As part of a project to bring the public closer to UBC’s digital and physical collections, UBC Library has joined the Colour Our Collections campaign along with other museums and libraries around the world.
Image 1: Image from the UBC Library Colour our Collections landing page.
Organized by The New York Academy of Medicine, the Colour our Collections project first took off in 2016 to offer a unique way to engage with library content. The main purpose was to create free colouring books for all ages with free printable colouring pages. Currently, there are over 100 institutions, including museums, libraries, and universities around the world that have compiled free colouring books and colouring pages for download. Each institution publishes colouring books that reflect the materials that they hold in their collections.
At UBC, the Colour our Collections initiative was launched by UBC Library in 2018 with the Kelmscott Chaucer digital colouring book (Image 2) in order to feature its digitization, and since then it has been published yearly. The project was led by the Library Communications & Marketing Team composed of Becky Potvin, Anna Moorhouse, Michelle Blackwell, and Katya Roxas, who also designed the elegant look and branding for the collections.
The selection and the creative process of this project are done through a collaboration between the UBC Library Communications & Marketing team, Rare Books and Special Collections, the Digitization Centre, and University Librarian Susan Parker. The themes for the publications are selected considering UBC’s strategic directions, major priorities, and values, such as conservation, sustainability, and climate action.
According to the UBC Library Communications team, the most popular colouring book so far has been the Mythical Creatures digital colouring book from 2019 (Image 6).
The UBC Colour our Collections project has greatly increased the engagement of the UBC Open Collections with a wide audience, and it was selected as a winner of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) PressReader International marketing Award in 2019! According to the IFLA website, this award “honors organizations that have implemented creative, results-oriented marketing projects or campaigns that promote the library and information services industry.”
Since 2021, UBC Colour our Collections has been published in a calendar format. The idea of turning the colouring book into a calendar came from communications and design specialist, Phoebe Chan who joined the team in 2020. This fantastic and practical idea greatly aligns with the library’s sustainability values as it can potentially extend the usefulness of the colouring sheet, beyond the brief, but meaningful entertainment.
For this blog post, some of the Digitization Centre team members kindly asked their kids to participate in the colouring activity to showcase their creativity! Here are some examples from the latest Colour our Collections Calendar, In the Wild: Animal Kingdom (Images 9 & 10), and Mythical Creatures digital colouring book (Image 11):
Image 9: Aubrey, age 5, colouring the September sheet from the Animal Kingdom digital colouring book.
Image 10: Evelyn, age 10, colouring the October sheet from the Animal Kingdom digital colouring book.
Image 11: Marlo, age 3, colouring Figura ex Pareo from Mythical Creatures digital colouring book.
We invite you to check out the various colouring books and calendars on the UBC Library Colour our Collections page and download the ones of your liking!
A special thank you to the UBC Library, Communications & Marketing Director Michelle Blackwell for proving information and insights on this project!
For more information about some of the collection check the links below:
Arasaki, Paula. (2018, June 19). Explore Open Collections: Japanese Maps of the Tokugawa Era. Digitizer’s Blog. https://digitize.library.ubc.ca/digitizers-blog/explore-open-collections-japanese-maps-of-the-tokugawa-era/
Blackwell, M. (2016, August 23). UBC Library acquires a copy of the Kelmscott Chaucer. UBC Library. https://about.library.ubc.ca/2016/08/23/ubc-library-acquires-a-copy-of-the-kelmscott-chaucer/
Hamer, A. (2016, August 25). Explore Open Collections: Andrew McCormick Maps and Prints. Digitizer’s Blog. https://digitize.library.ubc.ca/digitizers-blog/explore-open-collections-andrew-mccormick-maps-and-prints/
Moorhouse, A. (2018, May 17). UBC Library digitizes Kelmscott Chaucer and launches digital colouring book series. UBC Library. https://about.library.ubc.ca/2018/05/17/ubc-library-digitizes-kelmscott-chaucer-and-launches-digital-colouring-book-series/
