Project Overview: The Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Duke University has been in the process of digitizing its collection for the past several years. But many pieces in the collection are not just rare, they are also unique in the way that people interact with them. This makes true digital representation of the work difficult.
We partnered with Rubenstein Library and the Digital Collections team at Duke to digitize ten of their anatomical fugitive sheets. These unique depictions the human body use layers of paper flaps that can be lifted to reveal internal organs. Replicating this interaction was our challenge. Ultimately we opted for a hybrid solution of SVGs and high-resolution PNGs, as well as extensive use of CSS transitions to make a digital representation of the flaps that allows users to virtually interact with them in a way that replicates the actual sheets.
