Pitt's Library System Links Patrons to Statewide Digital Collections

PITTSBURGH-The University of Pittsburgh's University Library System (ULS) has launched a new online service that allows researchers, students, genealogists, and the general public to search digital collections created by Pennsylvania libraries, museums, colleges and universities, and historical societies.

The goal of the Pennsylvania Digital Library (PADL) (http://padl.pitt.edu) is to serve as a gateway to documents, photos, e-journals, electronic dissertations, conference proceedings-anything available online in a digital format-created by Pennsylvania libraries and cultural heritage institutions.

PADL harvests the descriptive information about the material held in the numerous digital collections scattered across the Commonwealth. It indexes this descriptive information so it can be searched, free of charge. Any Pennsylvania organization seeking to register its digital collections with PADL should visit the Web site for instructions.

Currently, PADL holds materials from Bryn Mawr College, Drexel University, Haverford College, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Penn State University, the State Library of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, Thomas Jefferson University, Villanova University, and Pitt.

"Our digital library staff has done a wonderful job of creating a tool that will allow all citizens of Pennsylvania to quickly and easily access books, historical photos, and other material," says Rush Miller, ULS director and Hillman University Librarian.

"In particular, the Pennsylvania Digital Library has the potential to become an important resource for scholars, students, and the general public to easily determine what digital collections exist in Pennsylvania that might meet their research needs," according to Ed Galloway, coordinator of the ULS Digital Research Library.

PADL was created by the ULS in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Advisory Committee on Collaborative Digitization and is part of the Pitt's extensive D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program (www.library.pitt.edu/articles/digpubtype/).

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11/26/07/tmw