Document Type

Conference Presentation

Publication Date

11-10-2022

Abstract

In 2021, a team consisting of Evan Rusch (Government Documents/Reference and Instruction Librarian), Nicole Smith (Maps Technician), Heidi Southworth (Digital Initiatives Librarian), and student workers Britney Hartmann, Samuel Lemma, Jasmyne Fisher began digitization of 27,441 unique aerial photographs. These aerial photographs are from the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) District 7 covering south central Minnesota from 1957-2006. They are housed in the Dr. Mary T. Dooley Map Library at Minnesota State University, Mankato. These photographs are heavily utilized by students and faculty in our geography and engineering departments and by other researchers who visit our campus. Through digitization, we have not only aided in their preservation but expanded access to these unique materials, making them available to a global audience for study. Now, one year later, we have successfully digitized 32.47% of the collection and have added 18% of the photographs to our institutional repository, Cornerstone. This lightning talk will share this unique and complex project and show the new interactive ArcGIS map that Graduate Assistant Ira Raber created that is found on the gallery’s home page and updated as we add digitized photographs.

Department

Library Services

Recommended Citation

Southworth, H. (2022, November 10). Mapping south central Minnesota: An aerial photograph digitization project [Conference presentation]. 2022 Digital Commons North American Conference, virtual.