Digitizing Hidden Resources

The Digicenter, located on the ground floor of the James B. Duke Library keeps a steady stream of projects going that stretch across all academic departments.

The digitization of physical objects such as photos, slides, maps, and any number of formats of text greatly broadens the access and increases the value of the original resources in ways that could not be done before.

One of the most popular collections is the Iliad Manuscripts: images of three Homeric manuscripts of the Iliad, housed in the Marciana Library in Venice. Dr. Christopher Blackwell from Classics was involved in the imaging of the manuscripts. The Furman Cougar Project also draws many visitors. Taken in Ladder Ranch in Sierra County, New Mexico,the photos in this collection were graciously contributed by Dr.Travis Perry in Biology.

One of the most transformative projects involves the digitization of a number of library resources that to this point have existed only in microfilm or microcard formats. In addition a number of these items never made the transition to the library’s catalog, and have therefore remained “hidden” to users. Now not only have they come to light but by virtue of the Digicenter’s work of employing Optical Character Recognition software, many are fully searchable. Included among the titles completed are the only only black newspaper published in Greenville, SC during the 1960’s civil rights era, The Carolina News and Guide . Only 16 issues survived but at some point were saved on microfilm, and now they find life in the digital world.
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These are just a few of the many collections digitized, with dozens more in progress.

Republished from Greffitti, The Research Assistance and Reference blog of Furman University Libraries

Digital Collections Center, Special Collections Tagged