Resource of the Week
by Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor
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If you’ve been on the Internet since dinosaurs roamed the earth, like this writer, you probably remember the first digital images you ever saw online. In all likelihood, these were images from the Vatican Museum; the Vatican came online in 1995. (I checked the year via Hobbes’ Internet Timeline, which you may also remember from way back when; it’s now up to version 8.0 and is still being updated.)

We were still using dial-up modems — s-l-o-w dial-up modems — and it took those pictures forever to download. But we didn’t care, did we? We knew how cool this was. But who could have imagined, ten years later, the breadth and depth of images available online via digitization projects. Arguably, we wouldn’t be seeing most of this stuff if libraries hadn’t gotten involved — early and often. This week’s resource — an amazing new digital image repository from the New York Public Library — is one you’ll certainly want to explore.
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Public Libraries–Digital Archives
Source: New York Public Library
NYPL Digital Gallery
“NYPL Digital Gallery provides access to over 275,000 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.”

It could really be frustrating to try and make your way through all this stuff if the browsing and searching functions weren’t so good. You can start with a simple keyword search if you have something specific in mind, or head right for the advanced search page. Plenty of options here, including searching by source title, date, image ID or call number, and keywords in item citation fields. Dropdown menus help you make choices. You can use another set of dropdown menus to confine your search to one or more Centers or Divisions of the Research Libraries — e.g., the Humanities and Social Sciences Library; The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; Science, Industry, and Business Library.

When your thumbnail results come back, click on a image to see a larger version, along with extensive information about it. Controls allow you to enlarge the image even more (in a new window), pan and/or zoom, and save your selection — either to purchase a print or view it later. (32 images maximum can be stored for later viewing.) Your most recent 50 searches in the gallery are also saved for you (along with how many hits were generated by each). Both selections and searches are accessible via links at the upper right of each page.

Use the the links in the center at the top of the page to browse the collection by names (a-z; people), subjects (a-z), or by the various NYPL Research Libraries. At the upper left is a dropdown menu that allows you to browse by general subject area — e.g., Arts & Literature, Industry & Technology, Nature & Science, etc. Be sure to check the lower left side of the home page for the “Curator’s Choice,” which led me to a delightful collection of turn-of-the-century posters. This charming image is currently my Windows wallpaper at work.

You can find extensive information about this collection on an About NYPL Digital Gallery page, including the history of the project and some information about the technology that powers it. A User’s Guide explains how to navigate the collection and take advantage of the available tools. You’ll also find an FAQ, which informs us that “NYPL provides free and open access to its Digital Gallery and images may be freely downloaded for personal, research and study purposes only.” Although most of the material here is in the public domain, NYPL does charge “a usage fee if images are to be used in any nonprofit or commercial publication, broadcast, web site, exhibition, promotional material, etc.” For usage permissions, see NYPL’s Photographic Services & Permissions.