1. Using Digital Collections for
Reference and Research
AFPL Staff Development Day 2013
Russell Palmer

2. What is a ―digital collection?‖
―…organizations that provide the resources,
including the specialized staff, to select,
structure, offer intellectual access to, interpret,
distribute, preserve the integrity of, and ensure
the persistence over time of collections of digital
works so that they are readily and economically
available for use by a defined community or set
of communities‖

3. What have you used before?
• Share any digital collections you have
used for reference or research—either for
yourself or for a library patron

4. Focus areas for public libraries
•
•
•
•
•
History –National, Local, Regional
Maps
Music/Media
Art and objects
Learning objects

5. History
U.S.:
• Digital Public Library of America
– dp.la
• Library of Congress, American Memory
– http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

6. Regional
• Documenting the American South
– http://docsouth.unc.edu/
• Georgia:
– http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/MediaTypes

7. World
• Europeana
– http://www.europeana.eu/
• Eurodocs
– http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Main_Pag
e

8. Maps
• General:
• Perry Castanada Collection (UT-Austin)
– http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/
• Boston Public Library Rosenthal Collection
– http://maps.bpl.org/

9. Georgia
• Digital Library of Georgia
– http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/MediaTypes/Maps.ht
ml
• Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
– http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/sanborn/?Welcome

10. Music and Media
• Library of Congress, American Sheet
Music
– http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/mussmhtml/
• Archive.org, Live Music Archive
– http://archive.org/details/etree
• Alan Lomax Collection
– http://research.culturalequity.org/homeaudio.jsp

11. Intellectual media
• Supreme Court Media
– www.oyez.org
• Historic Speeches
• Vincent Voice Library, University of
Michigan
– http://vvl.lib.msu.edu/

12. Art and objects
•
•
•
•
Archives of American Art (SI)
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/online
Getty Research Institute Digital Collections
https://www.getty.edu/research/tools/digital_colle
ctions/
• Art Institute of Chicago
• http://www.artic.edu/research/archivalcollections

13. Learning objects
• Merlot
– www.merlot.org
• Professional Learning, Learning Objects Repository,
Georgia Department of Education
– http://www.professionallearning.gadoe.org/Pages/LORPublic.asp
x?ResourceType=Document

14. Looking for a particular topic?
General guides to digital collections
• Columbia University
– http://library.columbia.edu/subjectguides/archives_manuscripts.html
• Infomine (UC-Riverside)
– http://infomine.ucr.edu/
• Internet Public Library
– http://www.ipl.org/
• ArchiveGrid (OCLC)
– http://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/

15. Find my slides online via
SlideShare:

16. Thank You for Attending!
Questions?
• Professional
Development
• 1.800.999.8558
• Web: lyrasis.org
•e-mail: russell.palmer@lyrasis.org