This demonstration project by the University of Pittsburgh Digital Research Library proves that digital versions of rare books can be as enjoyable as the original print. Currently, digitized versions of 30 nineteenth-century textbooks selected from the Nietz Old Textbook Collection are available, covering reading, writing, and 'rithmatic, and beyond. The site allows users to page through the books...

The National Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology Education Digital Library (NSDL) is the National Science Foundation's (NSF) ongoing effort to build a comprehensive science digital library. In this article (published in January 2002 D-Lib Magazine) the Cornell University team lead by William Arms describes the preliminary work done to develop a working model for NSDL. Note: For...

The Council on Library and Information Resources produces a number of written works to inform the community of library specialists on a host of important and pressing topics, including preservation awareness, resources for scholarship, and digital libraries. This particular work came out of an invitational conference sponsored by the Council in May 2003 which was designed "to examine the key...

There is little more fascinating than the overwhelming variety of life on our planet. This variety is represented in dazzling detail by a team of wildlife photographers, filmmakers, conservationists, and scientists who have partnered with wildlife charity Wildscreen to create "an awe-inspiring record of life on Earth." Visitors to the site can browse a library of images, videos, and information...

In March 2000, Research Libraries Group and OCLC formed a collaboration to establish attributes of digital repositories for research institutions. These organizations sought to build on the work of the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) model and the 1996 report Preserving Digital Information: Report of the Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information (discussed in the June 14, 1996 Scout...

On March 20 Bartleby.com, a premiere source for free online literature, verse, and reference books, relaunched their Website and added five major reference works. Users can now access complete electronic versions of the Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition; The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition; Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition; Simpson's Contemporary...

The UK Office for Library and Information Networking has made available proceedings from a conference that took place in June 1997. Beyond the Beginning: The Global Digital Library contains summaries of the conference proceedings compiled by The Marc Fresko Consultancy. This conference was sponsored by six major organizations, including the British Library, the Coalition for Networked Information...

Based at Princeton University, the Blue Mountain Project encompasses the work of scholars, librarians, curators, and digital humanities researchers whose "mission is to create a freely available digital repository of important, rare, and fragile texts that both chronicle and embody the emergence of cultural modernity in the West." The materials here are contained within 5 sections, including The...

On January 20, 1999, the California Digital Library (CDL) opened its "digital doors" through which users can access the online library catalogs of the University of California system, as well as an array of digital resources such as indexes and databases, electronic journals and texts, archival finding aids, and digitized photographs and images. The CDL is intended primarily for University of...

The University of Washington Libraries Digital Collection online projects and archives are well-regarded, and this database proves to be no exception to that highly positive trend. Started in 1995, the Cities and Buildings Database contains over 10,000 digitized images of buildings and cities culled from all historical periods and from all over the world. Visitors may wish to start with a simple...