Public-private partnership delivers thousands of images for free
Thanks to a public-private partnership between the Bodleian Library and ProQuest, thousands of images from one of the world’s most important collections of printed ephemera are being made freely available to all UK universities, further education institutions, schools and public libraries.
The John Johnson Collection: An Archive of Printed Ephemera, part of the JISC Phase Two Digitisation Programme, is now available at http://johnjohnson.chadwyck.co.uk and http://johnjohnson.chadwyck.com.
This first release comprises more than 6,300 images, drawn from the five key areas that will eventually be covered in the final collection for a total of about 150,000 images, including theatrical ephemera from the 19th Century Entertainment category, the Booktrade, Popular Prints, Advertising and material on Crimes, Murders and Executions.
The web site provides information on how to access the collection through your institution or public library.
JISC/NEH transatlantic collaboration grants announced
Five digitisation projects are to be awarded funding of around £600,000 ($1,150,000) under a transatlantic collaboration between JISC and the US National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).A call for proposals issued last November invited scholars in England and the USA to collaborate on digitisation, the aim of the £600,000 ($1,150,000) programme being to unite scholarly collections split between the two countries, explore innovative approaches to digitisation and match expertise in one country with collections to be digitised in the other.
The funded projects are:
- The St Kitts-Nevis Digital Archaeology Initiative (Southampton University / Thomas Jefferson Foundation)
- The World Wide Web of Humanities (Oxford Internet Institute / Internet Archive)
- Shakespeare Quartos Archive (Oxford University / Folger Shakespeare Library)
- PhiloGrid (Imperial College / Tufts University)
- Concordia (King’s College London / New York University)
Read on to find out more about the projects
You can also listen to a podcast from the JISC/NEH launch event at King’s College London about issues in international digitisation, including interviews with key figures in the collaboration.
Developing International Collaboration for Digitisation: the JISC - National Endowment for Humanities perspective
Developing International Collaboration for Digitisation: the JISC - National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) perspective
Hosted by King’s College London. Monday 21st January, 5.30pm - 6.45pm (Room 2B08, Strand Campus)
With presentations and commentary from
- Bruce Cole, Chairman, National Endowment for Humanities
- Malcolm Read, Executive Secretary, JISC
- Paul Ell, Director, The Centre for Data Digitisation and Analysis, Queen’s University Belfast
- Robert K. Englund, Professor of Assyriology at the University of California and Director of the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative
Chaired by Sarah Porter, Head of Development, JISC
In celebration of their transatlantic digitisation collaboration grants, JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) and the NEH (National Endowment for Humanities) are hosting an evening panel session looking at issues related to international digitisation. The evening will draw on the experiences of projects in the area and will also involve discussion to inform future directions.
The event is open to all. The evening will be followed by a wine reception for all attendees.
JISC and the NEH are grateful to the Centre for Computing in the Humanities at King’s College London for hosting the event.
Location: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/about/campuses/strand-det.html
