matthews in 1898.
Eugene S. Matthews published the Bradford County Telegraph forforty years. During this time, he was also
elected to the state legislature in 1904, 1907, 1911 and 1923. His son, Eugene L. Matthews, a graduate of
Columbia University's School ofJournalism, took over the publication in 1933, matching his father's record of
forty years as publisher. On his retirement in 1973, he sold the paperto his sons-in-law, Bobby Ferguson and
John Miller. The Bradford County Telegraph continues to be published [ca. 2007] by John Miller, who also
publishes the Lake Region Monitor [LCCN: not known to exist] and the Union County (FL) Times [LCCN:
sn95047168]. Mark Crawford is the editor. Source: Bradford County Telegraph, July 26, 1979, centennial issue.
The Lake Region Monitor is not known to exist and has not been described by any other source.--E. Kesse,
University of Florida Digital Library Center.
Subjects, general: Bradford County (Fla.) -- Newspapers






Appendix D: Letters of Support
Admiral LeRoy Collins- Executive Director, Florida Department of Veteran's Affairs
Miriam Gallet- Public Affairs Officer, NAS Jacksonville
Dr. Joseph Spillane- Chair, History Department, UF
Dr. Ronald Rodgers- Journalism Professor, UF
Professor Diane Mazur- Military Law Professor, UF
Professor M. Leann Brown- Political Science Professor, UF
Lt. Colonel Charles W. Werner- Army ROTC, UF
Captain David Newland- USN and USMC ROTC, UF
Laurie Taylor- Interim Director, Digital Library Center, UF
James Cusick- Curator, P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History, UF
Patrick Reakes- Chair, Allen H. Neuharth Journalism and Communications, UF
Brooke Wooldridge- dLOC Coordinator, FIU













LeRoy Collins, Jr.
Executive Director


State of Florida
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS Charlie Crist
Governor
Office of the Executive Director Bill McCollum
4040 Esplanade Way, Suite 180 Attorney General
Alex Sink
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0950 Chief Financial Officer
Charles Bronson
Commissioner of Agriculture


September 1, 2009

Members of the Grants Management Committee
George A. Smathers Library
University of Florida

Dear Committee Members,

As Executive Director of the Florida Department of Veteran's Affairs, I strongly support the
proposed Digital Military Newspaper Queue Mini-Grant proposal submitted by William Canova.

This is a valuable resource for a diverse segment of the population which appeals not only to
active military personnel, Reserves and Guard members, but retired military and civilians as well.
The contemporary and historical value of these newspapers is significant. Military newspapers
published in Florida are important for the regional perspective that they offer, and the valuable
coverage of a wide ranging number of state, national and global issues of vital importance to our
populace.

This proposal will provide access to materials for students, scholars and researchers to form a
much broader overview of current events from a military perspective.

I urge you to consider funding this project.

Sincerely,

"/ ,


LeRoy Collins, Jr.
RADM USNR (Ret.)
Executive Director


850-487-1533 850-488-4001 (Fax) www.floridavets.org







DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
NAVAL AIR STATION IN REPLY REFER TO:
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA 32212-5000

19 August 2009


Members of the Grants Management Committee
George A. Smathers Library
University of Florida

Dear Committee Members,

I am pleased to write a letter in strong support for the proposed Digital Military
Newspaper Queue Mini-Grant proposal submitted by William Canova.

As a public affairs officer with more than 25 years of experience with the military I
can personally attest that military newspapers are vitally important not only to
active military, Reserve personnel and National Guard troops, but to retired
military in all branches as well. They are also an important resource for families
of servicemen and other civilians on and off base who wish to keep abreast of
military news.

Military newspapers provide documentation of all aspects of military life and
afford a look at each installation's impact on local life and economy in the towns
that surround the bases. The current value, not to mention the historical
significance of these newspapers to students, scholars and researchers is
immeasurable.

Given the events in Afghanistan, the Middle East and other regions worldwide
over the course of the past few years the information found in military
newspapers is more essential now than it has ever been.

This correspondence shall not be taken as an endorsement by the United States
Government, the Department of Defense, or any subordinate agency thereof.

I enthusiastically support this project.


PUBLIC AFFAIRS-OFFICER
NAS JACKSONVILLE







F UNIVERSITY of
UFFLORIDA
College of Liberal Arts & Sciences 025 Keene-Flint Hall
Department of History PO Box 117320
Gainesville, FL 32611-7320
352-392-0271
352-392-0627 Fax

September 4, 2009

Grants Management Committee
George A. Smathers Library
University of Florida

Dear Committee Members,

This letter serves as a indicator of the enthusiastic support for, and endorsement of, the project
proposal for a Digital Military Newspaper Library being submitted for consideration by Will Canova
for a University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries Mini-Grant.

The proliferation of digital historical resources has been revolutionary for the teaching and study of
history, as much so here at UF as anyplace. The transformative power of digital technology opens up
new vistas for historical scholarship and provides teachers with new and exciting aids to student
learning. For this reason, we're particular excited by Will Canova's proposal to bring military
newspapers to a new audience, digitally.

As for the specific project itself, it seems very consistent with the mission of the University of Florida
as a public institution. After all, the connections between Florida and the military run deep. By
bringing the unique content of the military newspapers to a light, one would imagine that UF will be
serving a board audience of interested parties-both scholarly and general audiences interested in the
state's history, military affairs, and the social history of military life.

The state of Florida has a long and substantial historical connection to the U.S. military, one that
continues today primarily with a focus on the Naval and Air Force branches. The unique content
contained in the newspapers published at the military installations within, or in close proximity to, the
state would be of great value and interest to a broad cross section of researchers, including military
historians, mass communications researchers, Florida history researchers and students.

I think it is safe to say that the proposed project would bring to light resources that are simply not
readily available; indeed, I can think of no other project quite like it. In that respect, we have here a
chance to do something of real significance; a project which might otherwise remain undone. My
colleagues and I feel that this project is a very worthy and effective use of grants funds, and urge your
serious consideration to the proposal.

Sin rely,

ph Spi e
Ch Depart lent of History







UNIVERSITY OF

FLORIDA

College of Journalism and Communications 3053 Weimer Hall
Department of Journalism PO Box 118400
Ronald R. Rodgers Gainesville, FL
32611-8400
Office: 352/392-8847
FAX (352) 846-2673
rrodgers(,iou.ufl.edu


Members of the Grants Management Committee
George A. Smathers Library
University of Florida

Dear Committee Members,

I have been asked to endorse the project proposal for a Digital Military Newspaper
Library that Will Canova is submitting for consideration for a University of Florida
George A. Smathers Libraries Mini-Grant. I do so enthusiastically because digital
archives of every kind including newspapers are the future of communication and
historical research as we proceed into the 21st century.

I am a working media historian whose focus is on unpacking the consciousness of the
past, as media scholar James Carey advised. And one of the most excellent sources for
doing so is newspapers especially if they are newspapers that have been digitally
archived so that they are searchable. Indeed, the whole notion of digital research, it seems
to me, is just at its beginning. Mr. Canova's proposal is one more addition to bringing it
to fruition and would certainly add to the efforts going on at libraries across the country,
including the University of Florida and the Library of Congress.

The proposal to archive military newspapers if approved would certainly prompt other
efforts across the country and offer a valuable resource to communications researchers
explicating the past as it relates to the military and its place in American society. Indeed, I
speak to this with a bit of expertise because one job during my newspaper career was at
Stars and Stripes, a military paper that has just gone online with digital archives.


Again, I repeat, I wholeheartedly endorse this proposal and look forward to it becoming a
reality.

Yours i-ollegiality



Ronald R. Rodgers, Ph.D.


Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution






UWF UNIVERSITY of

UF FLORIDA

Fredric G. Levin College of Law Spessard L. Holland Law Center
Offices of the Faculty PO Box 117625
Gainesville, FL 32611-7625
352-273-0660
September 2, 2009 352-392-3005 Fax
http:/ /www.law.ufl.edu
Members of the Grants Management Committee
George A. Smathers Library, University of Florida

Dear Committee Members,

I strongly endorse Will Canova's application for a George A. Smathers Libraries
Mini- Grant to establish a Digital Military Newspaper Library. I am a Professor of Law at
the University of Florida's College of Law, the law school's resident specialist in
military-legal affairs, and a former U.S. Air Force officer.

More than thirty-five years after the end of the military draft in 1973, the
connection between academic research and military affairs has grown weaker. Fewer
members of the university community have meaningful experience with the military, yet
some of the most important political and moral issues of the day relate to military service.
It is essential that academic libraries establish resources to help students and faculty
members take part in the constitutional process of civilian control of the military. A
digital access project for military newspapers is necessary because in most instances they
are unavailable to researchers outside the local community.

Military newspapers are a small but important part of that information. Designed
primarily for a military readership, they can provide a local, first-hand perspective on
military culture that differs from national media reports. For example, imagine the
benefit provided to University of Florida students and faculty by ready access to
journalistic accounts of life at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, written by the service members
assigned to this controversial duty.

The University of Florida is an especially appropriate venue for this digital
resource, given the strong military presence within Florida and nearby states. During the
2000 presidential election, overseas voting by military personnel became one of the most
contentious legal issues in Florida's ballot count. Access to reports from the many large
military installations in Florida would have provided an important first-person
perspective on events as they unfolded. The Digital Military Newspaper Library is an
important opportunity for the University of Florida and a more-than-worthy candidate for
Min-Grant support.
Sincerely,


Diane H. Mazur
Professor of Law



The Foundation for The Gator Nation
An Equal Opportunity Institution







UNIVERSITY OF

FLORIDA

Department of Political Science 234 Anderson Hall
PO Box 117325
Gainesville, FL 32611-7325
September 7, 2009 (352) 392-0262
Fax (352) 392-8127

On behalf of the International Relations faculty and students in the Department of Political
Science, I write to express our enthusiastic support for the creation and funding of a Digital
Military Newspaper Library at the University of Florida. The military newspapers in the state
represent an outstanding source of primary data for research on the military political-economy in
the state and country from which our faculty and students could benefit.

On the graduate level, the Department of Political Science offers specializations in Security
Studies and United States Foreign Policy, and we are designated a training center by the United
States Department of Defense on the MA-level for Army captains who go on to serve as Foreign
Liaison Officers (mostly in embassies abroad) and on the PhD-level for majors and colonels who
will teach in the Airforce service academies. For example, Major Eric Moody graduated from
our department during Spring semester 2009 and is now teaching at the Airforce Academy in
Colorado. And, Colonel Pete McCade is currently writing his dissertation while teaching at the
training center in Prattville, AL.

On the undergraduate level, the Department of Political Science confers a Certificate in
International Relations on approximately 60 students per year. This program requires 18-credits
of coursework (with a "B" or better average) pertaining to International Relations Theory,
International Security, United States Foreign Policy, International Organizations, and
International Political Economy. Having ready access to a Digital Military Library here at the
University of Florida will enhance students' understanding of the social, political, and economic
issues associated with these important contributors to the country's status as a great power and
the state's position as a hemispheric leader.

A final personal note, I have worked with Smathers Library Staff in the past on such activities as
preparing Title VI grant proposals, conference organizing, acquisitions, and student research
projects. Smathers librarians have always demonstrated competency and commitment to
excellence that bodes well for the success of the new Digital Military Newspaper Library. If you
require elaboration on these comments, please feel free to contact me at
.

Sincerely,

^*Cct9^' n^--~~
M. Leann Brown
Associate Professor
International Relations Field Chair


An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution









DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
UNITED STATES CADET COMMAND, 6TM BRIGADE
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
103 VAN FLEET HALL
GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA 32611-8536

REPLY TO
ATTENTION OF

ATCC-FFL-UF 16 September 2009



MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD

SUBJECT: Army ROTC Support for Digital Military Newspaper Library

To Whom It May Concern,

1. I am writing to endorse the proposal of the University of Florida, Digital Library Center &
Florida Digital Newspaper Library to digitize and make available military periodicals.

2. Making these publications available to the students of the University of Florida and the
citizens of Florida will allow a glimpse into the everyday life of service members. Having the
ability to see how service members and their families share information and what is important to
them will broaden the understanding the students and the public has of the role the military plays
in society. The proposal would also be a benefit to the cadets of our program by allowing them
to gain a historical perspective on the life and work of service members. As they study military
history and leadership the access to these documents, which are not available in any other forum,
they would gain a better understanding of the past. This education will have a positive impact on
making them better future officers and leaders of the U.S. Army.

3. The benefit to the students of this university and the cadets in our program make this project
worth whatever financial support that can be provided.

4. The POC for this memorandum is CPT David Virginia at (352) 392-1395 ext. 216.





CHARLES W. WERNER
Lieutenant Colonel, US Army
Professor of Military Science







UF UNIVERSITY of

UF FLORIDA

Department of Naval Science Van Fleet Hall
Navy/ Marine Corps ROTC PO Box 118537
Gainesville, FL 32611-8537
9 September 2009 352-392-0973
Fax 352-392-3069




Members of the Grants Management Committee
George A. Smathers Library
University of Florida

Dear Committee Members,

This letter serves as my strongest personal endorsement of the project
proposal for a Digital Military Newspaper Library being submitted for
consideration by Will Canova for a University of Florida George A.
Smathers Libraries Mini-Grant.

The State of Florida has a considerable historical connection to the U.S.
Armed Forces, one that continues to this day by way of Naval and Air
Force Installations throughout the region. The distinctive content
contained in the newspapers published at the military bases in the
Southeast would be of great interest to a variety of researchers,
including those interested in Military History, Military Law, Political
Science, Florida History and Journalism, not to mention UF ROTC
students.

Once again, I'd like to reiterate my endorsement for the proposed Digital
Military Newspaper Library. I feel the project has a great deal of value
and would be both an indispensable addition to the digital collections at
the University of Florida Libraries.


Regards,




CAPT D. A. NEWLAND, USN








The Foundationfor The Gator Nation
An Equal Opportunity Institution








UF UNIVERSITY of

UFIFLORIDA

George A. Smathers Libraries Digital Library Center
Digital Library Center University of Florida
P. O. Box 117003
Gainesville, FL 32611-7003
352.273.2900

September 13, 2009

Dear Members of the Mini Grant Committee:

I write in support of Will Canova's proposal for a Military Newspaper Digital Collection. The proposal offers a
well written and well planned project to add a small number of newspaper titles for access, preservation, and
in service of increased sustainability for newspaper digitization at the University of Florida Libraries as a
whole. This project will allow for the preservation of important newspapers for the Florida and Caribbean
region, further developing the Florida Digital Newspaper Library and the Caribbean Newspaper Digital
Library within the Digital Library of the Caribbean. More importantly, this proposal seeks to leverage the
work to ingest and digitize, host, and archive these newspapers to build a development program in support of
newspaper digitization by the University of Florida Libraries.

Given the overall goal of increased sustainability, Will selected primarily born-digital newspapers for this
project. The processing for born-digital newspapers is dramatically lower than that for physical newspapers.
For born-digital newspapers, publishers send or DLC staff harvest the digital files the newspaper publishers
send to their printers. This means that no physical check in, cutting of the papers into single sheets, or
scanning is required. The image clean-up requirements are also much lower for the high quality born-digital
images. Because of the high quality files, more extensive processing automation is also possible. While born
digital files require so few resources in comparison, a single historical newspaper was selected to ensure the
scope of the Military Newspaper Digital Collection is not perceived as being limited to current, born-digital
newspapers only. The Spillway, from the Panama Canal Zone, is the one historic title that will be included. It
was selected because it is already in need of digitization to support the Panama Canal Digital Collections.

The Military Newspaper Digital Collection proposal has my support for the activities proposed. The budget has
been reviewed and is appropriate for the work outlined in the proposal. Contingent on approval from the
Libraries for the mini grant proposal, the DLC will commit the required resources for the first year for
processing, loading, and archiving these papers as well as for the work required to liaise with the graduate
student in creating resources for use by the Development Office.

Best regards,



Laurie N. Taylor, PhD
Interim Director, Digital Library Center
University of Florida
PO Box 117003
Gainesville, FL 32611
352.273.2900



The Foundation for The Gator Nation
An Equal Opportunity Institution







UNIVERSITY of

UFFLORIDA

George A. Smathers Libraries 208 Smathers Library
Collection Management Division PO Box 117005
Department of Special and Area Studies Collections Gainesville, FL 32611-7005
352-273-2778
352-846-2746 Fax
www.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/

To: The Grants Management Committee September 15, 2009
From: James Cusick
Re: William Canova's Mini Grant Proposal

Dear Committee Members and Proposal Judges:

I am writing in support of Will Canova's proposal to digitize runs of military newspapers as a means of
developing an online library of Florida's military journalism. As the collection manager for Florida
history, I think there are several reasons why this project is significant.

First, Florida has always been the location of important U.S. military bases, as well as the hub of NASA's
space launches. However, information on military families and active duty personnel is relatively
difficult to find in standard sources about Florida. Base newspapers are important records of the role of
the U.S. military in the life of the state. Among other things, they remind us that places like Eglin, NAS-
Jacksonville, Mayport, MacDill, and the Kennedy Space Center directly affect the demography and
economy of their neighboring civilian communities and contribute to the number of military families
who make their homes in Florida. According to American Forces News Services, Florida has more than
109,000 military personnel. The 2008 Florida Statistical Abstract estimates that in 2006 Florida received
almost $11 billion in defense contracts while a more recent study by the University of West Florida put
the overall impact of defense spending at $27 billion or about 7.5% of the state's gross product (Florida
Guardsman Online). Canova's proposal to preserve information on this sub-section of Florida's
population is worthy of support from the library.

Second, this project is consistent with long standing trends at the library. The P.K. Yonge Library of
Florida History has always maintained military records pertaining to Florida, notably those pertaining to
the Second Seminole War, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, and the Florida National Guard.
Although interest in military history waned somewhat at UF during the 1980s and 1990s, the coming of
the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as well as new interest in the history of World War II and Vietnam, is
bringing researchers back to military source material. Demand continues for material on World War II,
as witnessed in such books as Operation Drumbeat (1990), Florida at War (1993), Hitler's Soldiers in
the Sunshine State (2000), RAF Wings over Florida (2000), and Hillsborough County goes to War (2001).
Eventually, we can expect increasing demand for records about the Vietnam era and the War on Terror.
This digital project will provide us with a new way to archive publications that document those eras and
their impact on people in Florida.

Third, there is probably no practical way to preserve these newspapers other than through a digital
archive. Military newspapers challenge the librarian and archives with some of the same problems
associated with trade journals, religious journals, and organizational newsletters. It is no longer practical
for us to maintain gift or paid subscriptions to all these publication, as we have in the past, and to keep
them in paper format. Microfilm copies are becoming increasingly obsolete. We have to move towards
digitization; and like all publications outside the mainstream, military newspapers, with their limited
distribution and specialized purpose, are likely to get lost in the cracks if we don't make a specific effort
to preserve them.


The Foundation for The Gator Nation
An Equal Opportunity Institution







UFEp UNIVERSITY of

UF FLORIDA


Current issues of the titles in this project are online and I encourage you to view samples of them. Aside
from news coverage they are important photographic records of base life and operations. Several have
their own online archives, although usually these extend back no further than 2002-2003.

The Mayport Mirror and JaxAir News: http://www.mayportmirror.com/
MacDill Thunderbolt: http://www.macdillthunderbolt.com/
The Eglin Dispatch: http://www.eglindispatch.com/

Will Canova has shown great dedication and has been highly successful in transitioning our general
Florida newspaper project into the digital age. He has negotiated with publishers to bring additional titles
into our holdings and to obtain PDF versions directly from publishers, eliminating the need to receive,
process, store, and scan papers issues. With the support of a mini-grant, he can extend the newspaper
initiative so that it includes military newspapers. His primary request for support is the assistance of a
graduate student to work under his direction and carry out the day-to-day work in starting up the program.
I hope you will approve his proposal and award him funds to carry it out.


incerely,


Ja es Cusick
C rator, P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History
S cial & Area Studies Collections
eorge A. Smathers Library, University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611
352-273-2778 /jgcusick@ufl.edu

























The Foundation for The Gator Nation
An Equal Opportunity Institution







F UNIVERSITY of

UF FLORIDA


George A. Smathers Libraries
Departmental Libraries
Allen H. Neuharth Journalism and Communications Library


1060 Weimer Hall
PO Box 118400
Gainesville, FL 32611-8400
352-273-2770
352-392-5809 Fax
www.uflib.ufl.edu/jour/


August 20, 2009
Members of the Grants Management Committee
George A. Smathers Library
University of Florida

Dear Committee Members,

This letter serves as a strong endorsement of the project proposal for a Digital Military
Newspaper Library being submitted by Will Canova for University of Florida George A.
Smathers Libraries Mini-Grant consideration.

The state of Florida has a long and substantial historical connection to the U.S. military, one that
continues today primarily with a focus on the Naval and Air Force branches. The unique content
contained in the newspapers published at the military installations within, or in close proximity
to, the state would be of great value and interest to a broad cross section of researchers, including
military historians, mass communications researchers, Florida history researchers and students.

As the "first rough draft of history" newspapers provide an unfiltered perspective of events as
they happen. They include important primary source material unavailable elsewhere or filtered
and interpreted via secondary sources. Providing broad digital access to these resources in their
original form would be a valuable addition to, and logical expansion of, the digital newspaper
libraries currently available through the UFDC.

Once again, I'd like to reiterate my support for the proposed Digital Military Newspaper project. I
feel it has clear, far reaching significance and would be both a valuable addition to the Smathers
Libraries digital collections and an effective use of Mini-Grant funds.


Patrick J. Reakes, Associate University Librarian
Chair, Departmental Libraries/Head, Neuharth Library






The Foundation for The Gator Nation
An Equal Opportunity Institution













SDgtlqs Liea f Ubhe laubbbanu
Bibiloteca Digital del Caribe Biblloth6que Num6rique des Caraibes

August 19, 2009

Florida International University
GL 225A, University Park
Miami, FL 33199
Tel: (305) 348-3008; Fax: (305) 348-6579
bwooldrifliu.edu

Members of the Grants Management Committee
George A. Smathers Library
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611

Dear Committee Members,
It is my pleasure to offer this letter of support for the Digital Library Center's
(DLC) new proposal to develop a Digital Military Newspaper Library. As the
coordinator for the Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC), I can highly
recommend the DLC as a capable and supportive technology partner. In
addition, though my work with dLOC and the Caribbean Newspaper Digital
Library, I regularly see the importance of newspaper digitization for researchers
across the disciplines.
The DLC has built the necessary technical framework to accomplish this project
in the most economical and efficient manner. First through its work with the
Florida Digital Newspaper Project and now with its support of the Caribbean
Newspaper Digital Library, the DLC has developed the copyright clearance and
technical workflow to easily incorporate this new and important collection.
In addition, the plan to include The Guantanamo Gazette and The Wire from the
military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will directly support the content planned
for the already funded Caribbean Newspaper Digital Library.
Both researchers and students have encouraged me to support the digitization of
newspapers as valuable primary sources for research. Due to the quality of both
the paper and the ink, printed newspapers are difficult to preserve. Now that
most newspapers are published electronically, the logistical solution is to archive
the papers in bom digital format. These newspapers would make a great
addition to the University of Florida's collections, and I highly encourage you to
support this proposal.
Best regards,


Brooke Wooldridge
Digital Library of the Caribbean