As the oldest State Library in the country, dating from 1717, the New Hampshire State Library has an impressive collection of items that chronicle the State's history. Recognizing its responsibility to protect these items, the Library is undertaking a program to safeguard these objects so they will be available for future generations.

The Library will be working with the Northeast Documents Conservation Center in Andover, MA, on a planning process for the work that needs to be done to protect the valuable pieces in the collection and to ensure they do not deteriorate any further. Mindful that while we need to protect these materials in their original format, we also need to provide access to them. We will be digitizing items and using the web to provide that needed access.

The State Library is looking at a number of digital projects in order to provide greater access to our resources. We are discussing, with Dartmouth College and the University of New Hampshire, the need to provide access to our maps through a website to which all three of us would contribute. The New Hampshire Political Library, which is housed in the State Library, has received a federal grant to put its materials in digital form and mount them on the web. Using the technology of digitization, it is now possible to share resources in ways not conceived of just a few years ago. The efforts of the State Library to protect its valuable materials and make them available will benefit many people in New Hampshire needing to do research on our rare and unique materials.

-Michael York, State Librarian