The New York Public Library (NYPL) took early steps in changing the way people use reference materials Thursday by opening the NYPL Digital Gallery. The Gallery houses 275,000 visual materials, including everything from prints, photographs and maps to cigarette cards, menus and posters dated before 1923.

According to NYPL spokesperson Herb Scher, librarians and curators have been collecting the documents from each of New York’s four major libraries: the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the Industry and Business Library. The difficult task of digitizing the library’s collection began in 1999.

Scher said many of the materials were chosen based on how characteristic they were of the library. Contents were also chosen based on demand from the public. Additionally, many large or unmanageable images were digitized.

The digitization would also aid in preserving original works that had become more fragile over the years.

Additionally, all the images are tagged with information so users can search for specific images. Each item is cataloged with data related to its title, creator, date, medium, subject, collection name and link, according to a release.

NYPL has digitized 500,000 images, 200,000 of which were done by the NYPL itself and are now available. The remaining 300,000 images were digitized through a private group and will be available in upcoming months.

Scher said he believes the gallery will have an impact on many scholarly fields.

“It’s my strong suspicion research libraries will go in this direction,” Scher said. “Probably the best thing about it overall is … it will change the type of research people can do, and they can [get] access to [the collection] without coming to New York.”

Scher added the gallery would also be of great value to students since all the materials are either public domain or owned by the library and can therefore be used for free.

“Depending on what the topic is, students will find a lot of in-depth resources,” Scher said.

According to David S. Ferriero, NYPL Andrew W. Mellon Director and Chief Executive of The Research Libraries, the collection could be used for a variety of purposes.

“Whether it’s a historian studying the Revolutionary War, a scenic designer researching old New York neighborhoods, or a fashion designer looking for inspiration in vintage clothing, the Digital Gallery will provide unparalleled resources and access,” Ferriero said in a release.

According to University of Wisconsin educational psychology professor David Shaffer, the gallery could become a great resource for students, especially considering the current society tendencies to rely on text as a source.

“The education system focuses less on training people to deal with visual media than it does with print media,” Shaffer said.

Shaffer added this could have a transforming effect on how people look at visual media.

“Your ability to understand other parts of the world through images is astounding,” Shaffer said. “[This will be] transformative in all the ways you would imagine of having access [to visual media], in a rich way it potentially transforms any field it touches.”