National Library of Ireland launches 10,500 newly digitised items
A total of 10,500 newly digitised items have been released by the National Library of Ireland (NLI).
Dramatic advances in information technology means the NLI is driving forward a programme of metadata creation, digitisation, digital preservation and online access to Ireland’s cultural heritage, according to Sara Smyth, NLI digitisation programme manager.
Smyth highlighted the importance of having an effective national programme of digitisation and preservation to ensure public access to culturally important collections.
“Libraries have always collected, managed and provided access to all forms of information,” she said.
“Since 2010, we have overhauled our digitisation workflows and put in place key technical infrastructures. We achieved this with limited full time technical resources and a very restricted budget by collaborating on international open source projects.”
The NLI helped lead development of the VuFind Discovery Interface, an open source discovery interface that is used by hundreds of libraries around the world to provide access to research materials.
VuFind has seen rapid adoption by several large consortia, as well as national, public and academic libraries in 26 countries on five continents. The success of this project was recognised nationally when the NLI received the first eGovernment Open Source Award in 2011.
“Through this collaboration we enhanced our catalogue, giving researchers seamless access to high quality digital content from any device, anywhere, and enabling them to zoom into the smallest detail of these remarkable items. The ability to regularly deliver large quantities of new digital content to our audiences is the culmination of seven years of hard work by the NLI’s team, with much more to come in the years ahead,” added Smyth.
The 10,500 newly digitised items includes a portrait of the infamous Ellen Byrne, who was tried for her husband’s murder in 1842 after his badly decomposed body was found in their shared bed; photographs of 1916 leader Tom Clarke, his wife Kathleen and family; and posters documenting the suffragette movement.