Title: Civil Rights Digital Library

Source/Sponsoring Agency: Albany State University Library; Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education; Digital Library of Georgia; Franklin College of Arts and Sciences; University of Georgia. Alexander Campbell King Law Library; Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

URL: http://crdl.usg.edu/voci/go/crdl/home/

Date Checked: 10/16/2008      Status: Active

Date Annotated: 10/15/2008

Topics: Civil Rights; Constitutional Law; Human Rights Law; Legal History

Other keywords: Civil Rights Movement; Digital libraries

Contents: The Civil Rights Digital Library (CRDL) is a collaborative venture by Georgia libraries, educational and humanities institutions, and the University of Georgia media archives to make primary material about the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s available on the Web. The CRDL has three components: 1) a digital video archive; 2) a portal connecting to related digital collections from 76 content partners; and 3) resources for educators. Researchers can either search or browse the collections. The default search is a basic keyword search. Sophisticated searches can be undertaken using an advanced search that features Boolean operators, field restrictions, and parameters restricting searches to a specific institution, specific collection, date range, or media type. Although the Help link is not prominently displayed, it provides easy-to-understand explanations on how to use both search types (although Basic Search tips are found under “Search Types” and not listed as a separate item like “Advanced Search.”) The Browse feature covers the site content in a host of helpful ways by dividing browsing into: “Events,” “Place,” “People,” “Topics,” “Educator Resources,” “Media Types,” “Contributing Institutions,” and “Collections A-Z.” “Events” is organized by individual years spanning 1954-1968 and researchers can drill down to specific occurrences. Each “Event” page provides Background, Archival Collections and Reference Resources, and Educator Resources. “Place” browsing uses a graphical interface of a US map with pinpoints to areas of interest in each state. “Topics” is divided into “people and communities” (such as community organizing, culture of the movement, white resistance) and “Tactics for Justice” (such as boycotts, mass protests, and voting rights.) Each “Topics” selection provides an extensive list of a variety of archival and reference resources, ranging from TV footage and photos to oral histories. The resources under “Media Types” reflect the impressive scope of the CRDL. Sound recordings, documents, books, newsletters, flyers, government records, legal documents, diaries, photos, cartoons are just some of the media in the library. Historical works, biographies, interviews, oral histories, and debates are some of the genres. The CRDL is a treasure trove of primary sources that highlights the many facets of this important social movement; the site is so well-organized that retrieving pieces of history is a simple process.

Author of Annotation: J. Callihan