Calisphere: A World of Digital Resources

As of late I have become extremely interested in the digital library world. I think it's amazing what some groups and organizations are doing to provide online access to some of the most meaningful and rare cultural, historical, and educational documents, images, and artifacts. I also am somewhat obsessed with the state of California and all the initiatives going on there, including Google (obviously) and the California Digital Library. When I went to the website for the CDL, I was introduced to a number of programs under their care, including Calisphere.


Calisphere: A World of Digital Resources is "the University of California's free public gateway to a world of primary sources." The site contains over 150,000 digitized items "revealing the diverse history and culture of California and its role in national and world history." It is primarily broken into sets useful for the classroom, and is a point of access to over 300 UC websites, covering subjects such as the arts and sciences, history, math, literature, and more.

The first thing that really jumps out when you go to Calisphere is how many options you have to search or browse their collections. Along with an easy to see search box at the top, there are also drop down boxes for their "Themed Collections" and a "Browse A-Z" box of subject headings.

A main component of Calisphere is their "California Cultures" collection, a huge group of primary source sets that really show the diversity of the history and population of California.



A helpful tool is that when you click on any of the featured photographs, it immediately takes you to the complete record and history of that photo.

Although I suppose there is no one OPAC for this site, the capabilities it allows you in searching and browsing far outweigh the lack of a specific catalog. It is interesting to browse around on the site, and any page you go to is full of links that can help you find something applicable to your research, teaching, or plain curiosity. The A-Z list of subjects is also incredibly helpful, and the portal to the hundreds of other UC websites makes it incredibly easy to find authoritative information, primary sources, and historical essays.