Like most librarians, we were electrified by the news
last month that Google will engage in a 10 year project
to digitize and make available online, the older
books in a number of major research libraries.

As with many libraries in Virginia, the Alexandria
Library, Special Collections has in its collection
items quite unique.

We looked around and focused on our Alexandria imprints;
books and other materials published in Alexandria.
We took the next step and digitized a small selection
and placed them online as .pdfs. The "Bookmarks" are active
in Acrobat in lieu of a publication table of contents for these
materials.

Among these are:
Mrs. Hannah Glasse's *Art of Cookery made plain and
easy...*  First American Edition, Alexandria, 1805; and
Edgar Snowden's *An oration on the life and character of
John Marshall, late Chief Justice of the United States:
pronounced before the citizens of Alexandria, D.C.,
August 12, 1835,* Alexandria, 1835.  This latter document
includes information related to the activities that were
conducted in town as part of the memorial.
We have other titles in the pipeline.

Google may not be coming to
us, but we can certainly take things to Google (eventually), what
with metadata and all.  It will just be
a matter of time.
The link to our "Digital Books" page follows.

http://www.alexandria.lib.va.us/lhsc/digital_books.html

--
Joyce A. McMullin, Branch Manager
Alexandria Library, Special Collections
717 Queen St.
Alexandria, VA 22314
PH:  703.838.4577 x 213
FAX: 703.706.3912

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