GovDocs/DPU Collaborative Projects

story for UNT-L Newsletter, Spring 2007

Starr Hoffman

The Federal Newsmaps Project

The UNT Libraries Digital Projects Unit and Government Documents Department have recently collaborated on several digital projects. One of the projects completed this past fall is the Federal Newsmaps Project.

Federal Newsmap Collection (online)

The Newsmaps were published by the Special Service Division, Army Service Forces, War Department of the U.S. and were prepared and distributed by the Army Orientation Course. They usually feature maps displaying the theaters of conflict, and often include narrative descriptions of war-related events. Some feature photographic essays or poster-like designs on themes such as enemy insignias, demobilization, and farm loans. (see footnote 1)

The Digital Projects Unit (DPU) had originally planned the Newsmaps Project as a collaborative grant project with several other institutions. However, cataloging and communication issues slowed the process, so in Spring 2006 the DPU scanned all the newsmaps that UNT held locally. Southern Methodist University and North Carolina University lent copies of the newsmaps that UNT did not hold, and were given copies of the files for their own use.

Metadata Record for Farm Loan Newsmap

In September of 2006, Nancy Reis, Mary O'Connor, and Daniel Almeneh created the metadata records for all 212 newsmaps. These data-rich records include information about the photographs and/or maps in each piece, subject keywords, and physical measurements. The DPU has also run OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software on the images, enabling full-text searches of the newsmaps. A small text box on the right of each record labeled "Search Inside" is provided for this feature.

Full-Text Search Results for "Farm"

The digitized newsmaps are displayed using an interface called "Zoomify." This interface uses Flash to quickly zoom in and out when viewing a digital image.

Farm Loan Newsmap in Zoomify Interface

This collection is part of the UNT Libraries' large online World War Two Collection, which can be viewed at: http://digital.library.unt.edu/search.tkl?type=collection&q=WWII

(include screenshots and captions)

View the Federal Newsmaps Collection here:

http://digital.library.unt.edu/browse/department/govdocs/newsmaps/

More information about the Zoomify interface:

http://www.zoomify.com/

Footnotes

1) Indiana University Libraries. WWII Newsmaps . http://www.libraries.iub.edu/index.php?pageId=2227