KU Leuven Libraries is happy to present a new online platform for accessing its fragile heritage collections online: EXPO.
EXPO offers virtual exhibitions and a gallery of individual collection items, and informs about digitization and imaging projects at the library.
The virtual exhibitions connect collection items with other works and may or may not be a continuation of actual library exhibitions. Exceptional works from the KU Leuven Libraries’ collections are highlighted in the gallery, which gathers both recognized masterpieces and other fascinating works with a unique story. The project pages introduce the website visitor to ongoing and past activities in the field of digitization. Both initiatives aiming at the digital disclosure of the library collections as well as projects in the context of research and technical imaging are presented.
EXPO is the result of a close collaboration between various departments. Exhibition curators, collection keepers, and other heritage collaborators and partners create the exhibitions and fill the gallery with collection highlights. LIBIS carried out the technical implementation of the site as part of the Heron (Heritage Online) service. The site is based on the open source web publishing platform Omeka. For the site’s development, LIBIS created a direct connection between Omeka, the library management system Alma and the preservation system Teneo/Rosetta, allowing curators to work within a single, integrated environment. The coordination of EXPO is taken on by KU Leuven Libraries Digitisation & Document Delivery. This department manages digitisation projects, executes digitisation in its Imaging Lab and supports research projects with bespoke digitisation techniques and the specific expertise required for scientific imaging.
Enriching Heritage 