How We Digitize: Vintage Vancouver and a Video
We’ve got a special treat for the blog today! An advance peek at new digitizations: This hand tinted shot of Vancouver taken between 1925 and 1933 is from some of the Uno Langmann Collection items awaiting digitization. It is a panorama taken from the Boundary Road and Trinity Street area showing much of Vancouver proper as […]
Sneak Peak: 3D Digitization
This week we are going give you a sneak preview of one of the coolest new machines coming soon to the Digital Initiatives, and even better a new collection we are partnering with Woodward Library! The machine sounds about as futuristic as it gets—a 3D imager. But not to worry, it is far from HAL […]
Explore Open Collections: B.C. Books
It’s time again for another “Exploring Open Collections” installment! This week we’re taking a look at one of our biggest collections (and one that’s featured) B.C. Historical Books. Previous to the Open Collections launch B.C. Historical Books was known as B.C. Bibliography and was a standalone site associated with Digital Initiatives – now it’s been […]
Introducing Open Collections
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
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 […]
Our Impact Report for 2014-2015
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. […]
Mapping it Out: How We Digitize with the TTI
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. […]
Relics from a Lost Age: Mysterious Histories
Ready for part 2 of our postings on the cuneiform tablets in the Ancient Artefacts Collection? In the previous post we learned a little about the cuneiform tablets and provenance in general – with a cliff hanger of course. What IS the provenance of Rare Books & Special Collections cuneiform tablets? This post we will come […]
Explore Open Collections: Ancient Artefacts
Made in partnership with Rare Books and Special Collections and the From Stone to Screen project, the cuneiform tablets are among the most ancient objects Digital Initiatives has ever digitized! The tablets are part of Ancient Artefacts collection, which also includes Egyptian papyri. Considered today to be one of the most significant cultural contributions by the Sumerians, […]
What’s on Deck: Art, Poetry, and the Oldest Literary Magazine in Western Canada
This week we’re exploring one of our most exciting projects and developing partnerships right now –the digitization of PRISM international! PRISM international one of the oldest literary magazines published here in Vancouver by the Creative Writing Program at UBC. A quarterly magazine established way back in 1959, PRISM’s goal, as stated on their website, is to “publish […]