Grants of up to $8,000 to Washington public, academic, and tribal libraries to preserve special collections of historic and cultural significance. The funds are intended to expand institutional capacity to sustain digital initiatives and support regional or statewide approaches to digital cultural heritage collections. Project output must be openly accessible to the public.

Collaboration and formal partnerships are encouraged, but not required.

All applications submitted must include two (2) components:
1) A detailed project proposal identifying specific activities undertaken to digitize, preserve, create, describe, or disseminate digital archival or special collections.
2) A plan for measuring both project outputs (i.e., what is produced by the project), and project outcomes (i.e., changes in knowledge, skills, and abilities of targeted audiences (which may include project/library staff)).

Grant funds may be used:
- To purchase equipment to digitize material (e.g., scanners) or create digital content (e.g., digital multimedia recording devices), or to purchase software to edit, optimize, or preserve digital files (e.g., Adobe Creative Suite software).
- To pay staff salaries and benefits, and contract services (including third-party vendors) for project activities. However, since grant funds cannot take the place of previously budgeted local funding, regularly scheduled staff hours are not eligible for reimbursement. Backfill, overtime, and temporary or contracted project employees are eligible for reimbursement. Detailed timesheets are required when claiming reimbursement.
- Pay for staff training related to the project.
- Pay for costs related to outreach and/or promotion of the project (e.g., printing or advertising).