About the Digital Library Program

Digital collections are rapidly becoming an integral facet of librarianship around the globe. In establishing the Digital Library Program, Loyola Marymount University is showing its continued support for active scholarship by creating new venues and access points for learning. Digitization is a value-added way of making library collections and materials available not just to the LMU community but to researchers around the world, around the clock.

The Digital Library Program takes a comprehensive and holistic approach to digitization: balancing the educational and research needs of the community, the instructional, institutional and preservation goals of the library, and embodying the spirit and mindfulness of Jesuit tradition. What exactly is digitization? It is the creation of replica copies of material through technological means using scanners, cameras and computers. We are creating virtual copies of library materials. These virtual copies are accessible at anytime, they are searchable, and they are organized in a structured manner.

For more information, please email Carmen Mitchell , the Digital Projects Librarian.

Documentation and Best Practices: The digital objects that are part of the Loyola Marymount University’s Digital Library are to be open, accessible, searchable, and of high quality. As digitization standards are ever-changing, it is the responsibility of the digital library staff to keep current with industry standards and best practices. The LMU Digital Library Program will follow and adhere to all of the standards set forth by the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting Version 2.0 (OAI-PMH v2). Specifically, our CONTENTdm Server acts as an OAI-PMH repository and as such can field requests from an OAI-PMH harvester to make the metadata available for stored items. For more information on OAI-PMH, visit www.openarchives.org. Documentation for best practices in the areas of both digitization and metadata creation will be constantly evaluated, changed and updated to keep up with changes in the industry.

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