The first of the Spring 2005 DLF member newsletters (from NYPL) is now
online at http://www.diglib.org/pubs/news05_02/ and we look forward to
seeing others appear in the coming days and weeks. These newsletters
are an excellent way to keep each other up to date with new collections,
initiatives, publications, and issues, and are the source for the
registries that DLF maintains.
The NYPL newsletter contains mention of many exciting collections, but
to single out one new initiative I draw your attention to the launch
last month of the NYPL Digital Gallery:
"The site provides access to over a quarter million images digitized
from primary sources and printed rarities in the collections of The New
York Public Library including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps,
vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, illustrated books, printed
ephemera, and more. The website helps to fulfill the traditional mission
of The New York Public Library to select, collect, preserve and make
accessible 'the accumulated wisdom of the world, without distinction as
to income, religion, nationality, or other human condition.' It offers
broad public access to a wide range of historical and cultural documents
that 'enable individuals to pursue learning at their own personal levels
of interest, preparation, ability and desire, and help ensure the free
trade in ideas and the right of dissent.'
NYPL Digital Gallery runs on an open, extensible architecture designed
by the Digital Library Program and managed in conjunction with the
Library's Information Technology Group. Archival image files are stored
on a 57-terabyte network of servers. Together, the image files and the
data hierarchy and structure are managed through an Oracle database. A
systematic XML extract of this data is indexed with the Java open-source
search engine Lucene, which provides the public search matrix.
ColdFusionMX software provides the application programming interface
that integrates metadata and images for web delivery, via a website
interface developed with consultant support by the Digital Library
Program." http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/
My continuing thanks to Michael Pelikan (Penn State) for doing such a
fine job as editor of the DLF Newsletters.
David
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