Digital Solutions

The Norwick Center for Digital Solutions (nCDS) digitizes, catalogs, and digitally preserves SMU Libraries Special Collections materials. nCDS operates a state-of-the-art digitization center that allows rare and fragile materials held in the special collections to be digitized in exceptionally high-quality.

If you are an SMU faculty, student or staff member, contact us to request:

  • Digitization of SMU Libraries Special Collections materials. Faculty and student requests receive priority.
  • Tours and overviews about digitization of special collections.
  • Consultations, tutorials, class sessions, and learning labs pertaining to digital collections, digitization, and digital preservation.
  • Booking the nCDS oral history studio for live interviews.

About Digital Collections

SMU Libraries Digital Collections use CONTENTdm collections management software. Monthly updates to the collections are posted on the SMU Libraries blog.

  • The descriptive and technical metadata guidelines for SMU Libraries Digital Collections are documented in the Digital Collections Workflow and Metadata Guidelines.
  • nCDS's best practices meet or exceed the Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative’s technical guidelines for digitizing cultural heritage materials.
  • nCDS adds items to SMU digital collections using this evaluation procedure.

Digital Preservation

The digital preservation program adopts best practices to ensure the integrity, authenticity, and long-term preservation of digital and born-digital materials belonging to SMU Libraries. Files from SMU’s digitization projects and born-digital collections are preserved in perpetuity.