Celebrating history and innovation: the Louisiana Purchase Digital Library project at Louisiana State University Available to Purchase

For over a decade, the Louisiana State University Libraries have been engaged in providing digital access to their many varied special collections. The most recent of these projects is a collaboration between the LSU Libraries, the New Orleans Public Library, and the LSU Digital Library, focused on the upcoming bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase on 30 April 2003. “Louisiana Purchase bicentennial: a heritage explored” will be a collection of more than 25,000 images of primary source material from the 1700s, 1800s and 1900s held by the LSU libraries and the New Orleans Public Library. The collection is scheduled to be completed and online in March of 2003, and will be available for use by educators, school children, and independent researchers. This article details the process of digitizing such a varied collection, and the lessons learned from it.