Connecting the Irish Marine Archive to its audience

Abstract

The Marine Institute Ireland, recently launched an Interactive Marine Archive comprised of digitised and visualised, historical resources dating back to 1839. This digitisation and accessibility project should INSPIRE staff to ENGAGE with the library archive in an effort to CONNECT the historical content to the appropriate audience. The project could serve as a blueprint to staff to ENABLE them to breathe new life into the old collections. The Library holds a rare complete collection of the Sea and Inland Fisheries reports from 1839-1987, and the Scientific Investigations collection which spans from 1901-1926. These reports were fully digitised, made available on the Institutional repository, and an Interactive Archive website was created to inform and engage the audience. A short video on the project was produced, and the physical condition of the reports was noted and assessed for repair. These reports were only previously available by appointment, on-site in the archive. However, demand has been consistent, and the books were deteriorating, leading to the necessity to digitise and make the material available. The data contained in the reports are of enormous scientific value to Ireland and further afield. This poster details the workflow involved in digitising the reports and making them available and engaging. Also presented in the poster are the interactive tools used to visualise the data on the website and make it assessable for a modern audience, while also shared to maximise reproducibility. The poster aims to inspire library staff to engage with their archives, in the hope of connecting the materials to the audience and enabling access, especially in these uncertain times where onsite visits have proved challenging.