UC World Heritage: webinar presents the new Alma Mater collection
The event focuses on how UC has supported access to its world heritage during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Integrated Library Service/BGUC team participates, on the 25th of June, in the webinar 'DSpace Repositories During the COVID-19 Pandemic - World Heritage Digital Libraries at University of Coimbra'. The online event will focus on the Alma Mater digital library, which since 2019 concentrates, in a renewed way, historical documents in digital format considered world heritage - among them old books, manuscripts, letters, photographs and drawings. Alma Mater is considered the most historically significant collection of UC digital libraries.
The event of June 25 is part of a series of webinars focused on the DSpace system and how it has met the needs of institutions around the world at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. The webinars take place always on Thursdays at 9am (ETC) - 14h local time in Portugal. Anyone can register for the AlmaMater edition through this link: click here.
The initiative is organized by the Lyrasis community and DSpace. Lyrasis is a non-profit organization whose mission is to support lasting access to the world's academic, scientific and cultural heritage through leadership in open technologies, content services, digital solutions and collaboration with archives, libraries, museums and knowledge communities around the world. The Dspace (or DuraSpace), a project that is part of Lyrasis, seeks to provide leadership and innovation in open technologies that promote durable and persistent access to digital data. It collaborates with academic, scientific, cultural, technological and research communities by supporting projects and promoting services that help to ensure that current and future generations have access to digital cultural heritage.
UC's new digital library system was built around one of the DSpace platforms: DSpace-CRIS. DSpace-CRIS stands out as the first open source extension for research data and information management. Its central component is the institutional repository, which allows great visibility on the network for all the information and objects collected. It adopts international standards and practices that facilitate interoperability and data transfer, following FAIR principles, and complying with guidelines and systems such as ORCID, Signposting, PlanS. Its main feature is the flexible data model.
Heritage and access: about Alma Mater
The presentation on AlmaMater on June 25 will be given by Ana Luísa Silva, Mário Bernardes, Bruno Neves and Ana Maria Miguéis, from the Integrated Service of Libraries at the University of Coimbra. The focus of the webinar will be on how the UC has supported access to its historical heritage during the Covid-19 pandemic. During this period, visitors have been able to explore from home some of the most precious documents that exist at the University. The platform gives access to different types of materials, with long-term preservation of digital assets.
The University of Coimbra is highlighted, in the presentation by Lyrasis, for having an important cultural heritage that is part of the UNESCO World Heritage. In recent years, a large number of documents from this heritage have been digitized, forming the basis for several digital libraries, including Alma Mater, renewed in 2019. This has been enriched with new content and currently has about 12,000 items.
The DSpace webinars
The webinars on DSpace have highlighted examples of how these repositories have adapted quickly to provide the critical infrastructure required during a pandemic crisis: integrating the DSpace with other platforms; strengthening Open Access; creating new research collections; engaging with external users; supporting cultural heritage; improving the user experience; dealing with a high volume of accesses, among other things.
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Discover Alma Mater and explore its historical collection: https://am.uc.pt.