PDA Summer Digitization Series: Digitization Projects Showcase 1

The CARLI Preservation Committee is delighted to showcase digitization projects at Illinois libraries as part of the Summer Digitization Webinar Series in partnership with the Florida Virtual Campus. 

Project 1: “Using Multispectral Imaging to Augment Digitized West African Manuscripts” presented by Stephanie Gowler, Northwestern University Libraries

The Herskovits Library of African Studies at Northwestern University Libraries (NUL) is home to over 3,000 Arabic script materials from West Africa. The size, scope and uniqueness of these collections, along with increasing global scholarly interest, make them a priority for conservation and digitization. The NUL Preservation Department has begun capturing multispectral images (MSI) of the collections using a VSC®80 forensic questioned document examination workstation.  The VSC®80 allows us to quickly and consistently capture and annotate a wide range of MSI which make visible watermarks, inks, evidence of burnishing, and other materiality of the manuscripts.  These MSI are being integrated into the digital repository alongside the digitized West African manuscripts and offer new avenues for research. This talk will highlight the collaborative efforts to treat, re-house, and image Paden 417 (مختصر في فروع المالكية), a copy of the “Mukhtasar” of Khalil b. Ishaq b. Musa al-Jundi, a fourteenth-century handbook of Maliki legal principles.

Project 2: “Collaborative Preservation at the Crossroads of Science and History: Digitizing the Barnard Atlas” presented by Christina Miranda, University of Chicago Library

The Yerkes Observatory Glass Plates Digitization Project at the University of Chicago Library highlights the unique intersection of scientific and historical significance in its collection of historical astronomy glass slides. Christina Miranda will discuss strategies to support astronomy researchers and historians through thoughtful digital preservation and enhanced access to the glass slides featured in Edward Emerson Barnard’s A Photographic Atlas of Selected Regions of the Milky Way, commonly known as the "Barnard Atlas."

Speakers:

Stephanie Gowler is the Book & Paper Conservator for Northwestern University Libraries.

Christina Miranda is the Head of Digitization at the University of Chicago Library, overseeing all preservation digitization activities. Her work focuses on building digital collections that preserve and enhance access to the Library's physical collections. Christina holds an MS in Historic Preservation with specializations in Digital Cultural Heritage and Recordation. In 2023, she led the digitization efforts for the NEH Mapping Chicagoland grant, ensuring the preservation and fidelity of the digital files. Prior to her current role, Christina directed a project for the Edsel and Eleanor Ford Foundation, digitizing the Henry Ford photographic archive to assist in the restoration of the Henry Ford Home in Dearborn, MI.

Register to attend.