The Claude Glass Collection: Building a Digital Library of Major Works in Landscape Architecture

To create an on-line digital library of visual examples of landscape architecture that will be used by over 200 undergraduate and graduate design students enrolled annually in the landscape architecture, environmental design, and architecture programs at UBC. This digital library will directly enhance student learning by providing a readily accessible collection of visual and bibliographic information. The collection will complement and enrich existing curriculums by providing an on-line resource during classroom instruction. Likewise it will augment student learning outside of class time by providing twenty-four hour access to this information. The implementation of the digital library will directly involve design students and Library Archival and Information Studies students (SLAIS) who will benefit from the hands-on learning experience of building the collection. Rationale: Our design students are required to attain a visual literacy of major works of landscape architecture. This literacy is a key-learning objective in approximately one hundred and thirty-five credit hours of courses offered annually in landscape architecture, environmental design, and architecture. Typically, images of landscapes are made available to students only during lectures; however, the digital library will enable students to access images on-line; thus, increasing accessibility and retention of this important visual information. Many landscape architecture programs in North America currently offer such a resource, for example the University of Toronto's Virtual Library of Landscape Architecture. Equally important, SLAIS graduate students need content to learn how to build digital libraries and this project will provide that content. It is challenging to describe, organize and represent visual information, and increasingly professional librarians are asked to create digital libraries of visual information. This project will help prepare students to meet the growing needs of those working with visual images.

Susan Herrington, Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences
Rick Kopak, Library Archival and Information Studies, Faculty of Arts