Omega Project

PUL’s capacity for acquiring collections had begun exceed its capacity to process or catalog them. Moreover, the aptitude for digitization to transform access to unique resources, and the expectations of researchers post-COVID, combine to make digitization an integral component of any access strategy in the modern research library. Having descriptive information about collections is a prerequisite for their digitization, and therefore a strategic realignment was needed.

In answer to these needs, Project Omega was conceived by the Library's Strategic Council - a scoped three year project aimed to facilitate the effective presentation of our collections. The project team has endeavored to utilize four term positions for cataloging, end processing, and digitizing prioritized materials from our Special Collections and Marquand Rare Books and Special Collections Graphic Arts backlog in Firestone library. One photographer has focused on the curator-prioritized Special Collections Graphic Arts materials, included in this collection, for the duration of Project Omega, requiring use of specialized, professional camera equipment (Phase One), associated software (Capture One Cultural Heritage) and hardware inherent to the traditional and scientific digitization of cultural heritage materials. Two cataloging positions were specifically crafted to eliminate a backlog of unprocessed rare books from Marquand and Special Collections held in Firestone Library, with the help and expertise of curators and bibliographers. One term member of the Collection Services Team in Special Collections at Firestone Library has effectively managed the end processing of rare materials in support of the project to eliminate the cataloging backlog.  The Special Collections Assistant has also coordinated projects relating to the intellectual and physical management of these collections including creating inventories, data clean-up and supply management.