Digital library brings collections, archives online

The Indiana University Digital Library Program (DLP) is a collaborative effort by all IU campuses to create digital content that can be made available to everyone from the Web.\nThe digital library encompasses all information collected from the different IU campus' libraries, museums and archives. According to its Web site, the digital library focuses on a limited number of high-priority program areas that include already successful digital library initiatives, development of new digital library services, research and development into digital library technologies and various collaborations and partnerships. \nThe digital library has finished many projects that are already online. The collection of Victorian Women Writers, which was started in 1995, is one of them. Through this collection, 19th century British women are, for the first time, receiving attention for things they published such as novels, poetry, verse drama and political pamphlets. According to the Web site, there are currently almost 200 texts available and about 400,000 users that visit this site per month.\nThe U.S. Steel Photograph collection is another project of the program. It is located in the Calumet Regional Archive at IU Northwest in Gary and is one of the 420 collections in the archives. The images from that collection are now available on the Web. \n"U.S. Steel's Gary Works steel mill donated the images to the Archives back in the 1970s. At that time, the collection consisted of just negatives, but they were fantastic negatives, because they were 8 by 10 glass-plate negatives and one can make wonderful prints from such big negatives," said Stephen McShane, an archivist/curator for the Calumet Regional Archives in the IU Northwest library. \nThe Archives began in the early 1970s to collect, preserve, and make available historic records about Northwest Indiana's history. They collect documents, photographs, correspondence, pamphlets, programs, newsletters, scrapbooks and virtually every other two-dimensional material that will help them, and future generations, to understand the dynamic past of that region of Indiana. \n"One of my greatest desires is to have people use these collections, and that's why the U.S. Steel Collection on the Web is so exciting," McShane said. "People everywhere on the globe can now view these dramatic images; before, they would have to travel to the archives to see them."\nThe DLP is directed by three close working partners: the IU libraries, the Office of the Vice President for Information Technology Services (UITS) and the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS). Librarians, staff and information technologists from the Bloomington and Indianapolis libraries and UITS make up the current administrative team, which has set many goals. \n"The main goal is to provide projects that support the teaching and research of IU faculty, the learning and research of IU students and foster research about the digital library," Kristine Brancolini, head of the Digital Library Program, said.\nOther goals include increasing the number and range of digital resources available for faculty and students, establishing a national and international reputation for developing a premier digital library at IU and conducting a program of research to advance the state of knowledge and practice in digital libraries. The advantages of the digital library are numerous.\n"The main advantage of this new program is the worldwide accessibility," Brancolini said. "Another huge advantage are benefits that not only IU faculty and students receive, but also the benefits that scholars and the general public receive as well." \nNot just anything can be digitized. Selection of which works will be published online is based on certain criteria. According to the Web site, this criteria includes existing digital services that have demonstrated their usefulness to students or faculty, current projects to which IU has committed resources or new projects that offer widespread benefits -- including opportunities for learning, teaching, researching and developing technology. \n"I believe strongly that there isn't much point in having stuff if people don't use it," said Todd Howell, head of special collections in the IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis library. "By digitizing material we not only make it more accessible, but we also draw attention to all of our collections, and thereby increase its usage."\nThe Digital Library Program Team is open to suggestions for project ideas as long as the ideas fall within the scope of the digital library's initiatives. The DLP team also helps interested individuals plan and obtain funding for their different ideas. The program will be reviewed twice a year for the reconsideration of priorities and projects.