University of Guelph Library

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How You Can Help – Support Special Projects

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Digitization Accelerates Discovery

Digitization makes the rare, invaluable items in Archival and Special Collections freely accessible, via the Internet, to people the world over.

It saves researchers the time and expense of traveling to far-flung archives by allowing them to quickly search database libraries and Web sites for images of unique historical materials.

Digitization helps protect irreplaceable originals from wear and tear, and creates a lasting record so cultural treasures don't disappear due to loss or damage.

The University of Guelph Library has begun digitizing key collections through a number of initiatives.

  • An opportunity is available to help us digitize our Edward Johnson Collection. Johnson was one of the world's leading operatic tenors in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Electronically preserving the more than 500 items in this collection, from sound recordings to photographs to letters will cost $20,000.
  • We are digitizing Scottish studies materials out of copyright (anything printed before 1923) in partnership with the University of Toronto for the Open Content Alliance (OCA). We've contributed 115 items to the OCA's Internet Archive database. An additional 500 books will be digitized this year, costing about $100 per book (for selection, shipping and scanning).
  • Guelph electronically publishes the International Review of Scottish Studies as part of an Association of Research Libraries' initiative to make journals freely available.
  • Other digitization projects include our set design models Web site; representative cookbooks from the Culinary Collection; and the works of Guelph founder John Galt.
  • The Library also collaborates on Web-based exhibitions and projects and is a member of the Alouette Canada Open Digitization Initiative.

The benefits of digitization come at a considerable financial cost. Books must be scanned page by page, a particular challenge if a volume is old and brittle. There are many worthwhile giving opportunities for people who want to help further our twin objectives of accessibility and preservation.

To support key digitization projects, contact us.

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Last updated July 3rd, 2008 by E.B. (details)