The Wayne State University Libraries are preparing for a soft launch of their new, custom-built digital collections platform in late May. The state-of-the art platform will offer much faster loading speeds and access to higher resolution images, as well as fully integrate the Libraries' digital collections content and improve information discovery for researchers, educators and students.
Out of a need for an updated, customized approach to the Wayne State digital collections, members of the Discover Services unit built the platform to take the place of DLXS. The platform currently hosts ten photographic and text collections, including the Herman Miller Consortium Collection, Lincoln Letters, Changing the Face of the Auto Industry, Michigan Opera Theatre Performance Images and more. There are plans to add some of the larger collections, including Virtual Motor City and Digital Dress, to the new platform later in 2014.
The team adapted the Internet Archive's bookreader to incorporate a custom ebook reader into the new platform for viewing the text collections. The open source code allowed the team to add features like navigable tables of contents, full-text search with search results highlighting and the ability to experiment with additions like text-to-speech. The integrated ebook reader allows the handling of text as well as images of text without additional software. This means that users can access all forms of text right in the page, without the need for outside software or a file download.
To browse the collections and to give feedback on the new platform, visit digital.library.wayne.edu
The Wayne State University Library System consists of the university's six libraries: The David Adamany Undergraduate Library, the Purdy/Kresge Library, the Shiffman Medical Library, the Arthur Neef Law Library, the Science and Engineering Library, and the Reuther Library and the School for Library and Information Science.
Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 28,000 students.
