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.
Importance of web archiving for government information
Posted on October 16, 2018 by Kelly Stathis
This is a series on web archiving at the UBC Library. For all posts about web archiving, please see https://digitize.library.ubc.ca/tag/web-archiving/ From the new report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to the new NAFTA (USMCA) Agreement to Vancouver’s housing crisis, government information is all around us. Historically, government information was sent to […]
Web archiving: a student’s experience
Posted on October 9, 2018 by Kelly Stathis
This is a series on web archiving at the UBC Library. For all posts about web archiving, please see https://digitize.library.ubc.ca/tag/web-archiving/ The Digital Initiatives unit at UBC Library offers an opportunity every term for students to have a Professional Experience project in web archiving. During the Summer of 2018, I had the chance to work with […]
Planning a web archiving project
Posted on October 2, 2018 by Kelly Stathis
This is a series on web archiving at the UBC Library using the Internet Archive’s Archive-it service. For all posts about web archiving, please see https://digitize.library.ubc.ca/tag/web-archiving/ Proposal Web archiving projects can be proposed by anyone: community members, students, researchers, librarians etc. We have also completed larger collaborative projects that were proposed by a group of […]
Web Archiving at the UBC Library
Posted on September 25, 2018 by Kelly Stathis
Estimates put the current size of the internet at around 1.2 million terabytes and 150 billion pages. Sites go up, sites come down, pages are removed, content changes continuously. And an increasing amount of this information is available only online. You might not care if you can no longer access the comments about watching someone’s […]
Subjects in Our Collections: Canadian Studies
Posted on September 18, 2018 by Kelly Stathis
British Columbiana and Canadiana are two of our largest areas of collection development. Our collections hold items that explore a range of disciplines related to these topics, including history, business, sociology, literature, and more. For example: BC Historical Books: This collection contains almost 2,000 books about and/or published in British Columbia. Three bibliographies of British […]
Get all caught up with the new Digitization Centre Impact Report!
Posted on September 11, 2018 by eirian vining
Start off the new school year by getting all caught up on what the Digitization Centre has been up to over the past year. You can read all about it in the Digitization Centre Impact and Activity Report for 2017-2018! This report highlights key projects, partnerships, and content development trends for the 2017-2018 fiscal year This year, […]
Travelling with the Canadian Pacific Railway Company
Posted on September 4, 2018 by Paula Arasaki
Travelling and tourism are prominent topics in our collections. You could even base your next vacation on some of the items we’ve digitized! Check out some of the major cities represented in the materials of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. Manilla As the capital of the Philippines, Manilla is full of beautiful and fashionable […]
Mah Jongg: A Community Game
Posted on August 28, 2018 by Paula Arasaki
You have probably already heard of Mah Jongg. Maybe you’ve grown up playing it or have family who play it. Maybe you’ve tried to play a video game version of it on your phone. Or maybe you’ve only ever heard the name. We are happy to have a Mah Jongg set in our Chung Collection, […]
Arches in Vancouver
Posted on August 21, 2018 by Paula Arasaki
On September 18, 1912, H.R.H. Prince Arthur William Patrick Albert, Duke of Connaught, then Governor General of Canada, was in Vancouver for the grand opening of the Cambie Bridge. The bridge’s official name was Connaught Bridge, to honor the Duke, but the unofficial name stuck. This is what The Islander said about the Duke’s visit […]
The Beauty of the Western Manuscripts
Posted on August 14, 2018 by Paula Arasaki
Old manuscripts can be full of surprises. Going through our collection of Western Manuscripts and Early Printed Books Collection can almost feel like a treasure hunt! You can find amazing and delicate details in the drawings, the margins, and even the letters of the page. But do you know why manuscripts were created so intricately? […]
