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.
Exploring Open Collections: What Can You Find?
Posted on Oct 28, 2015 by Alexandra Kuskowski
With over 138,535 unique digital objects on Open Collections (and mores showing up every day!) you might be overwhelmed, especially with all whiz-bang visualizations and featured collections. In our “Exploring Open Collections” series we’ll pick an aspect of the portal to explore and share with you guys! With so many objects how do I find […]
Introducing Open Collections
Posted on Oct 21, 2015 by Alexandra Kuskowski
Ancient Egyptian scrolls, sixteenth century explorer’s maps, misty photographs of the British Columbia pioneer towns, and audio recordings of your favorite local bands—these are just some of the resources we offer digitally. Now, with a new digital portal called Open Collections, you will be able to access our materials in a whole new way. Open […]
How We Digitize: An Open Book with the ATIZ
Posted on Oct 15, 2015 by Alexandra Kuskowski
We’re written about a few of our digitization techniques from the context scanner to flatbed scanning, but now it’s time to get into the hard stuff- that’s right I’m talking about the fancy book scanners. These book scanners, known as ATIZ (pronounced A-tease) workstations, are used from imaging rare books –ones we can’t chop into […]
Family, Friends & Festivities! (and Photos)
Posted on Oct 09, 2015 by Alexandra Kuskowski
Thanksgiving is a time for fun, food and friends! To celebrate this festive weekend we’ve gathered together some of our favorite f(ph)otos of families from our digital collection. Want to see more? Type in “family” in on our digital collections page! Refine your search to find only images or search within specific collections. To enlarge the image […]
Our Impact Report for 2014-2015
Posted on Oct 02, 2015 by Alexandra Kuskowski
We’ve got an exciting announcement! You can now check out our 2014-2015 Impact Report. To download it click here. It’s a short 2 pager, packed with tons of cool information, and pictures! Learn about the new projects we’ve added over the year, get some juicy quotes from our collaborators, and find out whats coming up. […]
UBC Centennial- Where Did it All Begin?
Posted on Oct 01, 2015 by Alexandra Kuskowski
UBC had a centennial birthday yesterday! On September 30th 1915 the University of British Columbia held the first lectures for the newly formed University. To celebrate this momentus occasion we’re taking a look back here on the blog at DI. Memories abound all over the campus and beyond. Check out some of the amusing, amazing, […]
UBC Okanagan + DI = Gold Mine of Information
Posted on Sep 24, 2015 by Alexandra Kuskowski
UBC Okanagan + DI = Gold Mine of Information Digital Initiatives is at it again with UBC Okanagan Library, to provide you with new historical resources from the resource industry! Employees at DI helped to consult and work collaboratively with Arielle Lomness, Collections Librarian at UBC Okanagan and Dual MAS/MLIS candidate Paige Hohmann, in digitizing […]
Mapping it Out: How We Digitize with the TTI
Posted on Sep 18, 2015 by Alexandra Kuskowski
How do you image the REALLY big items? Or the items that won’t fit in a normal scanner? The largest (and most exciting!) image-processing machine we have here at DI is definitely the TTI. The TTI is used to scan large, fragile, or otherwise oddly shaped items. You may have caught glimpses of it here. […]
Sneak Peek: One Hundred Poets Phase 2
Posted on Sep 10, 2015 by Alexandra Kuskowski
The One Hundred Poets project originated from the personal collection of Professor Joshua Mostow of the UBC Department of Asian Studies. It was made possible through generous funding from the Toshiba International Foundation (TIFO) and collaboration between the UBC Department of Asian Studies, Asian Library, Digitization Centre, Rare Books and Special Collections and Technical Services. […]
Special Edition Blog: Digitization Comics!
Posted on Sep 04, 2015 by Alexandra Kuskowski
We’re celebrating the end of summer at DI– which means fun, games, and the occasional witty digitization! This week we received a set of pretty awesome Lord of the Rings / digitization mashup comics from one of our very artistically talented employees! Of course we had to share the merriment with our lovely blog followers. […]
