I have been thinking a lot lately about how science librarians can partner with Special Collections and Archives Librarians to teach students about scientific sources and data that are in special collections and archival collections.

A cool digital archive is the National Snow and Ice Data Center’s (NSIDC) Glacier Photograph Collection. This database contains over 16,600 digital (or digitized) photographs of glaciers from around the world, dating from the mid-19^th century onward. These photographs provide a historical reference and point of comparison for glacier extent, and can be used by students and researchers as a data source that helps document climate change and other environmental changes that impact glaciers and their extent. The photographs also highlight changes in photography technology through time, as the collection includes glass plate photography, silver gelatin prints, polaroids and satellite images.

The database has search features that allows users to search by country & state, date, glacier name, photographer name, and latitude and longitude.

What cool sources and data are in your local special collections and archives, and what new research questions could be answered by these sources and data?

Emily Dommermuth, Science & Engineering Librarian, University of Colorado Boulder

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