How can I see rare books in distant libraries?

Question

I'm doing research on an obscure topic (involving English language diaries and travelogues written about a particular area in Japan). I've found several possible leads on materials I want to investigate via the internet library catalogue system (worldcat), but the few (old and rare) resources I need are all located in distant locations (university libraries, mostly). Is there ANY way I can get access to those materials without actually travelling to the libraries in person?!? Isn't there SOME way to see these old books without spending thousands of dollars -- especially when I can't be certain they will really help my research?

ANY ideas are welcomed! THANKS.

(p.s.--internet availability of all books, I'm waiting for you!!)

Answer 1

Try either looking to see if some college has scanned images of the pages (if their at least fifty years old there might be one out there that does) I often visit Cornell University to veiw the scanned images of "The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies," and all four series are now over a hundred years old (all volumes in Series I being published 1880-1898, volumes in Series II were published 1894-1899, volumes in Series III were published 1899-1900, and the volumes in Series IV were published 1900-1901). Depending on where this information was published, Cornell might have it in their Making of America collection (I won't say they will considering I don't know if any of the travelogues were made for the American public). Colleges and Universities like Harvard, Yale, and Oxford may also have scans of the stuff you're after online.

Also, see if you're local library can't get these items for you from an inter-library exchange. Old resources you might be able to get this way, rare ones might be slightly harder. Of course if their real old and rare then it's unlikely libraries will exchange them that easily. They'd probably be something you'd have to view in the library their located at.

Edit: I don't know if this will be of any help, but I just found something on Cornell's Making of America series from the November 13, 1852 issue of "The Living age." It's an article by one Charles Mac Farlane.

Answer 2

James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress, informed Congress that the brand new digital age makes the country's 15,000 public libraries: "extra, alternatively than much less, most important to the growth of the United States within the twenty first Century," I for my part desire, like many others international-extensive, who cherish libraries and books that books will consistently keep round. There is not anything like keeping a brand new or historic booklet and flipping it pages to learn all that useful understanding in them and saved on every shelf in each and every nook, and each and every flooring of the nearby library. In reality with all of the capabilities every booklet holds and all of the countless documentations by means of researchers and good identified authors- the library can certainly keep riches greater than all of the banks in a the town. The well factor is within the article I learn that congress is placing as a lot emphasis into keeping written files as good as including to them , the now virtual files too. So expectantly, someday we will be able to have a richer library alternatively than a booklet-much less one.