Publish digitised collections

The Library provides two platforms for publishing digitised collections and creating online exhibitions. These have been used by academic and student projects to share materials that have been digitised as part of research activities and to provide context for online readers.

Special Collections Online

Special Collections Online is the Library's platform for publishing online collections of digitised primary sources. It provides an effective and sustainable way of displaying large digital collections and is used by research projects to: 

• Share large collections of images, documents, audio and video.
• Describe these collections using metadata.
• Make collections discoverable via WorldCat and other discovery platforms.
• Incorporate digitised content into other websites and mobile applications.
• Sustain access to collections beyond the life of a funded project.

Examples

• Affective Digital Histories - resources created by the Affective Digital Histories project, funded by the AHRC. The project investigated changing community in Britain's post-industrial towns and cities.
• East Midlands Oral History Archive (EMOHA) - 447 oral history recordings hosted for EMOHA, part of the Centre for Urban History.
• Evelyn Waugh Studies - the Evelyn Waugh Newsletter (1967-1989), Evelyn Waugh Newsletter and Studies (1990-2010) and Evelyn Waugh Studies (2011-). Part of the Complete Works of Evelyn Waugh project, funded by the AHRC.

Online Exhibitions

Our online exhibition platform, Omeka.net, is the Library's platform for smaller digital collections and online exhibitions. Sites are hosted by Omeka, created and managed by the Library, and designed and written by students and staff.

It provides an effective way of publishing digital content from research projects and student work enabling: 

• the sharing of images, documents, audio recordings and video.
• work with volunteers and external organisations
• creation simple web pages
• the use of metadata to describe content, and share metadata with others
• map content. 

Examples

• The Post-War History of Leicester 1945-1962 -  created by EMOHA, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and winner of the Alan Ball Award for Local History Publishing.
• The History of Museums - created by Charlotte Daynton (MA Museum Studies) as part of her placement with Library Special Collections.
• Centre for Regional and Local History Theses Collection - created by the Library and the Centre for Regional and Local History to showcase this unique research collection.

If you are interested is using either platform, please email: specialcollections@le.ac.uk