In April 2022, the VITA Digital Collections Toolkit was upgraded to version 6.3. This release includes a balance of public engagement features and back-end management options. Inspired by feedback from the user community on both sides of the collections, VITA 6.3 focuses on: increasing linked discovery (like indexing non-Newspaper volumes); better search options (like search within Publication and on/off filters for results sets); expanding and scoping VITA collection audiences (with OAI-PMH integrations and IP restricted sites, respectively); and some fun stuff like interactive jigsaw puzzles and enhanced pan-zoom viewing. We hope you will explore the collections to see some of the changes!

Improved & Engaging Public Site options

  • Contribute Audio/Video/Document files to eligible accounts
  • Search within a Publication (e.g. Home & Country Newsletters) allows your results to stay focused on a single volume or newspaper publication
  • Jigsaw puzzles for a different way to interact with historical images
  • Optional indexing for non-newspaper volumes like church or cemetery records
  • Results filters for instant scoping and backing up through results sets
  • Browser-activated audio/video player
  • IIIF viewer for pan-zoom-rotate view of all Full, Detail and Reverse images (e.g. this postcard)
Jigsaw Puzzles

New Audience Options: Integrations and Scoped sites

  • OAI-PMH feature for extending discovery in other spaces like the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)
  • IP limited sites for collections with access restrictions (talk to us about this option)

For a full description of all VITA 6.3 upgrades for the public and VITA users, see our latest VITA Partner newsletter