Wall maps have been used to teach geography since the nineteenth century. To this day, they remain one of the most important teaching aids in schools and universities, alongside digital media. The Geosciences Library at the FU Berlin is home to an extensive collection of topographical and thematic maps.
As part of a project to catalogue the approximately 600 wall maps in its collection, the Geosciences Library came up with a proof of concept. The concept was developed on the basis of sixty maps and aims to record the entire collection in the library catalogue, thereby facilitating its use in geography teaching. Digital cataloguing also makes this valuable resource available for educational and historical research.
To raise awareness of the newly catalogued materials and facilitate their use, the concept also takes into account the online presentation of selected wall maps and their associated metadata. The Digital Network for Collections has made it possible to test this presentation on selected holdings by making the map collection of the Geosciences Library available with an online tool. After a brief introduction, and once minor adjustments are made for subject-specific metadata formats, staff can independently use the tool developed by the Digital Network Collections to create the virtual presentation.
Photo: © Lina Geiges-Erzgräber
