More than 3,000 images relating to TCU history are now available online from the Mary Couts Burnett Library, which announced the opening of its digital archives on Friday.

The images, which feature TCU athletics, performing arts, campus, students and faculty, are from the library’s Special Collections Department.

Dean of Mary Couts Burnett Library June Koelker said the creation of the digital archives has been a group effort for months. She said there were many people that contributed to the new archive, including staff who scanned in every picture.

Koelker said that accessibility was one reason it was important for this material to become digitalized.

“Slides are now going to be available to 10,000 people today,” Koelker said. “It’s a whole lot more accessible to the entire campus.”

She said the ability for people to use the digital copy rather than the original was another benefit of putting this information on the web.

“This is a wonderful balance between increased access and continued preservation,” Koelker said.

Special Collections, located in the library, features both university archives and rare books. The digital collection is continually being added to as the current uploads are only a small percentage of the images available. The digital archives can be found by going to the TCU library homepage or the TCU Special Collections homepage.