CARLI Digital Collections is a repository for digital content created by member libraries, or purchased by CARLI for use by its members. CARLI Digital collections provides access to myriad special collections, containing over 3 TB of data including images, printed and manuscript materials, sound recordings, and the Saskia Art Images and Sanborn Maps of Illinois collections.
By combining digital collections from many CARLI member institutions into a seamless environment, faculty, staff, students, and the public are able to search across institutions and collections, integrating previously disparate and possibly remote special collections.
CONTENTdm is the software that CARLI uses to provide access to digital versions of primary source materials. CONTENTdm provides a means of making a wide variety of media types including images, journals, books, audio and video files, maps, and newspapers accessible for search and display on a typical personal computer with an Internet connection and a web browser. CARLI's license of CONTENTdm is purchased from and hosted on servers by OCLC.
Visitors may view, search, or use materials purchased by CARLI and collections created by other CARLI libraries through the CARLI Digital Collections interface. The items in the Saskia Art Images collections and the Sanborn Maps of Illinois, 1867-1970, are available only to CARLI member institutions. All other collections may be viewed by anyone with an Internet connection and web browser.
Visitors who are interested in permission to reproduce images found within the collections should contact the collection's sponsor directly. CARLI is not able to grant, waive, or extend intellectual property rights for any of the materials found in CARLI Digital Collections.
Any CARLI Governing Member library may contribute content to the CARLI Digital Collections. OCLC maintains CARLI's CONTENTdm server space and software, stores the content, and backs up the data. CARLI will provide the CONTENTdm Project Client software to upload your library’s digital content. Libraries interested in implementing CONTENTdm should contact the CARLI Office. Participating libraries will also need to complete the CARLI Digital Collections Image License Terms and Conditions Agreement.
For more detailed product information, consult Frequently Asked Questions About Using CONTENTdm.
Any CARLI governing member library may receive the CONTENTdm Project Client software that can be installed on staff PCs. At this time, there is no annual maintenance or hosting fee for CARLI Governing member libraries.
CARLI support is the first point of contact for technical assistance. CARLI staff are most knowledgeable about our specific installation of the CONTENTdm software.
Additional support, training, and documentation is available from OCLC's CONTENTdm web site. Users of that website may also register for the OCLC Community Center.
If you have digital collections that are not part of CARLI Digital Collections and would like greater exposure for them, consider including them in the CARLI Other Collections collection. CARLI maintains a collection of digital project portal pages from CARLI libraries that do not use CARLI's installation of CONTENTdm. A link to this collection can be found on the CARLI Digital Collections home page. Portal pages are your library's main page of digital collections. Please fill out and submit the following form to be included in our CARLI "Other Collections": http://www.carli.illinois.edu/digital-portal-information-form