Connecting Systems for Better Services Around Special Collections

Over the last few years, several projects to improve physical and digital access to special collections have been undertaken by Leiden University Libraries in the Netherlands. These heritage collections include manuscripts, printed books, archives, maps, atlases, prints, drawings and photographs, from the Western and non-Western worlds. They are of both national and international importance. The projects were undertaken to meet two key requirements: providing better and faster service for customers when using the collections, and creating a more efficient workflow for the library staff. Their interdependencies, with regard to creating new formats for the description of graphic materials and providing digital access, led to a merger of the projects with a combined set of goals for conversion, cataloging and digitization-on-demand. This article describes the infrastructure behind these projects, and the impact of the projects on users and staff to date.