Digitization Complete for World-Renowned Franco Novacco Map Collection

Summary

Using special cameras and lenses designed for flat art photography, image technicians from the Newberry and The Digital Archive Group created high-definition images that will enable researchers around the world to study these maps in staggering detail. The Newberry Digital Initiatives and Services team then organized the digital assets, adding descriptions and metadata to improve searchability and ease of access. With growing digitization technology and newly fortified digital asset management systems, this project plays a role in the Newberry’s larger goal to increase the accessibility of its collections, making it possible for anyone around the world to view renowned archival documents. "Although the Newberry holds one of the world's premiere map collections, this format has been significantly underrepresented in our digital library, since we lack facilities for oversize digitization," said Jen Wolfe, Digital Scholarship and Outreach Librarian. "The Novacco digital collection allows us to start to fill in that gap and open up more of the Newberry’s cartographic materials to a global audience." The Novacco Collection has been fully digitized and is now available as part of the Newberry’s growing, free Digital Collections, with high-resolution files available for public re-use. The maps may be of particular interest to scholars of map history, geographers and cartographers, art historians, and map enthusiasts. About the Author Lili Pangborn is Communications Coordinator at the Newberry.