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Featured
Projects:

Gem of the Mountains Digital Yearbook Collection

Priest Lake Historical Photograph Collection

THE MAP ROOM
a Google map of our photographs

Idaho Waters
Digital Library

The Digital Initiatives department works to preserve and make accessible collections from the library, the University of Idaho, and the State of Idaho via its digitization, database, and digital archiving services.

For more information about us, or to explore our collections, use the tabs above.

Questions?

Contact Devin: dbecker@uidaho.edu
(208) 885-7040




Historical Map Collection <br /><br /> International Jazz Collections<br /><br /> Kooskia Internment Camp Scrapbook<br><br /> (Ag) Extension Publications<br /><br /> The Map Room<br />A Google Map of our Historical Images Idaho Waters Digital Library <br /> <br /> Priest Lake Historical Photograph Collection<br /><br /> Gem of the Mountains Digital Yearbook Collection <br /><br /> Turning of the Wheel Humanities Colloquium Series <br /> A Digital Collection of Events Vandal Video Collection <br /><br /> Carleton Watkins Mine Interiors Collection <br /><br /> Dworshak Dam Collection<br /><br /> Barnard Stockbridge Photograph Collection<br /><br /> Ott Historical Photograph Collection<br /><br /> Football Gameday Program Covers Collection <br /><br /> The Big Burn Collection <br /><br /> Aerial Photograph Collection <br /><br /> Columbia River Basin Project - Dam Construction in the Pacific Northwest<br /><br /> The Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness History Project<br /><br /> Lantern Slides of Edward John Iddings<br /><br /> Lantern Slides of C. H. Shattuck<br /><br /> Kyle Laughlin Photograph Collection<br /><br /> Lewiston Orchards Life Newsletter<br /><br /> Potlatch Newsletter, The Family Tree<br /><br /> University of Idaho Historical Photographs<br /><br /> Theodore Roosevelt Collection<br /><br /> Idaho Waters Digital Library<br /><br /> Taylor Ranch Log Book Collection<br /><br /> Robert E. Higgins Photograph Collection <br /><br />


About Digital Initiatives

What We Do | Our History | Our Vision & Mission | Our People

What We Do

Get Involved!

  • Propose a New Collection
  • Intern for Us - Graduate and Undergraduate Students Welcome!
  • Schedule a class visit - We'd be happy to talk to your students about the tools, processes, and materials with which we work.
  • Donate time, materials, or support.

Simply contact Devin, at dbecker@uidaho.edu, if interested.

The Digital Initiatives department digitizes. That may not come as a surprise, but despite the fact that it is not all we do, digitization -- including the scanning of photographs, feed scanning of books, conversion of legacy files, batch processing of born-digital files, and other tasks -- is the foundation by which we build our collections and web sites and through which we digitally preserve institutional, local and scholarly material and resources.

But, again, digitizing is not all we do. We also work with departments, schools, librarians, citizens, machines, code, and each other to provide guidance on digital tools, projects and preservation, and to identify, acquire, and promote new collections.

Our History

The department was established in 2008 with an initial charge to digitize and make accessible the library's renowned International Jazz Collections. Material from the Jazz Collections continue to be added to this day, and the Collection was honored as the Digital Library of the Week in the summer of 2011.

We have since moved further out into the University and state as a whole, digitizing Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station and University of Idaho Extension Bulletins, Historical Photographs of the University of Idaho, Moscow, and the surrounding area, and historical newsletters from a Lewiston Neighborhood and the Potlatch Forests Incorporation, just to name a few.

In 2011, we redesigned the web portals for all of our collections with an emphasis on the dates and locations of our materials to make the collections more accessible and easier to use.

Our Vision

As the University of Idaho Library's Digital Initiatives department within the library, we will support and encourage scholarly and creative activity throughout the university by actively providing access to rare, archival and scholarly materials, keeping abreast on latest technologies, and actively providing strong and innovative services to members of the University of Idaho community and beyond.

Our Mission

The Digital Initiatives department seeks to create digital collections and make them available to enhance scholarship and research both within the university and with its external partners; to increase access to the libraries holdings, within the scope of Copyright Law; to support the teaching and learning activities of the university's faculty and students; to promote innovation to enhance learning; and to maintain and preserve these collections for future use.

Our People

Devin Becker, Digital Initiatives & Scholarly Communications Librarian
Phone: 208.885.7040

Estelle Sertich, Digital Projects Manager
Phone: 208.885.9444

Kevin Dobbins, Digital Projects Assistant


Student Workers: Kendra Chilbert, Lynette Andersen, Sierra Magnuson, Jordan Proctor.

New and Featured Collections



books

Idaho Waters Digital Library

The Idaho Waters Digital Library provides access to information resources relating to water issues in key Idaho river basins. The collection presently includes scientific and technical reports, with an emphasis on Idaho Water Resources Research Institute reports and publications. This centralized digital repository provides a searchable interface for discovery and utilization of water resources documents.


books

Priest Lake Museum Association Collection

The Priest Lake Museum Association Collection is A digital collection comprised of 380 historical photographs of Priest Lake, Idaho and the surrounding area. The images span the years 1880 to 1950, documenting the area's waters, boats, buildings, landscape and people.


books

Turning of the Wheel Collection:
A Digital Collection of Events

The Turning of the Wheel Collection is a collection of videos, photographs, and transcripts documenting over 30 events that took place as part of the Turning of the Wheel Humanities Colloquium Series, a "Humanities Exploration of the University of Idaho" which occurred over the course of the 2011-2012 Academic Year and was directed by Rodney Frey. For each event, a University of Idaho community member offered his or her own response to the thematic question: "What is significance for you of the interplay between the particular/diverse/unique and the shared/universal/ubiquitous?"


books

Vandal Video Collection

The Vandal Video Collection is a collection of 160+ digitized 16mm Film reels that are held by the Library's Special Collections & Archives. The videos span the years 1925 to 1997, covering both football and basketball games, with the bulk of these having been recorded in the 1970s.


books

Gem of the Mountains Digital Yearbook Collection

The Gem of the Mountains was the official yearbook of the University of Idaho from 1903 to 2004. During this time, the Gem recorded the traditions, triumphs, controversies, histories, and achievements of the University, documenting both the curricular and extra-curricular lives of its students, faculty, and administrators.


books

Carleton Watkins Mine Interiors Collection

Among the riches of the historical photograph collections of the University of Idaho Library is an oversize portfolio of eighty original Carleton E. Watkins photographs. Long considered lost, these photographs of the interior of the Anaconda Mines in Butte, Montana, were taken in 1890. They show early hard-rock mining techniques, equipment, and men deep underground.


books

Theses and Dissertation Database

The Theses and Dissertation Database allows users to search and browse over 10,000 catalog records of University of Idaho Theses and Dissertations. Use the drop down menus and search box above table to refine your browsing.


books

The Map Room

The Map Room is an interactive Google map application that allows users to browse over 8000 images on a digital map. Use the drop down menus and search box at the top of each map to further refine your browsing.


books

Dworshak Dam Collection

Digitized photographs and documents pertaining to the planning, development and construction of the Dworshak Dam, featuring documents and photographs detailing both the legislative and physical development of the dam.


books

Barnard-Stockbridge Photograph Collection, 1886-1964

The Barnard-Stockbridge Collection exhibits over 1000 photographs, selected from over 200,000 nitrocellulose and glass plate negatives, taken by Nellie Stockbridge and T. N. Barnard during the years 1894-1964. The photos depict various aspects of life in the Wallace/Kellogg mining area.


books

University of Idaho Historical Photographs

A variety of photographs from several photographic collections held by Special Collections & Archives that depict scenes from the University of Idaho's past. Includes portraits of past professors and alumni, as well as photos of buildings and events.


books

Ott Historical Photograph Collection

Clifford M. Ott donated this broad collection of historical photographs in 1992. Ott was an avid amateur photographer who amassed over 10,000 slides, prints, and negatives spanning the years from 1883 to 1990. This collection represents a selection from his collection, which he compiled into eleven albums containing a total of over 1,800 images of Moscow and surrounding Latah County.


books

Kyle Laughlin Photograph Collection

The images of the Kyle Laughlin Photograph Collection, taken from 1931 to 1979, depict Idaho's natural scenery and historic sites, as well as personal moments from Kyle Laughlin's life. Laughlin was a Moscow, Idaho resident and businessman for 56 years; he owned several businesses, including a photo shop, an appliance store, and a television/cable company.


books

Idaho Vandals Football Historical Gameday Program Covers Collection

The Idaho Vandals Football Historical Gameday Program Covers Collection consists of over 50 years worth of gameday program covers (1908-1967) produced for football contests that took place all over the country.


books

University of Idaho Extension and Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station Publications

A collaboration between the Library and University of Idaho Extension, the University of Idaho Extension and Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station Publications collection features over 1100 publications that serve as the primary source for practical, research-based information on Idaho agriculture, forestry, gardening, family and consumer sciences, and other topics.


Scroll Timeline to Browse by Year

1893 1910 1930 1950 1970 1990 2010