The following is a list of Catalyst Fund award recipients, the amount awarded and the project name. Five Project proposals (to be implemented by the applying institution) were funded. The Catalyst Fund was created to directly fund projects by member institutions that are designed to benefit the entire community of archives, libraries and museums. These projects were carefully reviewed and chosen based on their potential for scalability and maximum impact on all collections-holding institutions. Only LYRASIS members are eligible to apply for the Catalyst Fund.

Columbus Metropolitan Library – My Upload: Engaging Library Users in Digital Collections
$25,200. My Upload aims to make it easy for library users to contribute to digital collections through an online, open-source upload tool that corresponds to a metadata template for simple ingestion into any digital collection database. Columbus Metropolitan Library will document the process in a white paper, release the software under an open-source license, and publish it on GitHub.
Presentation
White Paper
King County Library System (KCLS) – Conversational Artificial Intelligence: Bringing the Library to Your Living Room
$34,600. King County Library System will explore community demand for and research the feasibility of implementing a library application to interface with common conversational artificial intelligence systems (e.g., Alexa, Siri, Cortana, etc.), with the goal of empowering the public to benefit from library resources anytime, anywhere.
Presentation
White Paper
Florida International University – AI for Archives: Using Facial Recognition to Enhance Metadata
$25,000. The goal of this research project is to determine the most effective facial recognition application for use with digitized archive images from cultural heritage institutions and provide opportunities for future development. Florida International University computer scientists and librarians will conduct qualitative assessments of facial recognition application models. This project addresses the issue of incomplete metadata within digital repositories and decreases the time involved in locating and matching images of people.
Presentation
White Paper
Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library – Using Linked Open Data for Georgia’s Natural, Cultural and Historic Organizations’ Disaster Response
$16,190. This project will create a publicly editable directory of Georgia’s Natural, Cultural and Historical Organizations (NCHs), allowing for quick retrieval of location and contact information for disaster response. Directory information will be uploaded to Wikidata, the linked open data database from the Wikimedia Foundation. Directory information will be delivered via a website, allowing emergency responders to quickly search for NCHs in disaster areas.
Presentation
White Paper
University of Michigan – Open Data Toolkit Based on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access Principles
$25,380. The University of Michigan (U-M) Library and the National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID) will develop a toolkit for diversity scholars to provide guidance on best practices in the research data lifecycle -- collecting, managing, utilizing, sharing and curating research data for the public good. We will incorporate Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access (DEI and A) principles, including responsibilities to communities being studied, and draw on the emerging field of critical data studies.
Presentation
White Paper
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