Innovative Preservation: Rutgers Law

pic8_8Innovative Document Imaging (IDI) is assisting Rutgers University Law Library, Newark with two vital digitization projects focusing on critical chapters of American history. The first collection includes transcripts from New Jersey’s Lilley Commission, established to investigate the root causes of the 1967 Newark riots. The civil disturbances raged for 6 days between July 12 th and July 17th, leaving death, destruction and a changed nation in their wake. The Lilley Commission collection contains testimony from local politicians, dignitaries, police officers, legal professionals, community activists, clergy and other witnesses to the riots. The collection also includes the report of the Kerner National Advisory Commission on Civil Disturbances.

The second collection contains material for the landmark affordable housing suits known as the Mt. Laurel Cases. These cases had farreaching effects that reverberated throughout the nation. Decisions rendered in the cases placed a mandate on municipalities to provide affordable housing and this shaped land use policy nationally. The collection contains case files, depositions, briefs and trial memoranda. “Rutgers played a significant role in the Mt. Laurel Cases and we want to showcase how the policy developed,” says Sue Lyons, Reference and Government Document Librarian at Rutgers Law Library, Newark.

As Lyons notes, “these projects will allow the Law Library to open up material that normally would be available only in the rare book room to a much wider audience. We’re sharing really useful, historic information. IDI is making this possible; I am pleased with the progress so far.”

Funding for the projects comes from a grant by the National Historic Publication Records Commission, part of the National Archives. The material from the Lilley Commission will likely be available in the fall of 2011. The Mt. Laurel material will be available by the end of the 2011 or the spring of 2012.

Innovative On Site: Sadie Pope Dowdell Library

pic4_4IDI’s Personal Digital Imaging Service will hold an on-site information and document collection session at the Sadie Pope Dowdell Public Library, in South Amboy, NJ on Saturday, October 1st, This program allows individuals to preserve valuable personal collections of print, photographic and a/v materials with the same professional quality imaging once exclusive to institutions. Twenty percent of all proceeds from the program are credited back to sponsoring libraries. To learn more, please visit idiimage.com/digitization, or contact Marty Tannenbaum, (800) 380-9058

I hope one and all had a glorious 4th of July. It is an exciting summer here at IDI, with fireworks of our own. Look for more news in every issue of Imaging Innovations. As always, thank you to the IDI team for their diligent efforts.

Be sure to check out the IDI website for our latest news.

Thank you for your business and warmest wishes!

Sincerely,

Marty Martin Tannenbaum

Innovative Document Imaging