iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

It may be #PreservationWeek, but we're all about preservation all year long! Rachael Johns, Senior Digital Imaging Specialist, recently presented at digiTIPS on the process of digitizing color negatives.

Comparison of three views of a photograph of Nora Brooks Blakely at her graduation in front of State Farm Center. Two different presentations of the processed color negative are to the left of an original print.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Here in Champaign, we're celebrating the Day of the Mushroom with some technicolor champignons! While we wouldn't necessarily recommend eating any of those pictured here, April is prime morel season in Illinois.

Illustration of five different types of mushrooms from the Boletus family, many of which feature bright pink stems.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

As Illinois heads to the Final Four this weekend, we celebrate the beginning of National Poetry Month with an unexpected basketball icon: Carl Sandburg.

Black-and-white group photograph of the 1898-1899 Lombard College basketball team. Carl Sandburg, at far left in the first row, places his hand on a basketball held by the central player. The players wear long pants and short-sleeved shirts emblazoned with the letter 'L.'

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

We're preparing for the @illinoisfunk.bsky.social Invasive Species panel on April 21 by looking at some insects in the Digital Special Collections! Luckily for the entomophobics among us, the ocellated shield bug has not been found in the United States.

Color illustration of the Cimax Dispar and Cimax Hanbuschii, two winged true bugs. The former is red with yellow and black spots.

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Reposted by Illinois Digitization Services

University of Illinois Funk Library @illinoisfunk.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Get excited! We'll host our 8th annual panel on April 21, with the theme Invasive Species! If you come in person, you'll also enter a raffle for 2 books related to invasive species. Learn more here: guides.library.illinois.edu/c.php?g=1123...

Flyer for the Solving the World's Challenge's panel about Invasive Species.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

"In need of some inspiration for National Craft Month? Look no further than the Digital Library! Originally intended for damask weaving and carpets, we're also dreaming up cross stitch and needlepoint projects with these 1828 charts.

A variety of animal motifs, including birds, a lobster, a dog, and a lion, on a grid for use in weaving.

A variety of plant motifs, including flowers, a tree, a pinecone, and a wreath, on a grid for use in weaving. Pencil marks around the wreath motif suggest previous use.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

We're celebrating Presidents' Day with a look back through the camera lens! In December 2025, we digitized a pop-up card of the Lincoln Memorial in volume XVIII of the Abraham Lincoln scrapbooks created by Henrietta Calhoun Horner held by the Illinois History and Lincoln Collections.

A pop-up card of the Lincoln Memorial as seen through a camera viewfinder.

The setup for capturing the image of the pop-up card. A camera is placed on a tripod between two angled strobe lights, all in front of a book standing upright.

The final image of the pop-up card of the Lincoln Memorial.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? While we're pretty sure a woodchuck (AKA groundhog) isn't the cause of the damage of this circa 1728 woodblock, we sometimes see evidence of historic insect activity or other damage in the items we digitize.

Detail of a woodblock showing damage, evidenced by lighter wood in contrast to ink-stained wood

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

What changes in a decade? In 2016, we had just changed our name from Digital Content Creation and joined Preservation Services. The beta version of the Digital Library was also being launched! The display might be different (swipe to compare 2016 and 2026), but the content will always be the same!

2016 view of the interface of the Digital Library, then in beta, when looking at a 1907 Sanborn map of Aledo, Illinois.

2026 view of the interface of the Digital Library when looking at a 1907 Sanborn map of Aledo, Illinois.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

#ForeedgeFriday or #MarbledMonday? It's the end of our first week back in the office and we're still trying to figure out what day it is! The mid-18th century French binding of the @illinoisrbml.bsky.social Catholicon (1469) features gilt marbled edges.

Gilt marbled fore-edge of the Catholicon. The marbling is very subtle in this view.

A verso of a leaf in the Catholicon, with more visible marbling on the fore-edge.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

If you've ever encountered a wavy, distorted, or rainbow-colored pattern when looking at a photograph, that's a-moiré! All punning aside, we've recently been seeing some moiré in our images of halftone illustrations, seen here in the bits of color in the background of this map facsimile (image 1).

A close up of a halftone map showing moiré (color not inherent to the image itself).

A close up of a halftone map with reduced moiré.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Have you ever noticed a strip of colorful squares in an image you downloaded from the Digital Special Collections? That strip is known as a color target, and it helps to make sure we are hitting our mark when it comes to accurately representing content.

A variety of color targets on a black background. There is a set of large, medium, and small item-level targets at the bottom; a set of medium and small item-level targets on the left; a medium item-level target on the right; and a device-level target in the center.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Daylight Savings ended for much of the US over the weekend. Did you remember to change your clocks? Find this bookplate from @illinoisrbml.bsky.social in the Digital Special Collections: go.library.illinois.edu/OnderdonkPlate

Bookplate belonging to Sadie E. Onderdonk depicting a woman setting the hand on a large alarm clock under the phrase "TOUT PASSE."

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Our dual capture digitization system might be dressed for The Handmaid's Tale, but we celebrate #BannedBooksWeek every week by increasing access to texts through digitization.

A dual capture digitization system inside a black tent with a light facing forward. The two cameras have black paper bonnets and are pointed downward toward a book.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with the recipes of Maria Luisa Sanchez, a student of the Escuela de pequeñas industrias del estado Puebla in the 1920s. Her handwritten cookbook contains classics like "Adobo de Pollo" and "Budín de Elote."

Title page from the school notebook used for the cookbook of Maria Luisa Sanchez. The school name is Escuela de Pequeñas Industrias del Estado Puebla, the class is Cocina, and the student name is Maria Luisa Sanchez.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

Pepperoni pizza, anyone? We're not quite sure why, but this week's #MarbledMonday is making us feel a bit hungry! Whet your appetite for knowledge with Das erste Buch für Kinder, die gern bald lesen lernen wollen from @illinoisrbml.bsky.social: go.library.illinois.edu/Marbled1810

Front cover of Das erste Buch für Kinder featuring a red and orange marbled pattern

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Happy first day of classes, Illini! Get back to basics with this 1552 Abcedarium Anglico-Latinum ; protyrunculis Richardo Huloeto exscriptore from @illinoisrbml.bsky.social

Title page of Abcedarium Anglico-Latinum

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

All caught up on your summer reading and looking for something different? Look no further than our Exhibits page! This image comes from a deep dive into our quality control metrics that help ensure our images are faithful representations of the physical objects from various special collections.

Spatial Frequency Response (SFR) Curve Graphs, the results here of a happy target image illustrated by the smooth data line reaching FADGI 4-star image goal posts.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

July is Read an Almanac Month, and appropriately for today's weather, the marbled endpaper from this @illinoisrbml.bsky.social one looks like it has been feeling the heat! Alla Nina lontana : almanacco per l'anno bisestile 1824: go.library.illinois.edu/AllaNina #MarbledMonday

Blue, red, and white marbled paper with brown discoloration, possibly from heat, surrounding a hole in the right side of the paper.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Spot the Difference: Map Edition! Each half of this map from @illinoismaps.bsky.social was photographed with the same lighting and camera settings. The difference? The background! While we usually use black for contrast, some translucent materials require white. Which one would you choose?

Map of Canadian Pacific Railway and Connections. The left side of the map is on a white background and has more saturated colors while the left side is on a black background and is more muted.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Are you feeling the heat? Cool off with this recipe for Helado de Coco! This recently digitized cookbook from @illinoisrbml.bsky.social was compiled by Maria Luisa Sanchez in the 1920s. Find this recipe and more: go.library.illinois.edu/MariaLuisaSa...

Handwritten recipe for Helado de Coco in green ink on ruled paper. Ingredients include Leche, Crema, Cocos frescos, Heuvos, Hielo, Sal, and Azucar granulada.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

Gwendolyn Brooks was born #OnThisDay in 1917. We're celebrating by looking back at her Black Scrapbook, part of the Gwendolyn Brooks Digital Collection from @illinoisrbml.bsky.social Learn more about how we digitized it: go.library.illinois.edu/DigitizingBr...

Newspaper clipping from the Black Scrapbook with the headline "In Person: Chicago's Poet Laureate." A portrait of Brooks is in the center of the clipping.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

We showed our experiment with cross-polarization the other week, and now here is the final result! Glossy paper and staples can often result in specular highlights that "blow out" the image, but we were able to account for them through cross-polarization.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Close out Preservation Week by checking out our new video with Senior Digital Imaging Specialist Rachael Johns on creating facsimiles of special collections material and how to edit files for perfect printing: go.library.illinois.edu/FacsimileFil...

Cover image for video on creating facsimiles reading "Facsimile File Preparation: How to! University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Digitization Services, 2025." Images of the Main Library, Funk ACES, and Grainger Library line the left side of the image.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

To continue the Preservation Week fun, take a look at some images from our recent experiment with gold leaf. An axial light source positioned in different ways with different power levels changes how the gold leaf pops and draws the eye in different directions. Which image would you choose?

Detail image of an illuminated manuscript showing gold leaf highlights in the decorated letter and dragon.

Detail image of an illuminated manuscript showing gold leaf highlights in the decorated letter.

Detail image of an illuminated manuscript showing no gold leaf highlights.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

We just had to take one last look at the 90 Years of Preservation exhibit for Preservation Week! Our case highlighted some of the tools and techniques we use to digitize special collections materials. Thanks to all the people that made the exhibit possible, and to all who stopped by!

Hallway with exhibit cases and signage for the 90 Years of Preservation Exhibit. The Digitization Services case is in the foreground, with a person browsing a different case in the background.

The Digitization Services case, showing a facsimile of a rare book in a cradle, with a bone folder at the top right corner to hold the page flat and a color target to the right of the book. An air cannon, microfiber cloth, and medium format negative are also in the case, along with illustrations of FADGI standards, the transmissive digitization process, a view of a digitized color negative in the Digital Library, and watermark digitization.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

April is National Deaf History Month. In 1644, John Bulwer attempted to record the vocabulary contained in hand gestures through his Chirologia, or the Naturall Language of the Hand. Though the volume is aimed toward orators for use in rhetoric, Bulwer would later advocate for d/Deaf education.

Illustrated guide from Chirlogia showing the meaning of different hand gestures. The page is divided into 24 equal squares, each noted with a letter in the upper left corner. Each square contains a hand(s) in a particular pose and is accompanied by a caption in Latin.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

It might be National Poetry Month, but we're not quite ready to give up Women's History Month! These graphite drawings and poems by Gwendolyn Brooks, created nearly ninety years ago this month, are the best of both worlds.

Graphite drawings of six women with short accompanying poems, entitled "Girls" and dated Saturday, April 17, 1937

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

"What a difference 100 years makes! #OnThisDay in 1925, the Main Library was under construction.

Black and white photograph of the front entrance of the Main Library under construction, without windows, doors, or roof

Color photograph of the front entrance of the Main Library in 2025, construction complete

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Begin Women's History Month with the Women Printers Digital Collection from @illinoisrbml.bsky.social! Anne Griffin, printer, and Anne Boler, bookseller, were frequent collaborators on theological works such as this 1636 Meditations and disquisitions upon the Lord's prayer.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Did you know today is Floral Design Day? We're celebrating this week's warmer weather by looking at The Florist and Pomologist, and Suburban Gardener from @illinoisrbml.bsky.social. Only 20 days until Spring! View the full volume at go.library.illinois.edu/SuburbanGard...

Illustration of Phacelia campanularia, blue bell-shaped flowers.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Gwendolyn Brooks was the first Black Pulitzer Prize winner. This scrapbook from @illinoisrbml.bsky.social contains poetry by Brooks published in the 1930s in The Chicago Defender, one of the most influential Black newspapers of the 20th century. go.library.illinois.edu/BrooksDefen….

Two pages from a scrapbook. The left page features a handwritten version of the poem "Life and Death" underneath a typewritten version, with a clipping of "Rejoice That You Have What You Have." The right page features a handwritten version of "I Loved You Best" underneath a typewritten version, with a clipping of "Wealth."

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Celebrate Black History Month by looking back at Phillis Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, digitized in 2016. This 1773 edition @illinoisrbml.bsky.social cemented Wheatley's legacy as the first published Black American female poet. go.library.illinois.edu/PhillisWheat...

Frontispiece of Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, featuring a portrait of Phillis Wheatley writing at a desk.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Not feeling the Valentine's Day love? Enjoy this story of Cupid's Revenge from @illinoisrbml.bsky.social! Likely published 1675, this is possibly the ballad referred to by Armado in act. 1, scene 2, of Love's labour's lost. go.library.illinois.edu/CupidsReven…

Front of Cupid's revenge, or, An account of a king who slighted all women, and at length was forced to marry a beggar. Heavy text loss is apparent.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

The groundhog might have seen his shadow, but there aren't any here! You might have noticed some small white objects in the edges of our images. We use bone folders in a variety of shapes and sizes to help keep the object we are photographing flat, keeping it in focus and eliminating any shadows.

Two hands holding white bone folders at the corner of a green book.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Happy Lunar New Year! Today marks the beginning of the Year of the Snake, making this serpentine book plate from the John Starr Stewart Ex Libris Collection @illinoisrbml.bsky.social particularly fitting. Find it in the Digital Special Collections: go.library.illinois.edu/SnakeBookPl…

Book plate for Stanley Keller featuring a black-and-white image of a snake coming from the center of an open book lit by candlelight.

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

We’re officially on Bluesky! To mark the occasion, we present an appropriately cerulean #MarbledMonday from the Testamento del fu Carlo Archinto Visconti Panigarola from @illinoisrbml.bsky.social Find it in the Digital Special Collections: go.library.illinois.edu/Testamento1…

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Illinois Digitization Services @illinoisdigi.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Today, we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Gwendolyn Brooks captured these scenes of unrest in Chicago following King’s assassination in April 1968, now part of the Gwendolyn Brooks Digital Collection from @illinoisrbml.bsky.social

Black and white photograph of a man leaning out over a balcony to watch the Blackstone Rangers and the Disciples mobilizing under the Chicago "L" tracks in, April 7th, 1968.

Black and white photograph of the Blackstone Rangers and the Disciples marching on a street near a launderette, April 7th, 1968.

Black and white photograph of Blackstone Rangers and the Disciples marching under the "L" tracks, cars waiting at the blocked intersection, April 7th, 1968.

Black and white photograph showing a crowd beneath the Chicago "L." Written on verso: "The Blackstone Roughs - when they mobilized with the Disciples to keep the South Side quiet (1968)"

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