Bernard Becker Medical Library

The Digital Image Gallery contains images available in the Archives and Rare Book Collections of the Washington School of Medicine, Becker Medical Library, St. Louis, Missouri.

"The Rare Books section of the Bernard Becker Medical Library is home to one of the nation’s finest collections of historical medical materials. Begun in 1912 with the acquisition of Julius Pagel’s personal library from Berlin, the collections are among the oldest in the United States. The collections are among the best in the world in some selected subjects, and support historical research by providing insight into the evolution of western medical knowledge and practice."

Selection
I couldn't find any collection principals other than: "The Bernard Becker Medical Library offers public access to the materials in it archival and rare book collections as a contribution to education and scholarship." Rights, permission and links are clearly stated. The Library also has Digital Initiatives staffing to support the infrastructure and technology side of the library's mission.

Metadata
A large amount of metadata are supplied, including title, description, subjects (hyperlinked), date, physica description, collection, digital image format, rights and detailed MARC records.

You can also leave comments for each record with your information if you'd like to be contacted. These must be sent directly to the staff - they're not viewable with the records like blog comments.

Characteristics
Some images are zoomable, but the purpose appears to be directed at the research data - you can't enlarge the images enough for close scrutiny but detailed metadata is supplied. Records appear to be linked directly to marc designator (medcat.wustl.edu/cgi/arb.cgi?444906550:ig1:3:all:1366). Images include "Becker Medical Library" and the unique identifier across the top of the image for easy identification.

Audience
Researchers, but also interested "browsers". There is certainly enough metadata for research purposes and the browse pre-sets and collected "exhibits" allow interesting surfing.