Loyola Marymount University has launched its Digital Library Program. Digital collections are rapidly becoming an integral facet of librarianship around the globe. In establishing the Digital Library Program, Loyola Marymount University is creating new venues and access points for learning. Digitization is a value-added way of making library collections and materials available to the LMU community and to researchers around the world, around the clock.
The Digital Library Program will take a comprehensive approach to digitization: balancing the educational and research needs of the community, the instructional, institutional and preservation goals of the library, and embodying the spirit and mission of Jesuit tradition. The Digital Library Program creates virtual copies of library materials using scanners, cameras and computers. These virtual copies are accessible anytime, they are searchable, and they are organized.
In 2007, the LMU Library’s Department of Archives & Special Collections was awarded a grant as part of the Local History Digital Resources Project (LHDRP), supported by the infrastructure of the California Digital Library (CDL) and through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant funding administered by the California State Library (CSL). This grant funded the digitization of 200 postcards from the Werner Von Boltenstern postcard collection, and laid the groundwork for the Digital Library program.
The LMU Digital Library collection currently contains two full collections with more than 500 digital objects: “The Changing Face of Southern California: A History in Postcards” and “America’s West: The Owen’s Valley of California.” A third collection, “The Atrium: Iconic Images from Loyola Marymount University” is in the works and will be added to the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities Digital Repository as well.
The Charles Von der Ahe Library supports the teaching, learning, and research needs of the students, faculty, and staff of Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. The library is an important center of intellectual, cultural, and social life on campus –- a role that will be strengthened in the coming years with the construction of the William H. Hannon Library, scheduled to open the summer of 2009.