News & Announcements 11/08/11

NAACP Archives Go Digital

ProQuest delivers the most acclaimed record of the U.S. civil rights movement to an online world

ProQuest, an information firm central to global research, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) are teaming to digitize the association’s archives, bringing one of the most famous records of the civil rights movement to the online world. The collection — nearly 2 million pages of internal memos, legal briefings and direct action summaries from national, legal and branch offices throughout the country — charts NAACP’s work and delivers a first-hand view into crucial issues: lynching, school desegregation, and discrimination in the military, the criminal justice system, employment, and housing, among others. Preserved on microfilm, it holds the distinction of being the most heavily used collection in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress.  Now, it will be fully searchable and accessible electronically and available through academic, research and public library websites as part of ProQuest®History Vault, an initiative to digitize historically rich primary sources, opening their discovery to broader audiences.

To view full online press release, see  http://proquest.com/en-US/aboutus/pressroom/11/20111107.shtml

Florida Airport Offers 15,000 Free eBooks to Travellers

The Broward County Library is teaming up with the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to offer free ebooks “at twelve different book stations set up around the baggage claim area.”  None of the books expire and  they are the readers to keep.  Although there is no direct confirmation of this, they may be part of the Overdrive Classic Pack, a new initiative “that offers free ebooks from Thomas Nelson, Encyclopedia Britannica, Crabtree Publishing, and Lonely Planet.”