So I’ve been interested for some time in getting our City Directories which have passed into the public domain online for you all, and may have found the way to do it. So the Internet Archive, which many people think of in terms of accessing websites, also has a function where people and organizations can upload materials–such as City Directories!–to their site. They host and worry about the technical details, and we just have to scan the stuff, do what we can with metadata, and get the word out. Sounds simple enough, right?
So I got permission to do a pilot, using a directory which I had already scanned in entirety to test the process and workflow. And guess what? The City Directory for 1913 is now available online, 24/7, to browse or download!
It is a single PDF, but if people don’t like it in that format we can break it up and have it available in pieces as well. The sky is the limit here. Take it for a test drive, let me know what you think, and if it all works out then hey-ho we are in business. I’ve bookmarked the page so you can easily access it until the crawlers and indexers start to pick it up. ENJOY!
The Backblog 
You put a link in the 856 field. look at this URSUS record in MARC to see how they are formatted. (I am not and never will be a cataloger so you should probably consult one before doing this.) http://ursus.maine.edu/record=b2781631~S1
NO WAY!!! Where can I get more info about this to pass around to the team here???
Renee,
Did you know you can put links to Internet archive titles in Minerva?
I know, the City Directories are one of my all-time favorite historical resources. Between the ads and biographical info they are incredibly rich.
This is cool! I went on there and looked at some of those advertisements for Main St. businesses…amazing to be reading, on the internet, advertising for “telephone connection”… the top of the line technology of 1913 business world, I guess, in 1913.