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.
Celebrating Families in Our Digital Collection
Posted on Feb 06, 2015 by Emily Chicorli
In celebration of Family Day we are sharing some of our favorite family portraits found within our digital collections. Want to see more? Simply type in “family” in on our digital collections page! Refine your search to only find images within specific collections. Click on the images to see them enlarged. What are your plans […]
How We Digitize: Digital Preservation 2
Posted on Feb 02, 2015 by evanwill
In the last post we looked at Why a digital preservation strategy is necessary. This post outlines a few of the steps we are taking here at the Digitization Centre to enact our preservation goals. Planning for preservation starts at the creation of our digital objects. We need to choose digital formats that are suitable […]
How We Digitize: Digital Preservation
Posted on Jan 26, 2015 by evanwill
The How We Digitize series has been looking at the process of creating files for UBC Digital Collections. But how do we store them all for the long term? Well, that is a BIG issue! In general, for each item you see displayed in Digital Collections we have one unedited master file and one edited […]
British Columbia, the Gold Rush, and the Klondike
Posted on Jan 20, 2015 by Emily Chicorli
The Gold Rush (1858 to 1863) was an important period in British Columbia’s history that brought thousands of prospectors and adventurers to the province. All the activity produced by the Gold Rush led to significant impacts on BC’s people and land, such as conflicts with the native peoples who inhibited the land, increased development throughout BC, […]
BC Sessional Papers Phase 2 Now Online!
Posted on Jan 14, 2015 by Emily Chicorli
Phase 2 of the BC Sessional Papers project (from 1887-1911) is now complete and available online. Phase 2 has increased our collection by 25 years! Click here to visit our digital collections page to view the volumes we have digitized. Click here to read more about what sessional papers are and how they can be utilized […]
Managing Metadata: “A Love Note to the Future”
Posted on Dec 15, 2014 by Emily Chicorli
Managing metadata might not seem like a glamorous task when working with digital materials, but it is one of the most important. Managing metadata means ensuring digital materials are identified, maintained, made accessible, made searchable and preserved over time so that the digital materials can be accessed in the future. What is metadata? The classic […]
How We Digitize: Contex Scanner
Posted on Dec 04, 2014 by Emily Chicorli
How do large maps get scanned? How do materials larger than average size get digitized? While we may use our TTI device (more about it coming soon in a new post!) we often use our Contex HD5450 scanner that can handle large format materials up to 54″ wide and of unlimited length. Not only does […]
Coming Soon: Materials from the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE)
Posted on Dec 01, 2014 by Emily Chicorli
Back in 2012 we digitized materials from the David Conde Fonds. We are currently working with UBC Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC) to make materials from the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) available up on UBC RBSC’s Access to Memory (AtoM) database once they are uploaded through archivematica and descriptions are finalized. David […]
Explore Open Collections: BC Sessional Papers
Posted on Nov 24, 2014 by Emily Chicorli
Project update: Early next year, the Digitization Centre will make the second phase of the BC Sessional papers digitization project from years 1887 to 1911 available online for all to access. What are sessional papers? Sessional papers contain materials that document the political, historical, economic and cultural history of British Columbia. The sessional papers include […]
Updating collections for higher quality images
Posted on Nov 19, 2014 by Emily Chicorli
One of the projects the Digitization Centre is embarking on includes rescanning photographs in the Japanese Canadian Photograph Collection and the MacMillan Bloedel Limited fonds. The goal is to provide users with high quality images and update the metadata to meet new standards. The Japanese Canadian Photograph Collection documents the experiences of Canadians of Japanese […]
