McLean Library is Creating Digital Collections!
Imagine being able to search for a historic gardening book you want to peruse and, with a simple click of the mouse, read the book on your computer screen. No time to read it on your computer? No problem. You can download it to your Kindle!
The PHS McLean Library staff has been participating in a mass digitization project to digitize books and periodicals in the library that are of horticultural or historical significance, were published before 1923, and are in the “public domain” (may be freely used by everyone). You’ll also be able to find Philadelphia International Flower Show programs from the 1980s and ‘90s. Working with Lyrasis, a national library network, and the Internet Archive, a nonprofit founded to build an internet library that is free and accessible to all, PHS is sending pre-1923 books and periodicals to a scanning center to be digitized. The opening of the almost 200-year old library collection to students, researchers, and scholars around the world is an exciting way to preserve the PHS McLean Library—one of Philadelphia’s cultural treasures.
To date, project librarian Lorena Boylan has sent more than 62 volumes to the scanning center, with a total of 58,082 pages scanned from books and periodicals from the library. To view this material, visit the PHS page on the Internet Archive website.
This project has been partially funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the Pennsylvania Office of Commonwealth Libraries. Additional funding comes from the Sloane Foundation in partnership with Lyrasis. Contact Janet Evans, McLean Library and Archives Manager, 215-988-8782 or send email to mcleanlibrary@pennhort.org to learn how you can help support this project.