Hill Museum & Manuscript Library

Access refers to the processes by which hmml makes its collections (digital images of manuscript collections received from its preservation sites) accessible online free of charge. When received from the preservation sites, hard drives of digital images are harvested and organized to consistent standards for tracking purposes; scanned for malware; and backed-up for onsite and offsite archiving. Every digital image is rotated to upright position, assigned an identifying file name, and prepped for access in hmml's online reading room (https://www.vhmml.org/readingroom ). In fy24, a total of 1,316,307 images (from 38,672 manuscripts) were received, organized, and prepared for online access. At the end of fy24 the total number of manuscripts available online in hmml reading room was 82,914; and there were 10,162 registered users of hmml reading room.the digital images are first made available to hmml's cataloging staff to create descriptions suitable for online discoverability. The catalogers' work makes each manuscript discoverable by uniform and alternate titles, author(s), and language. At the end of fy24 descriptions of 133,355 manuscripts were available online, including 82,914 with full digital image sets and an additional 50,441 manuscripts preserved in microform. In fy24 alone, the cataloging team created 18,379 new records. The hmml authority file (https://haf.vhmml.org/), an open-access online database, provides accurate and consistent authorities for the names of person, places, works, organizations, and families related to the manuscripts. In fy24, 3366 new authorities were created; 1302 of these were contributed to the library of congress authority file through the name authority cooperative program (naco). The goal is to make the handwritten heritage of cultures from around the world, previously inaccessible, available for generations both now and to come.

Preservation is the core of hmml's mission. Hmml establishes partnerships with institutional and private libraries throughout the world to digitize their manuscript holdings, archive the digital data, catalog the manuscripts, and share them online. There is a particular emphasis on manuscript collections in danger of being lost or destroyed due to war, natural disaster, or human neglect. Once a project has been agreed upon, hmml provides the equipment for digitization studios, the training needed to capture the manuscript images, and financial support for the digitization operations. Projects vary in duration depending on size and condition of the collections, working conditions, and factors related to the location of the project. In fy24, hmml had active projects in bosnia, egypt, india, iraq, italy, lebanon, malta, mauritania, montenegro, nepal, pakistan, slovenia, the united kingdom, and yemen. (a project in gaza was suspended due to war.) a large portion of preservation costs are capitalized as the creation of digital images. In fy24, that represented $523,060 of preservation expenses. The goal is to preserve the voices of the past to help us make wise decisions now and in the future.