UW Time Schedule archive now available online

In August, 2009, the Office of the University Registrar (OUR) posted on this blog an archivist internship position. Back in May, 2010, the OUR announced that intern’s first project: the UW General Catalog archive. Today, we are happy to announce the publication of another archiving project: the quarterly Time Schedule archive.

What’s included?

The archive contains copies of the UW’s quarterly Time Schedules from the previous quarter, back through autumn quarter, 1968. From that date through summer quarter, 2002, the Time Schedules are available as searchable PDF documents scanned from the printed editions. After that date, the Time Schedule became an online-only publication and links to those quarters’ editions are presented as web archives.

Each scanned edition is in PDF format so it is viewable by any computer, and range in file size from 2-24 Mb (though the majority are about 15 Mb). Page numbers and file size are listed for scanned editions. Because they were scanned from original documents, they retain the charm of actual printed pages; some have hand-written notes or dog-eared pages. Luckily, optical-character recognition (OCR) software is good enough to recognize the words on the page so that each file is searchable. Just enter a word(s) in the search field your PDF software.

Some editions were unavailable for scanning and are note included in this archive. Missing editions are displayed in gray. If you have a copy of a a missing Time Schedule that you’d like to contribute to the archive, please let us know.

Why is it important?

Providing these quarter Time Schedules to the public in an easily-searchable format has many benefits to the University. Most of the benefits of publishing the archive of General Catalogs apply to Time Schedules as well. In addition, this archive:

  • Allows alumni to determine the location and instructor of courses they took, information that is not included on their official University transcript.
  • Provides a record of administration and registration procedures for that quarter.

A few words of thanks

The OUR would again like to thank those who made this project possible:

  • Intern Talea Anderson, UW MLIS graduate student – Talea worked closely with the OUR’s Time Schedule office and the UW Libraries to scan and digitize the Time Schedules; and
  • Anne Graham with the UW Libraries’ Digital Initiatives Program – Anne and her group provided the hardware to prepare and scan the Time Schedules for posting.

General Catalog 2010-12 now available

The Office of the University Registrar is proud to announce that the latest edition of the University’s General Catalog is now available. The document, weighing in at over 600 pages, can be downloaded from the General Catalog archive page of the Student Guide.

Although its printing and distribution was ended after 2002 (the online Student Guide now serves as the authoritative source for policies and academic information), the General Catalog is still produced in PDF format so it can be easily downloaded, searched and printed. It serves as an historical record of the University’s policies, course and degree offerings, and faculty. Additionally, this bi-annual document is used by state approving agencies to ensure the University continues to meet educational requirements.

UW General Catalog archive now available online

Last August, the Office of the University Registrar (OUR) posted on this blog (and other places on campus) an archivist internship position. Today, just six months after finding the right person, the OUR is proud to announce the first fruits of that internship: the University’s General Catalog archive, available online, searchable, in PDF format, and available now.

What’s included?

The archive comprises the UW’s General Catalogs from the current 2008-2010 biennium going backwards to the original 1890 edition. Notice that the name of the documents change over time. The early publications were called the “Annual Catalogue of the State University of Washington,” later editions used the term “Bulletin” before switching to the current “General Catalog” (dropping that word’s archaic -ue suffix).

A note on the files themselves. Each is a PDF file so it is viewable by any computer, but they vary in how that PDF was created. Newer editions (through 1998-00) were generated from the software that created them, and are therefore smaller files and look sharper. Earlier editions had to be scanned as images, which results in larger file sizes (some as large as 90 Mb, though most are in the 15-30 Mb range). They do, however, retain the charm of actual printed pages especially the oldest editions that show their age with ragged pages and dog-eared corners. Luckily, optical-character recognition (OCR) software is good enough to recognize the words on the page so that each file is searchable. Just enter a word(s) in the search field your PDF software.

Additionally, the General Catalogs will soon be included in the University Library’s Digital Collection. The Library’s content-management system, CONTENTdm.

Why is it important?

Publishing these General Catalogs online has broad, positive implications for our University. Some of these include:

  • Other institutions of higher education rely on our catalog to understand the content of UW course and program offerings over the years.
  • Family members interested in their parents, grandparents, or even great-grandparents educational experience can learn what educational programs were like during that time. The same can is also true for children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
  • Employers benefit from the catalog by gaining a better understanding of prospective employees’ UW educational background. For example, what knowledge would someone who earned a UW degree in, say, materials science in the early 1980s have compared to one who graduated more recently? The answer can be found by comparing that program’s descriptions in each era’s catalogs;
  • Historians and librarians regard the catalog as an invaluable source of UW institutional history.

A few words of thanks

Such a large project could not be accomplished without the efforts of many people. Specifically, the OUR would like to acknowledge the hard work of:

  • Intern Talea Anderson, UW MLIS graduate student – Talea worked closely with the OUR’s general catalog office and the UW Libraries to formulate a plan to digitize the General Catalogs and prepare them for online use; and
  • Anne Graham with the UW Libraries’ Digital Initiatives Program – Anne provided her domain expertise to the project, oversaw the disbinding of the physical catalogs, and advocated for the content to become a part of the Library’s digital collection.