One of the most rewarding parts of our work in the DPG is knowing that our efforts will lead to better exposure for Baylor’s unique collections and a better understanding of the world in which we live. The materials housed in Baylor’s special collections provide ample resources for a career’s worth of output, but there are times when even our enviable collections could benefit from some outside augmentation.

That’s where you come in.

Several of our major projects are at their best when they’re aided by you, our users and supporters. One important way is through lending or outright gifting of materials to either the Digitization Projects Group directly, or indirectly through our campus special collections partners.

Lending or Donating to the Digitization Projects Group

Our two biggest ongoing projects that can most benefit from your help are the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project (BGMRP) and the Baylor University Libraries Athletics Archive (BULAA). While very different in content, they both operate on the same principle: we’re digitizing as much material as we can find that fits our criteria, and we know that a substantial portion of it lives off-campus. If you – or someone you know – is a collector of black gospel music or Baylor sports memorabilia, you can lend or donate materials to our group for digitization and inclusion in our digital collections. (See the end of this post for contact information on how to lend or give to the DPG.)

Donating to Our Partners

If you’d like your materials to have a permanent home at one of Baylor’s special collections or institutions, you can contact them to arrange for a meeting with a representative who can appraise and research your materials for possible inclusion in their collections. Then, if they make good candidates for digitization, we’ll work with our liaisons at the special collections to queue them up for digitizing and uploading. (See the end of this post for contact information on how to lend or give to our special collections partners.)

Tips

Know someone who has a large collection of Civil War letters? How about antique maps or black gospel albums from the 1950s? If you do, and you think they’d like to contribute to our work, send them the link to our digital collections homepage, pass along our email address (digitalcollectionsinfo@baylor.edu) or have them stop by the Moody Memorial Library on campus and meet with us. We rely on word-of-mouth and user tips from people who collect materials we’re digitizing to help us create larger, more complete digital collections.

So take a minute to peruse your bookshelves or filing cabinets, give that obsessive collector a call, or take an extra minute to look through the gospel section of the used record store for things that might help us create a bigger, better digital collection. We’ll even make sure to list you as the custodian or lender if you’d like to see your name in our records!

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The Black Gospel Music Restoration Project
ATTN: Denyse Rodgers
Baylor University Libraries
1312 S 3rd Street
Waco, TX 76706

The Texas Collection
http://www.baylor.edu/lib/texas or txcoll@baylor.edu

Armstrong Browning Library
http://www.baylor.edu/lib/abl or Rita_Patteson@baylor.edu

W.R. Poage Legislative Library
http://www.baylor.edu/lib/poage or Poage_Library@baylor.edu