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New Collection: BC Dairy Historical Society

By Katrina Yaskowich on September 17, 2026

It’s been a productive year at the Digitization Centre and today we’re honoured to present the BC Dairy Historical Society collection.

This digitized collection was compiled by the British Columbia Dairy History Society (BCDHS) to support its mandate to research, document, archive, and publish the history of British Columbia’s dairy industry. The collection includes records created by BCDHS; research materials gathered by K. Jane Watt and BCDHS for BCDHS publications; and donations from Agrifoods, Saputo, members, and others connected to the B.C. dairy industry. These materials document the industry’s history, particularly the growth of co-operative dairy associations and companies, and include historical documents, magazines (many producer organizations and companies published periodicals for farmers with timely information on milk production improvements, political challenges, market conditions and relevant subjects), and photographs from farms, processors and dairy organizations across British Columbia.

As of last week, this collection has 4 new subcollections for researchers to explore including:

NNOCA Pictorial and NOCA Farm News, 1967-1981

NOCA Pictorial and NOCA Farm News was a quarterly publication created by the NOCA Dairy of the Shuswap-Okanagan Dairy Industries Co-operative Association from 1967 to 1981. This periodical was designed to provide news on the dairy industry, information, photos, and articles to Shuswap and Okanagan dairy farmers, industry employees and others interested in the industry. Originally, digitized by a Society volunteer in 2018, the collection includes 40 issues and 1,764 pages in TIF, JPEG, and searchable PDF formats. 

Cover of NOCA Pictorial, Volume 8, No.1, June 1974

Butter-Fat

Butter-Fat magazine was published by the former Fraser Valley Milk Producers’ Association from 1923 to 1993 to provide members of the FVMPA with information about the Association’s activities,  and prompt discussion at local meetings. Its purpose was to build solidarity, unity, and cooperation for the Association’s progress and welfare. 

Cover of Butter-Fat, Volume 5, No.1, April 1927
Cover of Butter-Fat, Volume 39, No.5, August 1961

The Interior Dairy Guide

The Interior Dairy Guide was published by Alfred Muller, the owner of Interior Creameries, from 1934 to 1947 for dairy farmers in British Columbia’s interior. The collection includes 128 editions and 796 pages. Covering a wide region from Telkwa to Prince George and Williams Lake, the Guide served as an important link between farms and creameries and offers a unique view of dairy farming life in more remote regions of the province.

Cover of The Interior Dairy Guide, Volume 001 No. 7, January 1935

Farm Service News

A single issue publication created in 1948 by B.C. Electric, now known as B.C. Hydro, to assist farmers with introducing electricity to their farms and operations.

Cover of the Farm Service News, Volume 2, No.9, May 1948

Over the next few months we will also be adding 2 new periodicals, multiple monographs and documents on the history of dairy farming and dairy societies in BC, and an additional collection, the B.C. Dairy History Photo and Video Gallery, which will contain approximately 1800 images and videos documenting the BC Dairy Industry between the years 1900 and 2000.

Future researchers can look forward to accessing the following documents and publications:

Periodicals

  • Fraser Valley Milk Break (1962-1997), periodical
  • The Cream Collector and The Cream Producer (Alberta) (1927-1967), periodical

Documents and Monographs

  • Milk Stories – A History of the Dairy Industry of British Columbia 1827 – 2000
  • The History of Avalon Dairy 1906 – 1996
  • The History of S.O.D.I.C.A (Shuswap Okanagan Dairy Industry Co-operative Association)
  • The Story of Dairyland
  • The Van Reeuwyk family and the growth of milk distribution on northern Vancouver Island from 1953, by Bram Van Reeuwyk
  • The History of the Dairy Industry Bulkley Valley of British Columbia
  • 40 Years of the Fraser Valley Milk Producers’ Association
  • 40 Years of the Butter-Fat
  • Our First 50 Years of the Fraser Valley Milk Producers’ Association 1917 – 1967
  • 50 Years of the Butter-Fat
  • Armstrong Cheese Cooperative Association 1939 to 1969 Cheese Plant in the North Okanagan
  • Comox Valley Creamery in Courtney on Vancouver Island

Click here to explore the BC Dairy Historical Society Collection on Open Collections

Posted in BC Dairy Historical Society, British Columbia History, Carousel, Digitizers' Blog, new project | Read More | No Comments

New Books at the Law Library – 26/09/15

By Law Library on September 15, 2026

LAW LIBRARY level 3: KE8522.D42 S37 2024
L. Sarna, The law of Declaratory Judgements, 5th ed (LexisNexis Canada, 2024).

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UBC Open Collections surpasses 300,000 digital objects

By Anna Moorhouse on September 14, 2026

a collage of many items from UBC open collections, with a screenshot of the search screen in the centre, showing the words "Explore 300,000 unique digital objects"

UBC Open Collections recently celebrated a major milestone, with the open access website reaching a total of 300,000 publicly accessible digital objects.

After launching in 2015, Open Collections introduced a new way to explore the library’s digital materials, from photos and books, to historical newspapers, maps and recordings. Open Collections brings together locally created and managed digital content from the library’s open repositories: cIRcle, digitized collections, AtoM and UBC Dataverse. By providing instant access to view and download these materials, Open Collections makes it easy for rare and unique collections held at UBC to be shared widely.

Fueling research and inspiring art

When it launched, Open Collections provided access to more than 100,000 digital objects, growing to 200,000 by 2018. With 127 different collections, covering topics ranging from steamboats to quantum theory, Open Collections is the ultimate research rabbit hole. Curious visitors to the site can easily lose an afternoon scrolling through scans of Greek papyrus party invitations or listening to the full run of CiTR 101.9 FM (the Student Radio Society of UBC) audiotapes.

Researchers and scholars have also found unique ways of interacting with the digital materials and open data: creating interactive geographic maps from open data collections; using the digitized materials in Open Collections to examine adhesives in medieval manuscripts; and referencing Open Collections materials in a study of nursing education history at UBC.

cIRcle is UBC’s institutional repository, which houses an extensive array of both published and unpublished materials, including research articles, academic presentations, open educational resources, theses and dissertations, and more, all created by UBC faculty, staff, students and community partners.

Often, the scholarly research hosted in cIRcle is categorized as “gray literature,” such as early-stage research drafts or working papers, rapid response reports that provide accelerated academic data for urgent questions, and alternative research outputs like podcasts, interview recordings, and other non-traditional scholarship. These materials are frequently cited in peer-reviewed publications across disciplines.

Artists and authors have also found inspiration in Open Collections. Novelist Suzette Mayr referenced digitized Canadian Pacific Railway timetables from the Chung Collection while researching her award-winning book, The Sleeping Car Porter. Local artists have drawn inspiration for their original artworks from the library’s open access materials, through collage and embroidery works that reference Open Collection photos.

Milestone material

Which digital object marked this milestone? The Nelson Daily News.

The Nelson Daily News is part of the British Columbia Historical Newspapers project, an extensive collection of nearly 75,000 digitized issues from 178 community news publications across the province, dating from 1859. Together, these items have garnered more than 51.2 million views and 868,000 downloads globally.

The Nelson Daily News dates back to 1902, when The Nelson Daily Miner was purchased by journalist and editor Francis John Deane (1867-1913) who renamed the publication to The Daily News. UBC faculty, staff and students can now access all digitized issues published between 1902 and 1980.

Visit UBC Open Collections, or learn more about this milestone on the UBC cIRcle blog and UBC Library Digitization Centre blog.

Posted in Carousel, digital collections, General, open collections | Read More | No Comments

New kits at Woodward Library help UBC students get hands-on with climate science

By Anna Moorhouse on September 10, 2026

A photo of a shelf lined with backpacks and signage for the Climate Science Kits at Woodward Library

Did you know that you can borrow bird watching binoculars, a darning mushroom, or air quality monitor from UBC Library?

At Woodward Library, there’s a growing collection of unique, specialized kits available for library users to borrow. Created by librarians at Woodward Library, each themed kit contains curated tools and materials to help UBC students, faculty, and staff explore climate science, build practical skills, and make more sustainable choices.

In June, the library introduced four new kits that focus on exploring local environments. The new Birding Kit, Air Quality Monitor Kit, Plant Identification Kit, and Tide Pool Kit are available now through the UBC Library Catalogue.

Providing tools for community science

“These kits were created to encourage participation in community science,” says Sarah Parker, Reference Librarian at Woodward Library.

Community science, also sometimes called citizen or neighbourhood science, is a collaborative approach to research, where community members are encouraged to gather and contribute data to ongoing research projects, like identifying plants, monitoring bird migrations, or measuring local air quality. These  crowdsourced observations can support research taking place at the local, provincial and national levels. With only minimal experience required, anyone can gather data for projects like the City of Vancouver’s rainwater monitoring initiative, BC Parks’ biodiversity tracking project or Birds Canada’s survey programs.

“Three of the kits are portable backpacks for students to explore the local environment, and each kit includes information on local resources, locations, and apps like iNaturalist and eBird, where participants can contribute data by entering some basic information about an identified species,” says Parker.

Whether you’re an experienced naturalist or simply curious about the world around you, the kits make it easy to start exploring.

Repair, build and experiment

The new nature kits have been added to an expanding collection of hands-on resources from the Woodward Library Kit Shelf, located in the Course Reserves area on Level 1.

For those interested in sustainable living, the Textile Mending Kit has everything you need to repair clothing and extend its use. Inspired by the popularity of the library’s Repair Café events, the kit includes pins, thread, fabric, a darning mushroom, pinking shears, and other essential sewing supplies.

If you’re feeling creative, the LEGO Kit combines building bricks with a small collection of books to inspire your next project.

Aspiring inventors can borrow an Arduino Kit, created in collaboration with UBC Engineering Physics, to tinker with circuits and open source microcontrollers.

Learn more about the Woodward Library Kit Collection.

 

Three photos showing different kits on shelves. From top left, clockwise: The Phylo Cards sign and Phylo book; a sign reading Mending beside a book called "Mending Life"; three stacked transparent containers containing Arduino parts.

Posted in Carousel, climate, General, kits, sustainability, Woodward Library | Read More | No Comments

Explore cIRcle: Oral Histories on Punjabi History and Language

By Vanessa Choy on September 8, 2026

Marigolds hanging from a tree along Main Street in the Punjabi Market.

Marigolds in the Market © Ted McGrath CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

cIRcle holds many grant-funded and student works on oral histories of the Punjabi language and history. These items primarily contain footage of professionals, academics, and everyday citizens sharing their stories and knowledge on a variety of topics, such as the past and present Punjabi community and culture in B.C., the caste system in Canada, and personal understandings of what being Punjabi means to them. Read on to learn more about a few item highlights from the abundant works of each project.

Explore, Listen to, and Learn from Research and Personal Stories

Punjabi in BC documents stories of culture and history of the Punjabi language from students and professionals in British Columbia. The story of Brajinder Dhillon looks at her life from childhood to adulthood and how writing and storytelling were a constant activity. She recalls how she became interested in writing, her writing process, and her writing inspirations. Harinder Kaur Dhahan: Why Punjabi Matters Today follows Harinder’s growth from her education, achievements, and personal struggles. She shares stories of her teaching career, the impactful people she met along the way, and approaches to promote and support interest and learning for Punjabi language, literature, and culture.

Caste in Canada addresses experiences of the caste system in Canada and the resulting implications. Kamaljit speaks to the caste system as an international student, his participation in activism, and finding inspiration from Dr. Ambedkar’s works. Rashpal Singh Bhardwaj: Learning to Fight Caste looks at Rashpal’s involvement in social justice for caste-based injustices, establishing the Ambedkar International Social Reform Organization, and the relationship between caste and education.

Transnational Punjabi Literature and the Pursuit of the Secular features interviews with authors discussing their work on modern Punjabi literature in India, Pakistan, and neighbouring places, and its influence on South Asian culture, community, and language. Dalip Kaur Tiwana, an award-winning novelist, short story writer, and professor, speaks about her village as a place for revolution, learning, and kinship. She also analyses how changes in Punjabi language and culture are witnessed through Punjabi literature.

The Punjabi Oral History Project was highlighted in cIRcle’s Impact and Activity Report (2019-2020) for its major role in advocating for Punjabi language support in BC and improving the Punjabi Studies program at UBC. It includes oral histories and stories of Punjabi individuals’ various experiences of education, immigration, activism, and much more. From Punjabi Market, students interview business owners and patrons visiting the Vancouver Punjabi Market in the Sunset neighbourhood, while Exploring Punjabi Music in Canada examines the Punjabi music industry within its originating home of Punjab and the Canadian diaspora.

Global Discovery of Unique Outputs

These projects were led by Dr. Anne Murphy, a faculty member in the Department of History and the Chair in Punjabi Language, Literature, and Sikh Studies. Her blog outlines her past and current research projects, and expands on her research interests.

As noted by Dr. Murphy, cIRcle’s services provide worldwide discovery, access, use, and digital preservation of these unique oral works:

“It is so exciting to see our work as a part of the UBC collection, so that it can easily be accessed by students and the public – and preserved and made available for the future. So much work went into these projects: hours of interviews – a significant commitment by community members who shared their stories, researchers, and student research assistants alike – and hours of work editing them for public dissemination, work largely done by students. We are grateful for the support that has made these projects possible – and to UBC Library and cIRcle for making them available to the world in their carefully designed system. Thank you!”

Deposit Your Work in cIRcle

Not just faculty, but graduates, undergraduates, and staff members can deposit their work in cIRcle! Please review the kinds of content accepted in cIRcle on our Content Guidelines page. If you have questions or need more information, please contact us.

Posted in cIRcle (UBC’s Digital Repository), cIRcle Blog, cIRcle News, faculty research, graduate research, open collections, research discovery | Read More | No Comments

WELCOME to New & Returning Students!

By Law Library on September 7, 2026

Posted in Carousel, Featured, General Announcements, Law Library Blog | Read More | No Comments

Photo Preservation & National Save Your Photos Month!

By Katrina Yaskowich on September 3, 2026

Did you know that the month of September is National Save Your Photos Month?

Since this topic is especially near and dear to our hearts, here are some examples of photo collections we are thankful to have in our collections. Stick around until the end for some tips on how to preserve your own personal photos!

Album of Early Vancouver Photos, Unknown English Photographer, ca. 1880-1910

While we have many photos in our collection that were taken earlier in history, this anonymous album is one of our earliest private photo collections that features the city of Vancouver. This album was donated to UBC Rare Books and Special Collections by the illustrious Vancouver antiques dealer Uno Langmann.

The album features 201 photos, around 76 of which are albumen photographic prints which utilized an interesting type of late 19th century photographic technology that used albumen (egg whites) to bind photosensitive chemicals and silver to a paper base. The albumin images are often accompanied by matching silver gelatin negatives.

The album includes photos of the Granville Bridge under construction, local Indigenous peoples, Niagara Falls in Ontario, and a variety of scenes and buildings from early colonial life in Vancouver.

A photo of a young girl by Burrard Street, ca. 1980-1990
Granville Bridge Under Construction at False Creek, ca. 1889-1909?
Group of Indigenous Men and Women, Vancouver, ca. 1890-1900?

Eric Hegg’s Klondike Photo Album, 1898

When the Klondike Gold Rush sent thousands north to make their fortune in the Klondike gold rush, Swedish-American photographer Eric A. Hegg joined a group of prospectors heading North in 1897, accompanied by fellow photographer P.E. Larss. Many of these photos were developed in a travelling darkroom built inside the bow of a small boat that was specially designed for the journey.

The album contains 48 images of travel, landscapes, and people Hegg and Larss encountered on their journey through the Chilkoot and White Pass Trails, as well as their river journeys on the way to the Klondike frontier.

Portage between Lakes Lindeman and Bennett, 1898
Left: Three men posing with a railroad handcar, 1898 Right: Indigenous person dressed in furs, 1898
Photo of Eldorado Creek (Yukon), 1898

Frank Jue’s Childhood Album, ca. 1900-1919

This album from the Chung Collection was originally compiled by Frank Jue (Jue Fong), a Chinese-American tenor singer from Oregon.

Compiled in his teenage years, this album consists of photographs of family, friends and events taking place in his hometown in Oregon, as well as his travels across America. Often accompanied by humourous captions, this album offers rare insight into the personal life and adventures of a Chinese-American teen in 1910’s America that wouldn’t be too out of place on a modern social media feed!

Portrait of Frank Jue, ca. 1910-1919
“Gay / Me / Frank / Harold / Al”. Frank Jue and 4 other young men posing on a fire escape, ca. 1916
“Look at Us!” A group of girls smiling, ca. 1916

Peter Anderson, 1889-1953

Peter Anderson, 1946

Peter Anderson was born in Onsjo, Sweden. He emigrated to the United States in 1885, before following the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897, where he then made his fortune. After the Gold Rush, he set up a mill in Washington state before coming north to British Columbia, where he started his own logging company with his sons in Knox Bay and Grassy Bay, B.C.

The Peter Anderson Photo Collection was digitized after being donated to UBC Rare Books and Special Collections and consists of a variety of photographs of the early logging industry in British Columbia, including those of the Knox Bay Camp (1890s-1929), alongside Anderson’s personal reminiscences about his own life and family.

Truck loaded with logs, ca. 1930s
Headquarters camp at Salmon River, 1953
Anderson’s sons, Dewey and Clay, dressed in uniform for World War I, ca. 1914-1918

Anderson’s son Dewey fought for the American Army in WWI and his other son Clay fought for the Canadian Forces.

Other Photos and Collections

Every image on Open Collections required some degree of preservation before finding its way into our collection, and most of the items featured here owe their existence to family members, friends, or strangers who took care to keep them safe until the present.

Some photos show signs of failed preservation that occurred before they were digitized for Open Collections and have lost some of their former detail. In addition, many photos lack the full context required to make complete sense of when they were taken, and who they were taken by.

Photo of a young woman, ca. 1925, from [Photo Album of Unknown Family]
Damaged photo from the Abramson family photo album, Kelowna, B.C., 1930

While many of these photos weren’t considered valuable at the time they were taken, they have proved remarkably relevant and interesting in 2026.

What Can You Do to Save Your Own Photos?

While it might not seem worth it to preserve our photos in the digital age, we can never know who might be grateful to have them in the future, whether that’s a museum or archive, or future members of your own family.

If you’ve been thinking about going through your personal photos, here’s some basic advice on how you can do that.

All Photos
  • Make an effort to catalog and date photos of important events, people and places that might soon fade from living memory
  • Try to catalog what photos you have and make a plan who will get them after you
  • Regularly go through your photos and decide which ones you want to keep!
Physical Photos/Negatives

For example: Kodak film strips, slides, negatives, glass plates, or paper-based photos.

  • If you find unfamiliar photos that were produced by an unknown method – research which photo production technique(s) were used to create them
  • Some types of old photographs are very delicate and can degrade over time, so make an effort to identify these so you can store them safely for the future!
  • Make sure to keep all physical photos away from high heat, humidity, dust, dirt and light – Some types of photos may require specific preservation measures.
  • Avoid storing photos in basements or attics! These are often the worst places for bugs, moisture, and dust that will damage your photos over time.
Digital Photos
  • Take the time every year or every few months to clean out your camera rolls or memory cards and find a secure place to back-up your pictures.
  • If you want to be extra secure used the 3-2-1 backup rule that involves storing essential digital records in 3 different locations instead of just 1
  • While digital photos typically have metadata that includes time and location data, it’s important to document names, context, or other details that might get lost over time
  • Use a helpful file folder structure that’s easy for you (and others!) to understand now or in 50 years!
    • Include dates and helpful names for each folder of photos,
    • Example: “College Graduation, John Doe, 1998-06-26” or “Jane Doe, baby pictures, 0-3 years, 1993-1996”
  • To avoid data loss, try to save your photos in the best file format and at the best available quality: TIFF (.tif), JPEG2000 (.jp2), PNG (.png) or JPEG/JFIF (.jpg)
    • Some file formats, such as the standard JPEG (.jpeg) are smaller and more prone to losing data over time

Check out the following helpful links for more advice on this topic!

Thank you for reading our post and be sure to check out some of these image collections!

Posted in Carousel, Digitizers' Blog, Uno Langmann Family Collection | Read More | No Comments

New Books at the Asian Library (August 2026)

By antheakm on September 1, 2026

Posted in Carousel, Chinese language, Circulation, Collections, Japanese language, Korean language, New Books, South Asian language | Read More | No Comments

New Books at the Law Library – 26/08/25

By Law Library on August 25, 2026

LAW LIBRARY reference room (level 2): KE452.C6 L66 2026 P.V. Lomic, Social Media and Internet Law: Forms and Precedents, 3rd ed. (LexisNexis Canada, 2026). LAW LIBRARY level 3: KE933 .V35 2025 M. Valo, Delay and Disruption Claims in Canada (LexisNexis Canada, 2025). LAW LIBRARY level 3: KE3515 .R93 2024 P.J. Ryan, Childhood and the Law […]

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Celebrating 300,000 Items in Open Collections!

By Katrina Yaskowich on August 25, 2026

UBC Open Collections brings together locally created and managed digital content from the library’s open repositories: cIRcle, digitized collections, Explore Archives at UBC and UBC Borealis.

The content digitized by us here at the UBC Digitization Centre began as material held at various UBC Library branches including Rare Books and Special Collections, the University Archives, the UBC Asian Library, and countless organizations and community-based archives across BC, Canada and abroad.  

This year, we are excited to celebrate a significant milestone – UBC Open Collections has now made over 300,000+ open access items available to researchers and the public!

Screenshot of UBC Open Collections shortly after hitting the 300,000 item milestone

As a way to celebrate this milestone we are taking a retrospective romp through the 15-year history of the Digitization Centre in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.

After 15 years, Open Collections has seen the following additional milestones:

  • 110+ unique Collections
  • 300,000+ unique digital objects
  • Over 900 million item views
  • Over 60 million item downloads

Our First Collection

The first collection we ever digitized was the German Consulate Fonds in collaboration with UBC Library Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC) in 2011. This collection included 98 items of correspondence, reports, and memoranda from multiple German consulates located in Canada between 1909 and 1939. You can learn more about the collection from this post from 2022.

Boykott, 1935 – 1939
Boykott, 1935 – 1939

The Digitization Centre in 2011

We also made our first blog post in 2011 which featured a picture of the space and a YouTube Tour of our office.

THEN: Photo by Robert Stibravy, 2011
NOW: Photo by Katrina Yaskowich, 2026

Project Timelines

In the early days of the centre, we also embarked on the digitization of many of our core collections including the BC Historical Books and Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection.

Here is a timeline of some the projects we were working on in 2012, taken from this blog post.

DI Projects Gantt Chart
Digital Initiatives Projects: Gantt Chart, December 2012

2014: Expansion

In 2014, the Digitization Centre expanded and we added 5 new book scanners, more space for our large format TTI scanner and a new workspace. Here’s what the same locations look like now:

THEN: Photo by Matthew Murray, 2014
NOW: Photo by Katrina Yaskowich, 2026

2015: New Open Collections Interface Goes Live

In 2015, we launched a brand new digital portal which we introduced in this blog post.  This is what users previously saw when they accessed our digital interface, and what it looks like today:

UBC Digital Collections, November 2011
UBC Digital Collections, August 17, 2026

Who Is Using Our Collections?

In 2018, our collections were accessed mainly by residents of Canada, but had growing interest in the United States, United Kingdom, China, Japan, India, and other countries.

Today we are still most popular in Canada and the US, but have a growing number of users in the UK, India, Asia, Mexico, Brazil, Germany and the Philippines and the amount of views we get has increased tenfold.

Google Analytics Map, from Jan. 1, 2017 to Jan. 31, 2018
Google Analytics Map, August 19, 2025 to August 19, 2026

Thank you for reading this post and thank you to all of our hard-working partners and collaborators that made our collections possible.

We hope to continue to build sustainable digital collections to support and enrich the educational, cultural and economic endeavors of the University, the people of British Columbia, and communities beyond for many more years to come.

We highly recommend you take a moment to check out cIRcle’s post on this exciting milestone and if you’re curious about the work we do here at the Digitization Centre check out some of these related posts on the history of the Centre and the Behind-the-Scenes details of our digitization work.

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Posted in Carousel, digital preservation, digitization project, Digitizers' Blog, how we digitize | Read More | No Comments