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Whenever he isn’t busy checking books in at the circulation desk, Jared Burton, Library Technician II, helps scan hundreds of artifacts in the PCC library to an online database-a process called digitization.Since last October, Burton has been part of a small team of librarians in the Shatford Library working with the Pasadena Museum of History and Public Library to digitize relics about the city.

They call themselves the Pasadena Digital History Collaboration Partners, and they are turning old photos, newspapers, videocassettes, architectural models and other artworks into PDF and JPEG files that anyone can easily access online.

Burton, who received his Library Technician certificate from PCC, loves the “aha” moments he has when he makes a connection between the mysteries of some historical events, he said.

“We were working on the Tournament of Roses once,” Burton said. “I was looking through the photos and noticed that by the mid-60s they stopped having pictures, but I know just this year, a PCC student won queen.”

With the help of other librarians, he discovered that the beauty pageant used to be mandatory for women taking PE classes until a feminist group on campus argued that students should not have to be on exhibition with only a number on their chest to identify them.

Burton said the website, pasadenadigitalhistory.com, is a gateway of information for historians, students and the curious public.

The website uses a database called ContentDM, which abides by the California digital library standards. The photos are carefully saved in high-resolution TIF files as a backup and in lower-resolution JPEG files for faster loading on the website.

“If anyone is interested in a certain picture,” Burton said, “we encourage them to ask a librarian or archivist to see it or get more information.”

Going to see pictures in person will especially be useful in rare cases where the uploaded pictures are too small. Burton said that although the Pasadena Museum of History is a non-profit organization, they charge a fee for using preserved books.

“There’s a lot to learn about the culture and history of the city that show it being really progressive,” Burton said. “There were a lot of movements at PCC. There was, for example, Jackie and Mack Robinson. Jackie was the first African American let in the major league.”

Linda Stewart, an adjunct professor at PCC, works with a group of about ten interns and teaches them to use ContentDM, which she helped create.

“My favorite part about the project is providing access to images for people to see,” Stewart said. “Before, they had been archived and you needed permission to see them. With digital access, [the images] are now available to anyone.”

Burton, who also works with the interns, hopes the collection will bring in more students to his profession.

“I hope that it translates into jobs for students interested digitization,” he said, “Because the fields in archiving and digitization will be expanding.

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