About our Digital Collections
A digital collection may be regarded as a digitization, digital preservation, oral history, or digital exhibit project that includes but is not limited to materials unique, distinctive, or special to the University, as opposed to non-unique electronic resources purchased or licensed from commercial vendors. The Libraries use digital collections to enhance scholarship, teaching, and community engagement.
Our main source of our digital collections is from the Libraries’ Special Collections. While we have been digitizing materials from Special Collections for many years, the digitized collections represent a small portion of the holdings. We encourage you to visit our Libraries to view our unique Special Collections.
We also partner with other departments on campus to build digital collections in support of teaching, research, scholarship, and exhibits.
The collection development and management of digital collections are guided by the Libraries’ Digital Collections Working Group, which operates in collaboration with the subject liaisons and the University Development Office.
How to Access our Digital Collections
Our digital collections platforms include Omeka and BePress’ Digital Commons. We also use Ex Libris’ Rosetta for digital preservation and host several of our collections on New York Heritage.
Most of our digital collections are searchable through the online catalog, Find It! To limit your search to digital collections materials, select "Local Digital Collections" in the drop-down menu or use the following link.
Search our Digital Collections
Propose a Digital Collection
Use the Digital Collections Project Request Form to propose an idea for a digital collection. The Libraries’ Digital Collections Working Group reviews and approves library-digital collections projects. The submitter will be notified if a proposed collection meets the criteria and is accepted. A gift agreement/transmittal may be required for some projects.
At a minimum, a digital collection proposal should meet the following conditions:
- The project is distinctive and academic.
- Material is copyright compliant and not sensitive or private in nature.
- The project complements existing library collections and the strategic priorities of the university and libraries or relates to the priority of Special Collections and University Archives.
- The Libraries have appropriate existing resources, including infrastructure and staff.
Additional conditions that strengthen the potential of a proposed digital project for acceptance:
- The project documents historically marginalized or excluded communities' experiences, histories, memories, or voices.
- The project includes at-risk collections in need of long-term preservation.
- The project has long-term, high-use potential.
Copyright of Digital Collections
Many items in our digital collections are copyrighted. If you want to reuse any material in our collection, you must seek permission or decide if your purpose can qualify as fair use under the U.S. Copyright Law Section 107. If you think copyright or privacy has been violated, the University Libraries will investigate the issue. Please see our takedown policy.
If using any materials in this online digital collection for educational or research purposes, please cite accordingly.
Accessibility Statement
Ensuring that our digital collections are accessible is a priority for the Libraries. We are committed to providing an equitable experience for all individuals by following accessibility standards, responding to user feedback, and providing support and accommodations.
We aim to ensure that new digital collections are created with accessibility in mind and are working to improve the accessibility of older collections.
We believe it’s essential for everyone to be able to request, retrieve, and access our digital collections, especially our audio and video digital collections. If you desire access to a recording, we will make all efforts to provide a transcript in a timely manner. Please contact orb@binghamton.edu to make a request.
