Friday, March 05, 2010

Reading at Harvard

The Harvard Libraries have launched a very cool new online project, "Reading: Harvard Views of Readers, Readership, and Reading History." In total, this digital library offers "more than 250,000 pages from 1,200 individual items, including 800 published books and 400 manuscript selections," from across the Harvard libraries system.

Among the most interesting sections to me is "Marginalia," where they've digitized works containing marginalia by Thomas Carlyle, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William James, Herman Melville, and Hester Thrale Piozzi. They've also digitized William Wordsworth's library catalog, and the highlights gallery is well worth a browse.

This digital collection/virtual exhibit is a perfect example of how of libraries can harness technological tools. Great work!