Partners: The University of Louisville Libraries; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Libraries; Florida State University Libraries; Auburn University Libraries; Georgia Institute of Technology Library and Information Center.

Subject:This project will develop a MetaArchive of Southern Digital Culture by creating a distributed digital preservation network for critical and at-risk content relative to Southern culture and history. The partners will select and preserve institutional digital archives and other institutionally relevant born-digital materials such as electronic theses and dissertations, as well as ephemeral works such as online exhibitions and cultural history Web site displays. This body of digital content includes a wide variety of subjects complementary to Library of Congress collections such as the Civil War, civil rights movement, slave narratives, Southern music, handicrafts and church history. The partner institutions of this project envision a three-year process to develop a cooperative for the preservation of at-risk digital content with a particular content focus: the culture and history of the American South. The project group members will jointly develop:

• a prioritized conspectus of at-risk digital content in this subject domain held at the partner sites;
• a body of content from the partner institutions, selected as most critically in need of preservation, harvested into a "dark archive";
• a cooperative agreement for ongoing collaboration
• a distributed preservation network infrastructure based on the LOCKSS software.

The proposed work plan for this project builds on relationships and workflows developed during previous projects of the MetaScholar Initiative and other collaborating consortia. (See: www.metaarchive.org)