Frequently
Asked Questions and Feedback form
We
enjoy receiving your comments, questions, and stories! Before sending
us a message, please take a moment to read through our frequently
asked questions.
Online
feedback form
Regular
mailing address
What
is Digitization?
Digitization
is the process of creating a digital replica of a page from a book
or microfiche, which can in turn be used in web sites, and other
educational and community tools. The process of digitization involves
the following steps:
Copyright Clearance:
If materials are not in the public domain, permission must be granted
by the creator and/or their estate prior to digitization.
Sourcing: This
is the process of obtaining the materials to be digitized. This
may involve borrowing a collection or obtaining books via inter-library
loan.
Scanning/Photography:
Using a scanner or digital camera, photographs, books, microfilm,
and/or microfiche are turned into digital form. The resulting images
are then saved on a server, which acts as a virtual file cabinet
and safely stores the material.
Metadata/Cataloguing:
This is the process of "tagging" the scanned images. This tagging
process makes it possible for the images to later be searched on
web sites by keyword, title, author, or subject.
Quality Assurance:
At this stage, completed work is double-checked prior to being uploaded
onto the sites.
Uploading: This
is the final stage of digitization and involves putting the completed
material online.
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Can
I purchase the following...?
Unless specifically
stated, we do not have copies of the materials on our web site for
sale. We generally borrow books and other items for digitization
from libraries, archives, and individuals across Canada.
Here are some
suggestions to help you purchase rare and out-of-print books:
Contact the
publisher directly. Titles still in print are often available to
purchase through the publisher. Older or rare titles may have been
published by small committees, which often have extra copies available.
Check with your
local bookstore. If the book you wish to purchase is still in print,
but not on the shelf, you may be able to special order a copy.
Try visiting
a used bookstore. Abebooks (www.abebooks.com), for example, is an online
bookstore that connects users to 12,000 booksellers selling 50 million
new, used, rare & out-of-print books.
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Where
can I get more information for my research?
Unfortunately,
we are not able to conduct research for our site users. If you require
assistance with your topic of interest, we recommend you contact
your local library, archives, or museum.
If you are having
difficulties using our web site to find the information you are
researching, please send us a note via feedback and specify where
on the site you encountered difficulties.
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Do
you accept content suggestions?
Currently, we
only accept content suggestions for books and other published materials.
If you would like to see a particular title become a part of our
online collections, please send us a message via feedback with as
much information about the item as possible.
Even if we are
able to obtain copyright permission to digitize a particular work,
due to funding restrictions and Editorial Board rulings, we cannot
guarantee we will be able to place a specific publication on our
web site.
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I
am experiencing technical difficulties.
If you experience
technical difficulties with our web site, please send us a message
via feedback. When reporting technical errors, please try to send
us as much of the following information as possible:
URL (web address)
of the page where the problem occurred.
For books and
journals, the title of the work in question.
Detailed description
of the problem (a page is missing, a link did not load, etc.).
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May
I promote and/or link to your web site?
Yes! We're thrilled
to have you promote our site and link to our site. If you decide
to promote any of our projects, please send us a message to let
us know where you are writing from!
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On-line
feedback:
Regular
mail:
Digitization
Initiatives, University of Calgary Press
2500 University Drive NW
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
T2N 1N4
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