In 2003, Readex began a special partnership with Dartmouth College Library. Readex wished to scan a number of specific maps and color illustrations for our definitive digital edition of the 14,000-volume U.S. Congressional Serial Set—the crown jewel of American government publications. The Serial Set, which contains the Reports, Documents and Journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, is an exceptional source of primary material on nearly two centuries of American history. To ensure the comprehensiveness of our digital edition, our initial goal was to borrow and scan these items located in the Dartmouth volumes.

In 2005, this Dartmouth-Readex partnership expanded from the initial request to a landmark project to preserve the complete print set at the Dartmouth College Library. In addition to enabling Readex to offer researchers the most accurate and comprehensive digital edition available, this unique partnership brought several benefits to the Dartmouth College Library: the cleaning and repair of more than 13,800 volumes, including the critical repair of spines and thousands of fold-out maps; creation of detailed item records for every volume; and invaluable first-hand experience with a large-scale digitization project.

At the end of 2013, as a way to summarize the collaborative effort and to say thank you to the many individuals who made it possible, the phenomenal preservation team at Dartmouth College Library created a special book. With approval of this Dartmouth preservation team, I am pleased to share below a digital reproduction of The U.S. Congressional Serial Set Digitization Project: 

The U.S. Congressional Serial Set Digitization Project: A Collaboration Between Readex, a Division of NewsBank, and the Dartmouth College Library from NewsBank, inc.