Posts by Lauren Havens

Digital Content & Collections (DCC) relies on content and subject experts to bring us new digital collections.From July 2018 to Jun 2019, our digital collections received 67.9 million views. During the pandemic, when there was an increased need for digital resources, usage of the digital collections jumped to 86.5 million views (July 2019-Jun 2020) and 89 million views (July 2020-June 2021). Thank you to the many people, too numerous to reasonably list here, who are involved not just in the creation of these digital collections but in the continued maintenance of these and hundreds of other digital collections that reach users around the world to advance research and provide access to materials.

Digital Content & Collections (DCC) relies on content and subject experts to bring us new digital collections. This year, 16 digital collections were created or significantly enhanced. Here you will find links to videos and articles by the subject experts speaking in their own words about the digital collections they were involved in and why they found it so important to engage in this work with us. Thank you to all of the people involved in each of these digital collections!

What started with a bit of wondering and conversation within our unit of the Library led to my reaching out to Princeton University with a request but no expectations of having that request fulfilled. Individuals at Princeton, however, considered the request and agreed to provide us with the single issue of The American Jewess that we needed to complete the full run of the periodical within our digital collection. Especially in these stressful times, we are delighted to bring you a positive story, one of collaboration and generosity across institutions, while also sharing the now-complete digital collection itself.

Over the past fiscal year (July 2018 - June 2019) the Digital Content & Collections (DCC) department has collaborated with stakeholders within libraries, museums, and more, across campus and beyond, to create the following new digital collections, adding to the full list of nearly 300 digital collections found online at https://quod.lib.umich.edu/. Thank you to all of our stakeholders involved in each collection, the Library Copyright Office for their role in every new digital collection, and the many individuals within Library Information Technology who also assisted in the creation of these collections!

Over the past year, Library Information Technology - specifically Digital Content & Collections, Digital Library Applications, and Design & Discovery - has been collaborating with the Bentley Historical Library to assess and update the interfaces for some of their digital collections. The results have improved usability, allowed us to document lessons learned that can be applied to the new digital platform that we are building for our digital collections, and forged deeper ties with a great ally, the Bentley Historical Library and its staff.

The Digital Content & Collections department begins an ambitious audit/assessment of our 280+ digital collections. This is the second in a blog series about the endeavor, noting how we started with a pilot group of collections to assess and the lessons learned.

The Digital Content & Collections department begins an ambitious full audit of our 280+ digital collections. In this first in a blog series about the endeavor, I note why we are doing this, how we surveyed the digital landscape, how we cemented alliances with others who will help us along the way, and where we're heading next.