While most folks on campus know the Boston Library Consortium through its Virtual Catalog, our Library’s association with the BLC provides us with a number of opportunities for regional collaboration. Just last fall, the BLC signed an agreement to partner with the Open Content Alliance, a nonprofit effort aimed at making digital content available, free of charge, to the broadest possible audience. The UNH Library made an early commitment to be a part of this effort and the initial results are in!
Just before the holidays, we received links to the digital images of our pilot shipment to the BLC. As you can see, this sample reflects New Hampshire history, literature, and physical science (the link to view the book is the thumbnail to the left that flashes pages from the book):
http://www.archive.org/details/historyoffifthre00chil
http://www.archive.org/details/historyofsecondr00hayn
http://www.archive.org/details/memorialofgreatr00buff
http://www.archive.org/details/historyoftownofd02stac
http://www.archive.org/details/newhampshirepoem00fros
http://www.archive.org/details/boyswill00fros
http://www.archive.org/details/northofboston00fros
http://www.archive.org/details/granitemonthlyne02dove
http://www.archive.org/details/granitemonthlyne01dove
http://www.archive.org/details/geologyofnewhamp00newh
We were particularly impressed with the page turning feature and overall functionality. I’ll be sure to report on future upgrades to the viewer. We will be linking records in our online catalog to these and future digital volumes, as well as download copies to add to our Digital Collections.
As part of our commitment, we have agreed to send additional shipments for scanning at the BLC. Led by Eleta Exline, our Digital Collections Librarian, there is an ongoing effort to target items or collections for scanning. If you have any suggestions of UNH Library materials that you believe should be included in this project, please let us know. Monographs, serials, and microfilm are all fair game; however, the material should be pre-1923, in the public domain, or something for which we can easily obtain permission from the copyright holder.
So enjoy this modest beginning, but look forward to the rapid development of this regionally-generated, digital resource.
