From http://iiif.io/about/:

Access to image-based resources is fundamental to research, scholarship and the transmission of cultural knowledge. Digital images are a container for much of the information content in the Web-based delivery of images, books, newspapers, manuscripts, maps, scrolls, single sheet collections, and archival materials. Yet much of the Internet’s image-based resources are stored in silos, with access restricted to bespoke, locally built applications.

A growing community of the world’s leading research libraries and image repositories have embarked on an effort to collaboratively produce an interoperable technology and community framework for image delivery.

IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework) has the following goals:

To give scholars an unprecedented level of uniform and rich access to image-based resources hosted around the world.

To define a set of common application programming interfaces that support interoperability between image repositories.

For more information on IIIF and how to use it, check out the recordings and resources from the December 2022 IIIF Online Workshop: https://training.iiif.io/iiif-online-workshop/December2022.html

Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions about this collection.

The British Library is adding IIIF enabled collections to our main catalogues and through major projects, partnerships and programmes all the time. 

We are working hard on developing an easier solution for discovering all of our IIIF content. In the meantime, to limit your search to all currently available IIIF items in our main catalogue (digital and print books, journals, newspapers, maps and scores) copy and paste this search string:

blmsd OR blww1 OR blplaybill OR bldcw 

Some IIIF collection highlights you’ll discover through this include:

India Office medical archive collection

Rare Bengali books

Japanese Design Books

Early Music Online

Blockbooks collection of rare printed books of the mid-15th century

Shakespeare's First Folio collated and published in 1623

Garrick prompt book King Lear

William Caxton's first edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and second edition

……and more! 

The following archives and manuscripts collections items are now available in IIIF:

Lewis of Caerleon, collected astronomical and mathematical works

Sherborne Missal

Projects, Partnerships & Programmes

Endangered Archives Programme

How to access and use IIIF manifests for British Library collection items:

Should you wish to view the original materials from which these digitised images derive, visit any one of the British Library’s 11 Reading Rooms at St Pancras where the Reference team will be happy to help you.