In recent years, the opportunities for academic libraries to engage as a partner in digital initiatives in academia have expanded significantly. The traditional focus on digitization, preservation, and dissemination of collections has developed and shifted considerably, bringing new strategies for adequately serving the changed academic needs, as…

Digitization and preservation of natural resource documents were reviewed and the current status of digitization presented for a North American university. It is important to present the status of the digitation process for natural resources and to advocate for increased collections of digital material for ease of reference and exchange of…

The decision for libraries to make print collections available in a digital format has already been made. The question is how to go digital in a way that is practical (e.g., considering funding, staff time) and useful for patrons (both local and remote). Though creating digital versions of paper maps has been standard practice for a decade or more…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the challenges faced in digitising copyright-protected books and other materials within the National Library of Norway. Design/methodology/approach: Following a description of Bokhylla, or The Bookshelf, the paper outlines the strategies adopted within the National Library of Norway…

Manuscripts, archives, and early printed books contain a documentary record of the foundations of human knowledge. Many elements restrict access to this corpus, from preservation concerns to censorship. On the assumption that the widespread availability of knowledge benefits the human condition more than the restriction of knowledge, elements…

Electronic reference resources are expanding traditional print reference collections far beyond the walls of the library building. While the library literature has seen a debate rage about the various merits and pitfalls of electronic reference sources, no one disputes they are here to stay. As more of the library content becomes available through…

Discusses a draft report issued by the Task Force on Digital Archiving, formed by the Research Libraries Group and the Commission on Preservation and Access, that considered how to ensure continued access to records stored in digital electronic form. Topics include reformatting obsolete materials; challenges with digital objects; and cost…

Mass digitization of the bound volumes that we generally call "books" has begun, and, thanks to the interest in Google and all that it does, it is getting widespread media attention. The Open Content Alliance (OCA), a library initiative formed after Google announced its library book digitization project, has brought library digitization projects…

How are academic libraries organizing themselves in order to engage in the content selection and digitization of local collections? Are libraries creating new positions or units, assigning responsibilities to existing departments, setting up cross-functional collaboration among existing departments, or using a combination of these strategies? Who…

Librarians and archivists find themselves facing the prospect of digitization. Everyone is doing it, everyone needs it. Discussions rage nationally and internationally concerning what to digitize and the best means to present and retain digital objects. Digitization is the act of making something digital, expressing a physical object "in numerical…

The U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) sponsored the symposium "Scholarship and Libraries in Transition: A Dialogue about the Impacts of Mass Digitization Projects" in March 2006 at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. The symposium was organized with a keynote and several other individual presentations, as well…

In 2004, Georgia State University (GSU) Library's Southern Labor Archives, located in Atlanta, began working with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) to plan for the digitization of the union's 105-year-old journal. With generous financial support from IAM, the authors, who are GSU staff members, began…

Since its humble beginning, Digital Past, a centralized local history digitization initiative at the North Suburban Library System (NSLS), a multitype consortium in Wheeling, Illinois, has now grown into a large centralized collaboration that consists of 32 libraries and a museum as its primary contributors. With Digital Past, there are various…

This article proposes that a viable approach archivists might consider to meet increasing demands for access to digital images with functional presentation tools is to develop a reciprocal partnership with a digital library. The University of California's experience with the federation of licensed and UC-owned digital image collections is…

Based in the context of challenges faced by archives when managing digital projects, this article explores options of looking outside the existing expertise of archives staff to find collaborative partners. In teaming up with other departments and organizations, the potential scope of traditional archival digitization projects is expanded beyond…