Digital Library of the Brazilian Senate offers rare works with over 300 years

Among the 260,000 documents of interest to the Legislature, rare works with more than 300 years are part of the digital collection of the Senate Library. The oldest book is the Novvs Orbis your Descriptionis Indiae occidentalis, Johannes de Laet, dated 1633. It is a geographical description, scientific, ethnological and linguistic America, as well as reports and drawings of animals and plants of the region, with special emphasis on Brazil.
The Rare Books Collection Digital also included magazines and manuscripts. Modern Magazine, printed in Paris from 1897 is one of the highlights of the collection, with what was most advanced in journalism at the time, striving for reports prepared and coverage of the most important events.

Soon it will include other titles such as Don Quixote illustrated newspaper, a political satire publication, edited and illustrated by Angelo Agostini, which circulated between 1895 and 1903.

There are still few digitized manuscripts, but all very relevant. One is the autograph of the Golden Law, belonging to the Senate Archive, one of the most accessed documents. Another very popular is composed of verses of Machado de Assis, entitled The Devil's Wedding, which is accompanied by a typed version to aid in understanding the text.

access

The Senate Library offers 916 rare and valuable works scanned within the specific collection that has 7,548 volumes. The works have been restored and are available to anyone connected to the Internet. The restoration and conservation of the collection allowed scanning and facilitated access. Digital files faithfully reproduce all the features of the works.

The process of providing this material takes time and requires different care, as reported by the librarian Clara Bessa da Costa, the Digital Library Service.

- In the screening analyze the works are able to pass through the scanning process, which is carried out very carefully so that there is no damage to the material. After the files in high resolution are checked and converted to PDF for easy downloading by people who access our collection - explained.

In 2014, the archives of the Senate Digital Library were viewed over 2.2 million times. The published works are public domain or have the copyright assigned by the owners, allowing free download.

search

To search the Digital Library of the Senate, just visit the website and inform the author's name, title or popular subject. The advanced search also allows you to select the collection (including books, legislation in text and audio, newspapers and magazines, intellectual production servers senators and Senate and various documents).

Clara Bessa Costa explains that any registration is not necessary.

- But if you want to stay updated with our news simply register to receive an email with the link of the new items included in the collection he chooses.


Patricia Oliveira
(Authorized reproduced provided the Brazilian Senate Agency)
http://www12.senado.leg.br/noticias/materias/2015/01/07/biblioteca-digital-do-senado-disponibiliza-obras-raras-com-mais-de-300-anos/tablet