The Library’s tech elves have been laboring away in their workshop to upgrade the user experience on our Chronicling America website.
Over recent weeks, the Library of Congress has implemented changes to Chronicling America that improve and expand use of historic American newspapers digitized for the National Digital Newspaper Program, a joint project with the NEH.
Most changes are behind-the-scenes, but users will notice some differences – search results as thumbnail images, increased performance, and persistent (i.e., “bookmarkable”) URLs in use throughout the site. In addition, we’ve improved the site to provide open access through standard protocols.
Check out the Upgrade Details page here for more information, and stay tuned for more Chronicling America news.
June 8, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Don’t you think it’s a little insulting to refer to your institution’s employees as “tech elves,” especially on the institution’s official blog and Twitter feed?
June 8, 2009 at 8:57 pm
The upgrade details sound really interesting. Do you have a page that goes into more technical depth on how the three new programmatic interfaces will work? Perhaps with some examples to help encourage others to use the new interfaces?
June 9, 2009 at 12:06 pm
No offense whatsoever was intended. I always speak highly of my Library colleagues whenever I get the chance — both publicly and privately. I’m amazed by the caliber of people I work with.
In my mind, “elves” truly do represent a diligent work ethic and the creation of seemingly magical things, whether toys or delicious cookies covered in fudge stripes. That’s the spirit in which my comment was intended.
I’ve gotten nice comments in the past about the conversational and accessible tone of the blog, which I hope to continue in the future, but constructive criticism is also welcome.
June 10, 2009 at 10:26 am
@Brett – we’re working on a page with technical details about the interfaces this week, and will publish it soon.
June 14, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Hello!
I am now in Ukraine and what you did worked!
Light and liberty go together, I agree with this!