Queens Public Library Selects VTLS’ VITAL for their Archives

Blacksburg, VA- VTLS Inc. is proud to announce that Queens Borough Public Library has selected VITAL repository software to manage their archives. The archives comprise primary and secondary resources documenting the natural, social, economic and political history of Queens, King, Nassau, and Suffolk counties. In addition, the archives include the records of the Queens Library’s department heads, publications, board meeting minutes and other historically valuable material. Archive holdings consist of a wide range of material types; 36,000 books, 1,195 cubic feet of manuscripts, 5,267 maps, 1,345 broadsides, 145,000 photographs, 422 feet of vertical files, and 9,000 reels of microfilm. The archive has subscriptions to 49 journals and 28 newspapers. Presently, these items are only accessible within the facilities of the archives at the Central Library in Jamaica, Queens. With the implementation of VITAL and the subsequent digitization of held titles, The Queens Library will be able to provide global access to much of its collection.

Wes Trager, Chief Technical Officer of Queens Library described VITAL as “the most ‘up to date’ package,” stating that the final selection of VITAL was made “because of its openness and its flexibility.”

Built on Fedora Commons™, VITAL is designed to simplify the development of digital object repositories and to provide seamless online search and retrieval of information. VITAL provides extensive workflow extensions, detailed management utilities, enhanced indexing, advanced searching and specialized content displays.

“We are thrilled that Queens Library has selected VITAL to manage their historical collection,” said Cece Yourshaw, Vice President of Operations at VTLS. “Queens continues to set the bar higher for system functionality, and we are pleased to partner with them and provide our latest technologies.”

Ultimately, Queens is seeking to make their archives available to the general public via the web. With VITAL, says Trager, "we will have available the state of the art workflows we need to organize the collection and make it available to the public.”