Digital milestone for the University of Groningen Library

This summer, the UB Groningen reached an important digital milestone: over 33,000 books (33,386) from the collection have been digitized and made available online. Some of these can be consulted via Google Books, and even more via Delpher. The digitization took place across the past three years as part of a collaborative project with the National Library.

Google Books

Over 14,000 books (14,684) from the UB have been made available digitally via Google Books, where they can be read online and searched through via the keyword search function. In the UB SmartCat catalogue, a link to the digital version (eBook bekijken) can be found alongside certain book titles.

• See, for example, Den seraphinschen nachtegael (1674)

The books that have been digitized until now include Dutch-language books published in the Netherlands before 1900. The digital collection is the result of a substantial collaboration project between the National Library, libraries and university libraries in the Netherlands and Google. In total, almost 400,000 library books in the Netherlands have been made available via Google Books.

Delpher

In addition, over 18,000 books (18,702) from our UB collection have been added to Delpher, a quickly growing database of digital, historical Dutch publications. Almost 3 million pages from UB books have been digitized via this platform. The books can now be read online and searched through via the keyword search function. The books digitized via this platform include books published between 1900-1950 that are either written in Dutch or that have been published in the Netherlands.

This new, digital UB collection includes titles focusing on religion, language, drawing and painting but also travelling (e.g. travel guides) and old children’s games. A link to the digital versions of books published via Delpher is still missing in SmartCat, but this is being resolved. The digital collection is the result of a substantial collaboration project between the National Library, libraries and university libraries in the Netherlands and Metamorfoze, the foundation for preserving paper-based heritage in the Netherlands.

More information

• Wereldliteratuur in nieuwste toevoeging Delpher (news item Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Dutch only)
• More than 18,000 new books (news item Delpher, Dutch)