Imagine also that these images are linked to textual histories of the statue or its time period, bibliographies on Asian art prepared by Harvard faculty members, and catalogs of related materials held in other Harvard libraries. A major project being led by the Harvard University Library will make all of this possible and allow new exploration of the relationships among the collections owned and held by the libraries, museums, and archives at Harvard and Radcliffe. Harvard's library has been the world's leading academic research library in the era of paper, with over three centuries of experience in shelving, cataloging, circulating, and preserving books and other print materials.
Digital information provides a new and greater challenge.
It also provides exciting opportunities to explore relationships among the current collections in new ways, and to continue our preeminent position in the new digital age. Harvard's libraries have been acquiring digital materials for some time, said Dale Flecker, associate director of the University Library for systems and planning. The LDI will address these issues in a general, sophisticated, and coordinated way. As a historian, I have been remarkably impressed by the new possibilities and opportunities for accessing previously unavailable materials from the widest range of times and places. The LDI is especially eager to work with faculty to ensure that the Library keeps pace in the digital era in supporting both teaching and scholarship.