"Filling the Gap" with Library Philanthropy

Last Fall, the San Diego State University Division of Research and Innovation highlighted ways in which private philanthropy can help to ensure progress on critical research initiatives even as prior commitments of support from federal agencies are delayed or discontinued. While the broader story across SDSU has highlighted support delayed or eliminated from grants previously funded by federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, the University Library, which has received grants in recent years from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Endowment for the Humanities, and other agencies and organizations, has also been affected in areas of strategic concern. An overview of recent grants supporting research and other scholarly and creative activities at the University Library can be found here.

One ongoing initiative affected by the change in federal funding priorities was our collaboration with SDSU’s Center for Regional Sustainability and Tijuana’s Instituto Municipal de Arte y Cultura (through its Archivo Histórico de Tijuana): “Preserving and Revealing Tijuana’s Past.” Tijuana and San Diego together form a vibrant, bi-national community distinguished by cultural engagement among U.S. and Mexican nationals, and among the Indigenous communities that have made this region their home for thousands of years. The holdings of the Archivo Histórico document the complex society, culture, and politics of a unique border region, as well as the evolution of the City of Tijuana throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. These primary source materials can be of value to students and scholars in fields such as history, political science, anthropology, urban planning, Latin American studies, and border studies, and may also be used as part of the international learning initiatives at the heart of SDSU’s Global Strategic Plan.

As part of this project, student employees both at SDSU and in Tijuana have worked with Digital Collections Librarian Lisa Lamont and other members of the Digital Collections team to organize, digitize, and preserve more than 50,000 photographs, slides, maps, and related materials. The digital versions of the images are provided to the public through the Library's online repository, with metadata available in both English and Spanish. By providing metadata - the information that allows library materials to be found through search engines - in both English and Spanish, these valuable works are made more easily discoverable by students, scholars, and community members on both sides of the border. When our NEH grant was terminated in Spring 2025, thousands of already-digitized materials remained inaccessible because of the lack of funding to continue their description and processing for public use through our online repository. This is where the library, like the university, has looked to support from its donors.

Thanks to a philanthropic gift made by a long-time donor to the University Library, we were able to “fill the gap” left by the loss of funds that had been remaining in our original NEH grant and complete work that had been left in limbo. Working together with staff at the Archivo Histórico de Tijuana, our Digital Collections team has been able to rescue the “orphaned” files and make them available through our repository and to bring the project to a more logical conclusion. The “Tijuana History” project was initiated through a grant from the Modern Endangered Archives Program at UCLA and continued by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. While the current phase of the work has been successfully concluded thanks to philanthropic support from a library donor, there are many more collections at the Archivo Histórico worthy of digitization and of interest to the SDSU community. If you would like to know more about our digital collections initiatives and how they power partnerships with libraries, archives, and museums in Mexico as part of SDSU's global education and research initiatives, or if you would like to learn how you might add your financial support to these ongoing efforts, please contact Scott Walter, Dean of the University Library.  

“Private philanthropy has been essential to the support of core library services and innovations in library practice at SDSU for decades,” according to Dean Walter. “Our friends and donors have provided support over the years for the acquisition of special collections, renovation of library spaces, and direct support for the technology needs and employment opportunities for our students. Each year, we recognize the impact of our donors through programs like the SDSU Day of Giving, but extraordinary times allow for extraordinary opportunities, including the opportunity to support the library’s research programs. We are very grateful to the donor who stepped up to support our unique, international digital initiatives, and look forward to sharing similar initiatives and opportunities to have an impact on teaching, learning, and scholarship at SDSU through investment in the University Library."