Meet the Waterloo Digital Library

Just over two years ago I started in a newly created position as Digital Archivist. It took some time to figure out where my expertise would be best directed, but one task that was clear from the start was that Special Collections & Archives needed a way to selectively share our digitized primary resources.

Readers, I’m delighted to share that we have a solution to that problem and its name is the Waterloo Digital Library (WDL).

Featuring items from the holdings of both Special Collections & Archives and the University of Waterloo Archives, the WDL is an evergreen project which means that new items will continue to be added over time. Ranging from photos to textual documents the items are available to on- and off-site researchers with relevant Creative Commons licenses indicating how and when they can be used for reference or research purposes.

Front cover of a 1962 promotional booklet titled University of Waterloo Engineering Building.

Examples of material featured in the WDL include:

• Speeches and promotional publications held in the University of Waterloo Bibliography.
• Photos from the Kitchener-Waterloo Record Photographic Negative Collection, including early aerial photos of campus and some of the first student convocations.
• Newsletters published by Gay Liberation of Waterloo and the Waterloo Christian Fellowship, and a fan zine produced by the University of Waterloo Science Fiction Club.

• Publications from the Parents’ Information Bureau that was started and operated by A.R. Kaufman.

• Photographs from the Harry Byers fonds which includes shots from his time in Russia during the early 1930s.

Information about the WDL can be found on the site and you can read more about the value of the project in the Library news item Discover Waterloo Digital Library. You can also read more about the site and our digitization efforts in a recent Waterloo Region Record article. While you’re there make sure to check out an equally informative article about our rare book holdings featuring our very own Special Collections & Archives Librarian, Jessica Blackwell!