Indiana University Libraries, in partnership with the libraries of Emory University, Cornell University, Northwestern University, University of Notre Dame, and University of California at Santa Barbara, and the WGBH Media Library and Archives, submitted a preliminary proposal to the Institute of Museum and Library Services National Leadership Grants for Libraries program in October 2020 for a two-year National Digital Infrastructures and Initiatives grant to support development of new features for the open source Hyrax digital repository toolkit along with work to modernize the technical underpinnings and enable new modes of interoperability with other tools and platforms in the digital repository ecosystem.
Project participants were solicited via an open call on the samvera-partners list, based on a grant prospectus developed by the 2020 Samvera Fundraising Team.
In Spring of 2021, the grant partners were invited by IMLS to write a full proposal, which was submitted to IMLS on March 26, 2021.