Mar 06
2
Whither digital collections?
Recently, Steve reminded me of a project that is a coproduction of the Universities of Wisconsin and Alabama. The project, Publisher’s Bindings Online, 1815-1930: The Art of Books, is a digital collection of decorative publisher’s bindings. These bindings, most commonly achieved by a mechanical metal stamping process, range from the gawdy to the elegant.
What I find most appealing about this resource is the Teaching Resources pages, which at last gives us an example of how digital collections can provide “added value” that the analog items can’t supply alone. These brief essays and glossaries are exactly what I want from online collections.
Where I’m skeptical (and this a tentative skepticism) is the extreme specificity of the project’s subject. In reality, how much use will this expensively produced database see? How far reaching is the potential for teaching and scholarship on 19th century trade bindings?
I guess the crux of the question is – using this resource as an example – is such a website worth the institutional funding and people hours required to construct it? Should digital collections attempt to cast a wider net?