Providing access to historical documents through digitization

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show the beginnings and development of digitization processes in University of Warsaw Library by examining the digital library of e‐bUW.

Design/methodology/approach

The main method is the comparison to other similar actions within the country of Poland. The subject scope of the paper also includes a description of methods of presenting digitized collections to patrons.

Findings

It turned out that fair visibility of catalogue records of digitized material is possible mainly because the Library of Warsaw University is a member of Digital Libraries Federation (Federacja Bibliotek Cyfrowych). Since 2007 the collection has been visited by over 5 million readers.

Originality/value

The original value of the paper is made by presenting efforts of one country on an international level to a broader audience with special attention to individual solutions.

Citation

Chmielewska, B. and Wróbel, A. (2013), "Providing access to historical documents through digitization", Library Management, Vol. 34 No. 4/5, pp. 324-334. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435121311328663