[Cohsl-list] ASCSA - DIGITAL IN PROGRESS

Digital Library Since 1881 the American School has amassed a large collection of both published and unpublished information. This includes books, journals, photographs, notebooks, personal papers, maps, and scientific data sets. More and more of these resources are now in electronic form, and, with the support of the Mellon Foundation, the School is in the process of developing a single digital repository to provide integrated access to them. At present, however, a number of separate projects with separate search mechanisms exist under the broader "digital library" umbrella. This section of the website provides access to them. *ASCSA EU Digitization Project Portal* (Under Development. Expected Launch Date: May 19, 2008) With financial support from the Greek Ministry of Culture (through the Third Information Society program of the European Union), the ASCSA is currently working with Lambrakis Press, a leading Greek media organization, to scan and present some of its most important collections. These include over 150,000 photographs and plans from excavations at Corinth, papers from the archives of the Dragoumis family, images of 1930s Greece taken by Dorothy Burr Thompson, and some of the scrapbooks of the 19th century bibliophile, John Gennadius, founder of the Gennadius Library. The specially-designed bilingual Greek-English portal will include a powerful search mechanism and three educational modules explaining the histories of the collections that have been digitized. The EU Grant Award Announcement can be downloaded as a PDF<http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/pdf/uploads/SITEAscsa.pdf>. *ASCSA Mellon Foundation Digital Initiative* (In Progress. Final Report Due: June 2008) In addition to creating electronic versions of existing materials, the School is responsible for an increasing amount of "born digital" information. Archaeologists now often use electronic tools to gather and organize data in the field. At the Athenian Agora, excavators enter archaeological observations on hand-held units as they dig while, in Corinth, non-destructive remote-sensing tools such as Ground Penetrating Radar are used to shape fieldwork strategy. Data in digital format presents new archiving and publication challenges. In 2006, ASCSA received funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to extend this work to create a unified digital architecture for the whole School, capable of storing archaeological databases alongside other digital information resources. A team of information technology experts has been working with Thornton Staples, a pioneer in digital library development, to design a prototype. The School's proposal to the Mellon Foundation (May 3, 2006) can be downloaded as a PDF<http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/pdf/uploads/ASCSA_ProposalMay2006.pdf>. *AMBROSIA: Union Catalogue of Libraries* (Live) The AMerican BRitish Online Search in Athens (AMBROSIA) database is an on-line union catalogue representing the holdings of the adjacent libraries of the British School at Athens and the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, which includes the Blegen and Gennadius libraries. Based on Ex Libris's ALEPH software platform, used by libraries around the world, AMBROSIA not only provides access to the records of printed materials, but also gives authenticated users full-text online access to journals, databases, and e-books. Access AMBROSIA <http://193.92.187.46:8990/F>. *Agathe: Digital Database of the Agora Excavations* (Live) In recent years, the ASCSA Excavations at the Athenian Agora have received substantial support from the Packard Humanities Institute to introduce digital technologies into the fieldwork process, and to create an electronic record system for the thousands of artifacts already discovered. The Agathe digital excavation database allows scholars to work remotely on materials excavated since 1931 while also providing a rich, virtual-tour, experience for visitors outside Greece. Access Agathe Excavation Database<http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/excavationagora/excavations> ================== June Samaras KALAMOS BOOKS (For Books about Greece) 2020 Old Station Rd Streetsville,Ontario Canada L5M 2V1 Tel : 905-542-1877 E-mail : kalamosbooks(a)gmail.com www.kalamosbooks.com