What Makes the Digital ‘Special’? The Research Program in Digital Collections at the National Library of Wales

This article introduces some of the digital projects currently in development at the National Library of Wales as part of its Research Program in Digital Collections. These projects include the digital representation of the Library's Kyffin Willams art collection, musical collections, and probate collection, and of materials collected by the Library of the Welsh experience of the First World War. Although different, they are driven by the need to ensure that the digital delivery of special collections provide opportunities that go beyond what is possible using the originals only, thus attempting to retain, or re-discover, their specialness in digital form.