| Library
digitizes collections Libraries
across the country are scanning important special collections to
make them easily available to a larger number of students and researchers.
The AU library is no exception. Staff within the library and at
the Washington Research Library Consortium are working together
to bring unique collections to researchers’ desktops.
Already
anyone can find AU historical photographs and a special journalism
collection through the ALADIN system. To access these collections,
go to the ALADIN home page and select Digital and Special Collections.
The library is also launching a joint effort with other Washington
higher education institutions to digitize the Eagle and other
student newspapers from the 1960s. These will form an interesting
window into the city and academic life during this turbulent decade.
When paired with information from the Washington Post historical
database, students can draw from a rich set of resources for research
about this era in the District of Columbia.
Materials are selected for digitization by librarians who also provide
the descriptive data that will be used to catalog and search the
collections. The scanning, interfaces, and digital infrastructure
are developed and managed by staff at the WRLC Digital Production
Center. The center was established under a grant from the Institute
of Museum and Library Services.
One
collection that is being digitized is the Drew Pearson Collection,
which consists of Pearson’s syndicated Washington “Merry-Go-Round”
column published between 1932 and 1969. The AU Library Special Collections
Unit holds the typescript copies for the column that the syndicate
sent to Pearson’s office at the same time the typescripts were
distributed to newspapers around the country. Articles as published
in various newspapers may differ slightly from the original typescripts
represented here.
Another
collection available online are photographs documenting the early
history of AU and its campus in northwest Washington D.C., near
Ward Circle, at the intersection of Massachusetts and Nebraska Avenues.
The collection includes photographs of Fort Gaines, the Civil War-era
fortification, which was on the site that later became the AU campus.
Photographs trace the physical development of the campus from the
groundbreaking for its first building in 1896 through its rapid
growth in the 1920s up to the mid-1960s. It includes photographs
from World War I when the campus housed the U.S. Army’s Camp
Leach and Camp AU, and from World War II, when the campus housed
the U.S. Navy Bomb Disposal School and an American Red Cross school
for nurses. There are also photos of AU founders and of prominent
officials who visited the campus, including Presidents Theodore
Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.
Reference
Service Piloted at Anderson
Many
information service models are emerging on campuses that intermingle
computer technology and library resources. Since October, AU reference
librarians have been holding hours at Anderson Computing Complex
each afternoon. Librarians can provide support in the main commons
area as well as in the classrooms in research strategies and using
electronic resources. The effectiveness of the program will be evaluated
at the end of the semester. Hours for the pilot program are from
11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 11
a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays. |
