Digitisation
For the benefit of research and the general public, the Library is digitising large amounts of unique materials that are difficult to access.
For the benefit of research and the general public, the Library is digitising large amounts of unique materials that are difficult to access.
Everything that the University Library digitises will be directly searchable and freely accessible to everyone. We store and publish the files in Alvin—a platform for digital collections and digitised cultural heritage materials which is managed and developed by Uppsala University Library.
Our goal is to achieve a work flow that is as cost-efficient and quality-assured as possible. This includes planning, coordination, production, preservation, cataloguing, scanning/digital photography, image processing, storage and publication. Read more about how we work at Guidelines for digitisation at Uppsala University Library.
Our long-term goal is to digitise all materials that our users could be interested in but for practical reasons, we have to prioritise. As a user, you can be part of this process and influence which collections are digitised:
Digital collections - a selection of digitised works and collections from Uppsala University Library
What shall we digitise? Please submit a request!
Naturally, the University Library wants its digital collections to be of as much use as possible and therefore we are very happy to receive suggestions about materials we could digitise. Perhaps you would like to use them for your degree project, research or teaching? Please send a suggestion to us, explaining what you think that specific material should be given priority. We are especially interested in materials that comprise an entire collection (e.g. materials with the same provenance or author, a certain year or theme) and which fulfil the Library’s selection criteria:
- Materials with no legal restrictions regarding publication and dissemination.
- Unique material, that is, material that does not exist in any other library, archive or museum. A copy or a collection may also be unique with regard to, for instance, its provenance or the collection it belongs to.
- Materials that are of wide public interest.
- Fragile materials that need to be protected from wear and tear.
- Material that does not already exist in digital form.
If you are only interested in a few works or if you need the material within a few weeks, we ask you to order digitisation instead.
We plan and conduct digitisation projects
Contact us if you are planning to apply for funding for a project that involves digitisation. The Library has a clearly defined process for the digitisation of materials and members of staff with designated roles. Together with well-developed systems support for storage and publication in Alvin, this means the Library can act as a partner that will make it easier for you to realise your project.
We will help you with cost estimation and the planning of practical work tasks.
Once you have received funding, the Library will appoint a contact person for your project.
Ordering digitisation
You can order digital copies of all the materials in the Library’s collections that are not copyrighted. Prices and delivery times are stated in the price list. The digital copies will be delivered to you and at the same time made searchable and freely downloadable for the public in Alvin – a platform for digital collections and digitised cultural heritage materials.
Ongoing digitisation projects at Uppsala University Library
- Swedish literary works published during the 19th century. Approximately 8,500 works will be digitised during 2020-2022 within the research project New Paths to the Past.
- Labraunda-archive Documentation from the Swedish archaeological excavations at Labraunda, Turkey. Digitisation of thousands of photographs, drawings etc. will be digitised in collaboration with the research project Common Ground.
- Books about law, within Juridikbok.se (under construction) Juridikbok.se is a national foundation and a collaboration between university libraries with legal educations, the judiciary, legal publishers and law firms. The goal is to digitise and make available Swedish books about law that are not commercially viable.
- Maps of Sweden drawn by hand About 1800 maps from the 17th to the 19th centuries depicting Sweden or parts of Sweden, like counties, estates and cities.
- Western medieval manuscripts More than 900 manuscripts, mainly in Latin, and often decorated with beautiful illuminations.
