Wellcome selects Digirati to deliver library website

After a three month selction process The Wellcome Trust has selected Digirati to develop a new “Digital Delivery System” and supporting web site for the Wellcome Digital Library.

The Wellcome Library is committed to the long-term preservation of its collections so that they can be accessed by researchers for future generations. As part of this objective, the Wellcome Digital Library will be launched in 2012 with a range of archives and books related to the history of genetics, genomics and inheritance. This will be the foundation of a global resource for the history of medicine and health.

As part of the project Digirati will need to create a new “Player” that will enable access to the archived digital content via the web. It will enable users to browse, search, display and manipulate digital content. Wellcome’s existing users are primarily academic / research orientated, the project aims to encourage these and a broader range of users to discover the collections. It will involve many technical and user experience innovations.

The Wellcome Digital Library web site will also provide additional functionality including background information about the Library and will allow users to identify and order non-digital material for use in the Library reading rooms. This project will facilitate the transition from Wellcome’s current, mainly physical, delivery systems to a mixed physical/online delivery environment.

John Baker, Managing Director of Digirati: “We are very pleased to have been selected for this very worthwhile and interesting project; the innovations required to fulfil Wellcome’s aspirations will be very exciting to create. Coming through this selection process validates Digirati as a stand-out technical agency grounded in online publishing and capable of devising new technology as well as working with what is currently out there.”

The Wellcome Library is part of the Wellcome Trust, a global charitable foundation which supports scientific research to improve human and animal health. The Trust also promotes the study and public understanding of health and medicine in their historical and cultural contexts.  The Wellcome Library holds extensive collections of books, manuscripts, archives, artworks, film and video and digital images to support this aim.