Digitizing Hidden Collections in Public Libraries

As community anchor institutions, public libraries must provide an avenue not only to the wealth of information available globally on the Web, but also to locally specific materials that cannot be found elsewhere. In essence, they must keep local history alive and connect it with its greater context. Hidden collections —defined as materials that are not “discoverable by scholarly users… either through digital or analog means”2 — are attracting increased attention in the library community, which recognizes their importance and the need to increase access to them.
—Digitizing Hidden Collections in Public Libraries by Gwen Glazer.

Libraries no longer need to prove that they should be digitizing their materials; they just need to find ways to do it. This paper offers an overview of digitization challenges facing small and medium-sized libraries, presents options for large-scale digitization projects, and suggests ways to share newly created digital collections.

This is the Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) publication “OITP Perspectives” – a new publication series created to complement OITP Policy Briefs.