NCSU Libraries Brings Photographic History of NC State to the iPad
June 16, 2011
Media Contact:
dwhiscoe
, NCSU Libraries, (919) 513-3425
Drawing on a strong legacy of using mobile devices to open up the treasures of the university's Special Collections Research Center to the widest possible audience, the NCSU Libraries has expanded its popular WolfWalk tool and made it available as an iPad app.
Initially launched in 2010 for mobile devices, WolfWalk: A Photographic History of NC State now turns the iPad into a virtual time and space portal. The iPad version of WolfWalk makes it easy for students, alumni, and other friends of North Carolina State University to steep themselves in the school's heritage, regardless of where they happen to be at the moment.
Earlier versions of WolfWalk capitalized on the location awareness of today's mobile devices to allow users to give themselves a self-guided historical walk through NC State's campus. As users stroll around the grounds, their mobile devices detect their current locations and then draw on the mountains of material in the University Archives to deliver a tour of nearby buildings and other historically interesting locations. The new iPad version provides a deeper, more immersive experience by taking advantage of the more expansive electronic canvas provided by the iPad.
The iPad's large, backlit screen quite literally widens (and heightens) the visual possibilities for mobile users. So WolfWalk
has added two new sections ” Decades and Themes ”to explore over a thousand luminous photographic moments held by the University Archives in the NCSU Libraries' Special Collections Research Center.
Decades organizes classic Wolfpack scenes by time periods, making it possible, for instance, to track the return of the thousands of veterans who entered NC State in the late 1940s or the glorious basketball eras of the 50s and 60s. Themes allows users to browse through historical photographs of student life, campus events, and Wolfpack athletics over the past 125 years.
The University Archives and our Special Collections Research Center are two of the great treasures of NC State University, explains Susan K. Nutter, vice provost and director of the NCSU Libraries. I love the idea that now it's even easier for NC State's friends to use them and to enjoy these riches. And the technological adroitness we have gained by pushing our own expertise forward will be invaluable in the near future as we leverage mobile services to make the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library one of the most technologically advanced learning spaces in the country.
The iPad version of WolfWalk is available as a free download from the App Store .