#contentdm

Scenes from Everyday Life

Accessing Artists’ Books Through ContentDM

You may already know that the Clarence Ward Memorial Art Library holds an extensive collection of artists’ books, but did you know that you can browse the collection from the comfort of your own dorm room? Well, you can with ContentDM! Click here to view the Artists’ Book Collection. 

There are well over 1,000 books currently in this digital collection and Discovery and Metadata Services is working with the Art Library and the Visual Resource Curator everyday to make more available. With so many books to browse, you may want to try some keyword searches or narrow your results by author, title, or publication year using the drop-down menu on the left of the screen. 

If you come across anything you’d like to see in person, simply write down the book’s call number, which can be found in the description box near the bottom of the page, and bring your request to the staff at the Art Library. You will also find notes, publication information, and a link to the item’s OBIS record in this description box. 

Announcing the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections

Today marks the official public launch of the new Hennepin County Library Digital Collections! Visit digitalcollections.hclib.org to browse and search thousands of images, documents, and texts. You can also enter through the library’s website under Browse>Digital Collections. Collections can be accessed anywhere at any time. No library card is needed.

The collections mainly concern local (Minneapolis and Hennepin County) historical topics, but numerous collections crossover into areas of broader interest such as the WWII correspondence in the James G. Smith Collection or the political cartoons in the Charles Bartholomew Collection.

For best results searching for historical photographs, search all collections rather than collection by collection. The search bar defaults to a keyword search, but advanced search allows you to search specific fields (try searching a Minneapolis neighborhood name in the subject field, for example, or for an address in the description field). You can also refine your results using the facets on the left side of the search screen to narrow by date, format, or subject.

Material in the digital collections can be downloaded as jpg files or pdf files, depending on the resource. Multiple resolutions, including high resolution (600 dpi), are available for most jpg downloads.

Want to use a photo in a publication? With a few exceptions, content may be freely used as long as credit is given to Hennepin County Library. Use restrictions are described in the rights statement for each item.

Some collections, such as the Building Permit Index Cards and High School Yearbooks, have not yet been fully loaded. And new material will be added regularly, so check back often!

5 Things Thursday: Retrofitting Special Collections, DAM Books

Here are five more things:

Cool local history collection from the city of South Perth and the Ransom Center’s First World War digital collection of posters – both powered by CONTENTdm.

Summer reading list of DAM books thanks to Henrik de Gyor.

Comprehensive summary of Retrofitting Special Collections #RBMS conference highlights.

UCSan Diego’s Special Collections Technical Services policies. I…

5 Things Thursday: DAM, Twitter, Metadata

Here are five more things:

How should you prepare for digital asset management?

More DAM tips from Electric Lane’s Sarah Saunders, DAM Guru.

Another lovely CONTENTdm collection – 19th Century Political Ballots from Boston Athenaeum.

This introduction to metadata piece discusses Dublin Core and MODs in a tidy fashion.

What are the best Twitter hashtags for librarians to check out (no pun intended)?

5 Things Thursday: Metadata, Librarian Lifesavers, Cool Collections

Here are 5 more things:

Last note on the 10th anniversary of the Central Library of The Seattle Public Library – an NPR report.

Metadata is key to lots of insight. Learn why it should be taken seriously here.

The fantastic circus collection from the University of Texas at Austin.

Amusing videoon why librarians save lives from the Public Library Association conference. Please note, I do not…

5 Things Thursday: CONTENTdm, Secret Libraries, Online Classes

Here are five more library-related things to amaze you.

Stephen Abram summarizes ALA’s 2014 State of America’s Libraries report.

Check out these Secret Libraries of New York City. I know what I’ll be doing on vacation in the fall…

Where can you find some affordable online courses on library topics like metadata, RDA, and XML? Library Juice Academy has some interesting choices.

The CONTENTdm…

5 Things Thursday: Local History, EAD, Web Archives

Here are five more things…

A little local history find for Seattle folks – “Lost Eddie Sato World’s Fair Photos Now Found.” The slides were at a discount store in Chicago. Pretty mod stuff!

Why archive websites? This article from LOC tells you about the why and what of web archiving.

I’ve been looking for examples of nice finding aids in CONTENTdm. Here are some from the Phillips Library.

I must…