RALEIGH — In this world of information overload, locating information online can be a challenge and may require traveling from one institution to another to gather a complete view of a topic. The State Library of North Carolina’s NC MOSAIC (Managing, Organizing, and Strengthening Access to Institutional Collections) brings together in one online location links to important collections of government information including, maps, publications, records, and historical documents that have been made available on the Internet by academic institutions or government agencies in North Carolina.
The records found in NC MOSAIC do not contain government information themselves. Instead they describe and link to online resources found all over the state. Searches within NC MOSAIC examine these descriptions for word and phrase matches and point researchers directly to relevant collections, whether they are housed in New Bern or Boone. The design of NC MOSAIC allows users to access information easily. The North Carolina map included in NC MOSAIC is a great starting point and gives researchers easy access to information by county including economic development, labor statistics, geographic information, historical information and government documents.
Nick Graham, Maps Project Library at the Carolina Digital Library and Archives, recently shared his comments about NC MOSAIC. “I worked for several years in the North Carolina Collection, and tracking down local government information online was always a struggle,” said Graham. “Whoever pulled all of that information together did a wonderful job, and the way it’s presented makes it super-easy to use. I’ve used the clickable county maps on a couple of projects I’ve worked on, and they always seem to be a big hit with users.”
NC MOSAIC is available online at http://mosaic.ncdcr.gov. The collection is updated frequently. Sign up to receive an RSS feed from the home page and automatically receive updates when new records are added or existing records are updated.
The State Library is a division of the Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history and culture. Cultural Resources is now podcasting 24/7 with information about the department, all available at www.ncculture.com.