Accessing the Library Digital Collections: LUNA
Using LUNA Software
The Library Digital Collections is one of our two digital repositories, the other being the Manchester Digital Collections . Both host digitised material from the University of Manchester Special Collections. There are a number of feature collections in each repository. Most material that you will use on the History of the Book and Reading the Middle Ages will be available in the Manchester Digital Collections Papyrus to Print section. However, some relevant material may appear in the Library Digital Collections, so understanding how it works as a resource is also useful.
LUNA software
The Library Digital Collections use LUNA software and there are a few key things that make this resource easier to navigate.
· Log in using your University username and password, this is highly recommended for full functionality.
· Be aware that the collection does not operate a ‘google’ type search — it is a database and works on specific search terms. It will not correct or suggest alternative results.
· You can save and share individual images quite easily.
Video Introduction
Below is a video that take you through the basics of using LUNA and the Library Digital Collections.
Further functions of LUNA
There are some further functions that we did not cover in the video above. These are extra elements of LUNA functionality and the instructions below will help you to create media groups, annotate images and save images from ‘bookreader’ objects.
Creating Media Groups
Log in to LUNA, once logged in go to ‘Create’ and click on media group.
· Give the ‘media group’ a file name
· You can make the media group private or public
· To create the folder click ‘save’
· To add media to your media group, search the collections,
· Click on the thumbnail image click the icon in the right hand corner
· Alternatively when you are in the image view select media, your media group and then click add to media group.
Sharing Media Groups
· Click on Explore > Media Groups to see the list of your Media Groups and the public Media Groups. You must be logged in to see your Media Groups.
· Click on the title of the Media Group you want to create a link to.
· The Media Group will open.
· Click on Share and copy and paste the URL into an email, for example.
The links you create in LUNA are dynamic, so if you make changes to a Media Group these changes will also be reflected when a user launches the URL to that Media Group.
Further help on media groups can be found by searching ‘Working with Media Groups’ using LUNA’s own help information. The Help button sits next to the ‘Print’ button on the toolbar.
Creating Annotations
· You must be logged in.
· Select an image from your media group.
· Click and hold the annotation icon and drag to the image.
· An annotations box will appear and you can type your text.
· Click the save icon to save your annotation.
· Repeat the above steps to create multiple annotations on the image.
Viewing Annotations
If an annotation has been saved into a Media Group, you must first open that Media Group, and then open the image in the LUNA Workspace or Detail View in order to view the annotation.
If there is an annotation on an image, and you have permission to view it, you’ll see the Annotation icon highlighted in green. Click on the green icon and the annotations will appear. To hide them, simply click on it again.
Sharing Annotations
Being able to share your annotations depends on how you chose to save them:
Privately: If you’ve chosen to save them as private, you can’t share your annotations — if you share a link to an image with an annotation that has been saved as private they will see the image but not the annotation. You can change the privacy on annotations at any time by modifying the access setting on the annotation you have made.
To a Media Group: If you’ve saved annotations into a Media Group that is public, anyone who opens the Media Group and then opens an image from that Media Group to the LUNA Workspace, or the Detail View, will be able to view the annotations. When a Media Group with annotations is copied, the annotations are not copied.
Further help on annotations can be found by searching ‘Annotations’ using LUNA’s own help information. The Help button sits next to the ‘Print’ button on the toolbar.
Saving images from ‘Bookreaders’
Bookreaders are digital objects that you can turn the pages to see the whole item. You cannot save an individual image unless you are logged in. This can be a very useful function if you wish to select just one or two pages from a bookreader to use.
· First of all, log into LUNA
· If you’ve not got a media group set up, then create one. Simply go to ‘Create’ and then ‘Media Groups’.
· Locate the bookreader using the search.
· Click on Show Book Thumbnails and the thumbnail images will display individually.
Hover over the image you want and the media group icon will appear in the top right-hand corner. Click on this. The image will then have been saved to your media group.
Once in your media group, you can then print, share and save the image as you wish.
Additional Resources:
Our Catalogues:
How to find Special Collections in Library Search
Digital Collections:
How to use MDC:
Images reproduced with the permission of The John Rylands University Librarian and Director of the University of Manchester Library. All images used on this page are licenced via CC-BY-NC-SA, for further information about each image, please follow the link in the caption description.
If you are interested in using any material from Special Collections please get in contact with our Reading Room staff: uml.special-collections@manchester.ac.uk
