The NYPL Digital Gallery is a treasure trove of more than 600,000 images from the New York Public Library's (NYPL) collections. As stated on the home page, many are digitized from primary sources and rare items and include illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, illustrated books, printed ephemera, and more. Images are predominantly from the middle ages to the mid‐twentieth century and the scope is international. Curators in the Research Libraries identify the materials that are included in the gallery. Selection criteria include items that are high demand, unique and very rare items, oversize or brittle items, items from collections strongly identified with the NYPL, and obscure but important items. The “About this site” page includes detailed information about digital image resolution, scanning, and storage of the items as well as about the IT architecture and delivery of the site.
Subject areas include “Arts & literature”, “Cities & buildings”, “Culture & society”, “History & geography”, “Industry & technology”, “Nature & science”, and “Printing & graphics”. Other interesting items to explore from the home page include “Today's gallery pick” and the “Curators' choice”. The “What's new” section includes previous “Curators' choice” selections. The site is attractive, colourful, and organized. There is a non‐flash option for viewing the site. A handy “User's guide” provides helpful tips for viewing, using, and saving images. The guide also includes the conditions of use of the site. A “Frequently asked questions” section provides much information about the contents of the site and searching techniques. The NYPL Digital Gallery includes incredible variety such as a collection of sheet music covers for American popular songs from 1890‐1922, Native American portraiture (including may photographs by the photographer Edward S. Curtis), a cigarette card collection, scientific and medical illustrations, and early automobile manufacturers' catalogues. There is something for everyone to explore in the gallery.
From the home page, one can perform an advanced search, explore by subject area, or browse by name, subject, or libraries. Each subject area includes collection guides describing the contents and history of each collection, as well as the library division holding the collection items. Some collection guides also include background information and related resources. There is a link to “Related subjects” in some guides, as well. The “Collection contents” link in each guide takes the user to all the items in that collection. Retrieving an item brings up detailed information about the item as well as an option to bookmark, link, or embed the item in other web pages. One may also be tempted to purchase prints (matted and framed, if desired) in various sizes for personal use. There is even a useful cropping feature so that only a portion of the print may be ordered, if desired. Mugs, ornaments, and greeting cards with prints may also be ordered. A detailed page explains this service.
The advanced search provides many options for limiting search results and supports Boolean operators, truncation, and complex searches. Some searches may produce unexpected results. For instance, a search on “vespa” produced hits on the insect classification “vespa” and not on the Italian motor scooter. A search on “bicycle” produced 76 hits, whereas a search on “bike” resulted in only five items. Under the “My digital” section are a “Search history” feature that saves the last 50 searches and a “Selections” feature which allows a user to store up to 64 items for later viewing.
The NYPL Digital Gallery contains a wealth of global information spanning several centuries and is highly recommended as a great resource for all kinds of digital images for researchers, students, and general browsers.
