About Digital Collections

Stewart Library Digital Collections

 

Mission Statement

The mission of the Stewart Library Digital Collections is to enable new research capabilities for students, scholars, researchers, and the general public.

 

About

The Digital Collections site was created in 2007, through the generosity of the Stewart Education Foundation. The site is powered by CONTENTdm with technical support provided by the Library's Systems Department.

The materials used to create these collections are the property of the Special Collections and University Archives of Weber State University’s Stewart Library. Collections are chosen based on their uniqueness, research merit, potential for curriculum support, and appeal. Copyright restrictions, condition of the materials, and extent of data available to describe the materials also factor into material selection. Typically, collections spotlight historical photographs, journals, old newspapers, letters, and other interesting items from our Special Collections and University Archives. Also included, are holdings supporting collaborative projects such as the Digital Public Library of America, GWLA Western Waters Project, History in Your Attic, Mountain West Digital Library, etc. By digitizing these one-of-a-kind or rare materials, the Digital Library opens them up to users everywhere, enhances access by subject and keyword searching, and reduces wear and tear on the originals.

The Library's Systems Department helps with web page construction and provides technical support of our software, NAS, and long term storage.

 

Mountain West Digital Library

Weber State University's Digital Collections also functions as a regional hub for the Mountain West Digital Library, a portal to digital resources from universities, colleges, public libraries, museums, archives, and historical societies in six different states. MWDL is also the Mountain West Service Hub to the Digital Public Library of America.

 

Standards

  • Mountain West Digital Library Partnership Agreement (pdf)

  • BCR's CDP Digital Imaging Best Practices Version 2.0 (pdf)

  • Mountain West Digital Library Dublic Core Application Profile, Version 2.0, 20 July 2011 (pdf)

 

Software and Hardware

  • Software

    • CONTENTdm - Digital Media Management Software for hosting and displaying digital files and associated metadata via the web

    • Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 for cropping, correcting, and manipulating images

    • ABBYY FineReader for creating OCR and PDF documents

    • MS Excel for creating metadata spreadsheets and tab-delimited files for upload

    • FileMenu Tool to customize the context menu of Windows Explorer

 

  • Hardware

    • Workstations

      • PC Computers; MAC Computers

 

  • Scanners

    • Epson Expression 10000XL Graphic Arts flatbed scanners, with transparency lids and automatic document feeders as needed

    • Contex HD5450 Plus Scanner for oversized blueprints, maps, posters, and architectural drawings