Here at the Digitization Centre we are fascinated and excited by the vast amount of primary-source material that our digitization work exposes us to. Whether a document of historic significance, a beautiful illustration, or even a particularly fine typeface, we are frequently amazed by the materials we’re working to share with the world. So much so, that not only will we crowd around to ogle a particularly interesting specimen, but we’ve started decorating our workplace with copies of some of our favorites. But why stop there? Surely, we can’t be the only ones geeky enough to appreciate such “gems” in our collections, and so we’ve decided to share them here with you. Below you will find some of our favorites, hand-picked by staff from both existing and upcoming collections. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
TIP: To view full resolution versions of the images on any size screen, click to view in Open Collections.
Explore Open Collections: History of Nursing in Pacific Canada: Part 1
Posted on Oct 10, 2019 by margot chen
If you are a nursing and health history buff, there’s something you won’t want to miss, the collection of History of Nursing in Pacific Canada. This two-part series will explore some highlights of the collection. The History of Nursing in Pacific Canada digital collection was developed by the UBC Library, together with the UBC School […]
Launching Historical Children’s Literature Collection
Posted on Oct 01, 2019 by margot chen
The Historical Children’s Literature Collection contains more than 80 images of variations on classic children’s tales. Made possible by a UBC Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF) grant, this collection is a collaboration with the Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections, UBC’s iSchool, and the Department of English Language and Literatures. Particularly strong in chapbooks […]
Salmon in Open Collections
Posted on Sep 24, 2019 by margot chen
Autumn is the spawning season in B.C. when salmon fight their way upstream as they complete their final journey. On Campbell River in Vancouver Island or Capilano River in North Vancouver, you’ll be sure to spot salmon leaping their way back home. For this post, we gathered historical images related to salmon in B.C. from […]
The Digitization Centre Impact Report for 2018-2019
Posted on Sep 17, 2019 by margot
We are excited to present the Digitization Centre Impact and Activity Report for 2018-2019! This report highlights key projects, featured collections, partnerships, and user engagement trends for the 2018-2019 fiscal year. In 2018-2019, more than 190,000 users accessed our digitized items, corresponding to approximately 7.0% of the visitors to the entire UBC Library website. New […]
Women’s Education and One Hundred Poets Books
Posted on Sep 03, 2019 by Risa Hatanaka
As our previous posts described, One Hundred Poets (Hyakunin isshu, hereafter HNIS) is the most famous Waka (Japanese poem) anthology edited by Fujiwara no Teika (1162-1241). Did you know that HNIS was an important educational resource for Japanese women in the late Edo period (1700s-1867)? Our digitized collection has 24 books known to be used […]
Copyright and Digitization
Posted on Aug 27, 2019 by Risa Hatanaka
In our digital project workflow, we first evaluate copyright concerns for the submitted project proposal. Even if the collection contains historically important items to be digitized and preserved, we cannot approve the project if there are copyright restrictions or issues. This post will briefly summarize what you need to know about copyright and digitization. For […]
Japanese Canadian Communities in BC: Before Relocation
Posted on Aug 20, 2019 by Risa Hatanaka
Ever since the first Japanese immigrants arrived in Canada in the late 19th century, Japanese Canadians have created their communities in their settlement areas. They came to a new country to find employment and to improve their economic situation. In Open Collections, we have many resources about the history and lives of Japanese Canadians. This […]
How We Digitize: An Audio Cassette Tape
Posted on Aug 13, 2019 by Risa Hatanaka
As a part of the digitization project for Association of University and College Employees (AUCE) fonds, we digitized an audio cassette tape entitled “The Steward”, which is a speech recording about being a union steward. Today, we will show how we digitize an audio cassette tape. Equipment To digitize a cassette, we use the […]
The Canadian Rockies
Posted on Aug 06, 2019 by Risa Hatanaka
Did you know that mountains cover 75 per cent of British Columbia[i]? Like the beaches we introduced in April, mountains offer beautiful scenery in summer. Today, we will focus on the Canadian Rockies depicted and described in our digitized photographs, illustrations, and books in Open Collections. Uno Langmann Family Collection of British Columbia Photographs […]
Explore Open Collections: BC Historical Documents
Posted on Jul 30, 2019 by Risa Hatanaka
Next Monday is BC Day! To celebrate, this post will introduce our BC Historical Documents collection and explore the early history of BC. Rare Books and Special Collections in the UBC Library houses an abundance of original documents related to the development of British Columbia and its economic, social, political and cultural history. We have […]
