Adam Fisher, of Farmingdale, will give the Kennebec Historical Society’s January public presentation, The Digital Maine Initiative: sharing the stories of Maine people and places with the world. The presentation will begin at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20, on the third floor of the Maine State Library, 230 State St., Augusta.

Fisher is director of Collections Development, Digital Initiatives and Promotion at the Maine State Library. He will talk about the Digital Maine Initiative, a growing partnership of libraries, historical societies and museums working together to build a digital collection of Maine-related historical materials that can be shared with the world.

Fisher also will talk about technical support, equipment and software that the Maine State Library provides to Maine institutions at no charge to facilitate digitization projects.

Digitization — the process of converting traditional media like books, periodicals, images, maps and other ephemera for use on a computer — provides an unparalleled opportunity to share and learn from the collections held by Maine people and institutions. Each day new historical items are added online to provide professional researchers, students, genealogists and amateur historians direct access to original source materials that help provide a better understanding and appreciation of our past.

Digitization also gives libraries, historical societies and museums the chance to acquire digital copies of historical items held by families, community organizations or private collectors that otherwise would be inaccessible to the public.


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