Princeton--Card Catalog Conversion Project-Digital Collections Inventory--Appendix II

Council on Library Resources
Commission on Preservation and Access

Digital Collections Inventory Report

Appendix I

ALA Survey of Imaging Projects

1. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY--Card Catalog Conversion Project

Description: The Princeton University and VTLS Imaging Services have just finished a joint project to scan the libraries' public union card catalog, containing 6.5 million 3x5 catalog cards, to create a database of digitized images. The database represents 1.75 million titles acquired and cataloged before 1980, predating Princeton's library automation and online catalog. Initially, the image database will not be integrated with the libraries' online catalog, but will work in conjunction with it.

The 6.5 million images represent the LARGEST IMAGE DATABASE created in a library. The system uses the VTLS ImageManager software for retrieval.

The project will preserve valuable information, permit network access from non-library locations, provide enhanced searching capabilities to the libraries collection, create more efficient tools for maintaining the catalog, and provide a relatively cost-effective and error-free alternative to standard retrospective conversion.

Contact: Eileen Henthorne, Firestone Library, Princeton University, NJ [henthrne@firestone.princeton.edu]

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