NOBLE Digital Heritage is a site showcasing items related to the history of NOBLE’s communities, both public and academic.
Images, maps, books, manuscripts and sound files can all be searched and accessed. Searches can be conducted across all NOBLE collections or within a library’s holdings or sub-collection.
NOBLE Digital Heritage items can include older published materials of local interest, unpublished archival photographs and manuscripts and other historical materials, as well as recent files documenting current situations for archival purposes. By scanning and linking through Heritage the materials are available to a wide audience around the clock, increasing access while reducing wear on the originals.
Libraries can include items from other groups in their community in their NOBLE Digital Heritage collection, but the library must take responsibility for working with the organization and maintaining the collection. The items must be related to the history of the member municipality or academic institution. Libraries are also responsible for copyright issues.
NOBLE Digital Heritage is a core service to full members of NOBLE; no additional storage charge applies to files accessible directly via the NOBLE Digital Heritage server.
NOBLE’s Digital Heritage participates in the statewide Digital Commonwealth project and meets common information interchange standards.
Digitizing items is the responsibility of the holding library. NOBLE will consult with our libraries to review some cost-effective alternatives. NOBLE has a large 11” x 17” format scanner and 35mm film and slide scanner available for use by our libraries here at NOBLE, funded through a grant from the Mass. Board of Library Commissioners. Digitized items should meet NOBLE’s Scanning Standards.
Files for items not freely available to the public, not related to the history of the library’s community, dissertations and other student works, materials supporting coursework, etc., must be stored separately from the Digital Heritage site, either on NOBLE servers or outside servers, at the library’s expense.
The NOBLE Digital Heritage is using Omeka S software to catalog and display digital items and to create exhibits from these items. Libraries are encouraged to add items to the NOBLE Digital Heritage site and are free to develop exhibits within the NOBLE Digital Heritage. Please see related documentation if you are interested in working with Omeka.