The Library of Alexandria, ancient Egypt’s hallowed center of classical learning, was designed to be a universal research center that contained all the books—or scrolls—in the world. Fast-forward 2,300 years. UCSB Library’s contribution to today’s version of a universal library is the Alexandria Digital Research Library (ADRL), an online platform we built to store and deliver the Library’s distinctive collections of digital research materials.
When first launched in 2014, ADRL provided access to UCSB student electronic theses and dissertations only. Now, over 20,000 unique items can be found in ADRL—including images, text, streamed music and video, and numeric data.
Newly-added collections include the Community Development and Conservation Collection, featuring papers related to 20th-century Santa Barbara history, the University Archives Photographs Collection, the Cylinder Audio Archive, and the Flying A Studio Photograph Collection.
“ADRL opens up the Library’s collections to our own faculty and students, the local community, and people around the world,” said Chrissy Rissmeyer, UCSB Library Metadata Librarian. “Researchers can now stumble upon our collections through Google and other online searches and it opens a window into the deep resources we hold here at UCSB Library.”
Visit ADRL at http://www.alexandria.ucsb.edu and search by keyword, or browse by collection, contributor, format, or subject. Some materials are only accessible with a UCSB NetID and Password.
