Cover illustration of an Okanagan Historical Society publication.
Credit: Okanagan Historical Society/UBC Library
This story appears in UBC Library’s 2013/14 Community Report. Read more to find out how we’re supporting economic, environmental and social sustainability at UBC.
Researchers around the world have valuable access to Okanagan stories and histories, thanks to an extensive digitization project involving UBC Library and the Okanagan Historical Society (OHS).
In 2013, UBC’s Okanagan Library, in collaboration with the Okanagan Historical Society (OHS) and the Digitization Centre in Vancouver, digitized nearly 70 volumes of OHS annual reports. The annual 240-page publication covers a large geographic area of the Okanagan Valley, extending from Salmon Arm in the north to Osoyoos in the south.
As a result, some 15,000 pages, dating from 1926 to the present, are now available online for study. Their digitization ensures continual access to priceless information – profiles of communities, stories and pictures of early family life, businesses and events that defined life in the Okanagan Valley.
“We are incredibly pleased to have been able to support digitization efforts that bring our community to the world,” says Heather Berringer, Chief Librarian at UBC’s Okanagan Library.
Since its launch last year, the OHS digitization project has been the most visited resource at digitalcollections.library.ubc.ca. While the majority of visitors are Canadian, users from across the globe have accessed the collection – spanning countries from the U.S. to Australia.
“Our wish is that people utilize the collection to its fullest potential,” adds Tracy Satin, President of the Kelowna branch of the OHS. Indeed, the physical reports have been used in classrooms for decades, for topics ranging from geography to cultural studies. The digital version was recently used in a UBC Okanagan undergraduate history course.
Members of the OHS, the Okanagan community and local libraries attended a reception last September to launch the collection as part of Kelowna’s Culture Days festivities. This community-building event encouraged local researchers, genealogists and history buffs to use the collection.
