Competency #9 -- Internet

I searched Google to find a good website for a special collections or archive in an academic or public library. I found a great website entitled The Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library of the Duke University Libraries. What was particularly interesting was the Research Guides and Pathfinders section. The description of this section is "Staff members have compiled a variety of guides and pathfinders based on topics that may provide helpful direction if you are beginning a research project. Please note that these guides provide highlights, not comprehensive lists."

The URL for the website is http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/

The website also includes excellent archival finding aids, guides to manuscript collections, and information about their digitized collections. This of course is not an exhaustive or extensive list but rather the highlights I found interesting. There were plenty of other websites that were interesting but I loved the pathfinders that Duke provided.

Competency 8 -- Research Visual/Multimedia

Digitization of material in archives and special collections has become more prevalent since access is becoming the focus of most archives and special collections. Although I have not addressed this in my blog so far I would be remiss if I went the whole semester without addressing digitization. The following images show the project that the National Library of Australia has undertaken.

The description the website gave before the images was "As of 30 June 2008, a total of 134 228 collection items (consisting of 389 830 images) have been digitized. As of 31 December 2008, the total reached 139,533 items (410,175 images). This includes pictorial material, maps, sheet music, manuscripts, and selected print items. The graphs below illustrate the breakdown of the Library’s digital collections."

Graph 1 – Number of items in the National Library’s digital collections by collection format, as of 31 December 2008

National Library of Australia. 2009. Digital Collections (Items) as of 31 December 2008. http://www.nla.gov.au/digital/images/Graph1Dec2008.JPG

Graph 2 - Number of images in the National Library’s digital collections by collection format, as of 31 December 2008

National Library of Australia. 2009. Digital Collections (Images) as of 31 December 2008.
http://www.nla.gov.au/digital/images/Graph2Dec2008.JPG

The library I work for is also undertaking a digitization initiative. We do not have nearly the numbers of the National Library of Australia but are starting the project to make our collections more accessible to the public as a whole.

Competency #7 -- Image

An archive and a special collection in any type of library or location will have varying types of material. I came into this competency hoping I could find an image depicting this. I searched the words archives OR "special collection" on Google Images and came across several images that were reflective of archives and special collections. I found a perfect example of varying types of material from the Business Archives at the University of Glasgow on the Universitas 21 website. Here is the image:

Universitas 21. Business Archives of Glasgow. 2009. http://www.universitas21.com/images/photos/Business%20Archives%20Display%201.jpg

The image above was chosen because it depicts photographs, books, letters, CDs, Floppy Disks, advertising booklets, a company's business register, and various other material. Dealing with the different types of material can be challenging since each requires different care and treatment but the value they bring the researcher makes it all worth it.