For Immediate Release

Charleston, SC– August 9, 2012 – Never before has information about our human history been so accessible to people around the world, and the innovation just keeps coming. One constant in the process of bringing primary source materials to the public has been the cooperation of different parties working toward a single goal. The Apps created to share artifacts from the British Library’s 19th Century Historical Collection are one such endeavor and are being honored next week during the world’s most prominent gathering of library professionals at the International Federation of Library Associations’ (IFLA) World Library and Information Congress held in Helsinki, Finland.

CCS Content Conversion Specialists, a German company, worked on the British Library’s large-scale digitization effort, which was funded by Microsoft, and helped turn 60,000 historic books from the Library’s shelves into high quality digital artifacts. Later, US-based software firm BiblioLabs created the British Library 19th Century Historical Collection App to share these works worldwide.

The British Library 19th Century Historical Collection App, available in the App Store℠, won the prestigious Publishers Innovation Award in 2012 and is used by people in more than 160 countries, without which they could not access the collection unless visiting the library in London. Recognizing the groundbreaking nature of the project, the British Library was invited for a featured session for innovative projects displayed to all IFLA attendees.

“Thousands of 19th Century books, some of which were rarely read at the Library, are now being accessed digitally by people around the world using the innovative Apps developed by BiblioLabs and utilizing the content digitized with the help of CCS’s docWorks software” said Sam Tillett, Strategic Partner Manager of the British Library. “BiblioLabs and CCS were instrumental in our efforts to digitize and distribute the Library’s valuable content in as close to it’s original form as possible.”

Continuing these innovations, the British Library has created additional digital products that provide a deeper look at thematic topics on BiblioBoard, a free iPad app also created by BiblioLabs. Each of these theme anthologies include 50 to 200 books from the Library’s 19th Century Historical Collection.

“We are proud to work with leading cultural institutions, including the British Library, to help digitize cultural objects” said Daniel Lanz, Managing Director of CCS. “Through our relationship with BiblioLabs and the ever growing usage of book format tablet devices, the benefit of digitization and structure analysis becomes obvious and perceptible in user-friendly products that provide elegant and unprecedented access to the rare and historic books housed within the British Library. We look forward to working cooperatively with BiblioLabs to share treasures from other leading institutional organizations from around the world.”

“Being recognized during IFLA’s 2012 Congress confirms that the work we are all doing together is being held as a role model in how to bring mass digitization projects to the public in a useful and engaging way. Big projects like this only work when people are focused on what they do well. CCS works with the world’s leading institutions to ensure they can easily preserve their valuable assets. We work on the end-user Applications to make it simple and easy for people to access and enjoy the materials,” said Mitchell Davis, Chief Business Officer of BiblioLabs. “Our relationship with CCS and the British Library allows digital files to come directly from the source, creating a seamless digitization and curation experience. We look forward to a long working relationship with both of our partners and are excited about the future of history online.”

About CCS Content Conversion Specialists
CCS is one of the world leaders in providing information through digitization and conversion, with specialization in the areas of Digital Library and Digital Press Review. Their renowned software, docWorks, helps companies and institutions to digitize and convert their valuable library and archival material (books, newspapers, ephemera and archive documents) for long-term preservation, easy access and better searchability. Customers include National libraries in the U.S., UK, Norway, Finland, Singapore, Netherlands or Denmark, as well as the Universities of Princeton, Harvard and Stanford, and global publishing companies Axel Springer and FAZ.
CCS is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany.

About the British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world's greatest research libraries. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most comprehensive research collection. The Library's collection has developed over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate items representing every age of written civilisation and includes books, journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, photographs, newspapers and sound recordings in all written and spoken languages. Up to 10 million people visit the British Library website - www.bl.uk - every year where they can view up to 4 million digitized collection items and over 40 million pages.

About BiblioLabs, LLC
BiblioBoard was created by BiblioLabs, LLC a hybrid software-media company that created a multimedia authoring tool which enables curators and subject matter experts to discover, enhance and create new works from the wealth of licensed, open source and public domain materials available within their core database. BiblioBoard is a free iPad app containing historical anthologies that explore places, events, people and themes from across the centuries. BiblioLabs works with leading organizations around the world to create widespread commercial access to rare and interesting materials in an innovative way. To learn more about BiblioBoard, visit www.BiblioBoard.com.

Media Contacts
CCS Content Conversion Specialists:
c/o David Scherf Branding
+49 179 1439921
kontakt@davidscherf.de

BiblioLabs:
Kelly Hamilton, Director of Marketing and Communication
kelly@bibliolabs.com