2011-03-18

The University Library is offering a new collection of digital resources at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  The streaming media includes almost 800 titles, including all of William Shakespeare’s plays presented by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)—unabridged with closed captioning.

The initial acquisition of this digital media was supported by the Library/IT Fee and streams 24/7, giving faculty, staff, and students at Illinois improved access to digital media—all through password-protected access.  Content is licensed for educational use, so classrooms, groups, and course reserves will all benefit.

“Digital media makes sense,” said Mary Laskowski, head of Information Processing and Management.  “For example, the Library could purchase a standalone DVD which one person could check out at a time or it could put the DVD content online where multiple users can view it simultaneously.”

Tom Teper, associate university librarian for collections, reiterated this point, noting that, “Our media collections are among our most heavily used collections. While not all of our media will be available online, these acquisitions will permit us to further the ‘whenever, wherever’ model that is increasingly typical of the resources that we offer.”

Digital resources for the campus, and other resources available to the general public, are located at https://digital.library.illinois.edu/ .  A variety of other technical services are available through the Library’s Information Processing and Management department ( https://digital.library.illinois.edu/ ).

This project is being made possible with the assistance of ATLAS (Applied Technologies for Learning in the Arts and Sciences). ATLAS provides information technology services that support and enhance the educational, research, and administrative activities of students, faculty, and staff in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  For more information, visit www.atlas.illinois.edu .

Do you have a story you’d like added to the Library News & Events? If so, please contact Heather Murphy ( hmurphy@illinois.edu ).