The Robert F. Walters Digital Library was conceived with the goal of preserving invaluable one-of-a-kind geological documents contained within the Kansas Geological Society Library in Wichita, Kansas.
The Kansas Geological Society Library has been collecting information on oil and gas wells since 1923. Subsurface geological and engineering data derived from this information is vital to many other fields outside of the oil and gas industry including environmental, civil engineering, groundwater geology, and geologic hazard studies. The Kansas Geological Society Library is a large collection consisting of well over 400 file cabinets containing documents of many unique and different types. A large percentage of these are in handwritten form and exist no where else.
In the design and implementation of the preservation effort, through digital scanning and widespread popularity of the internet, an opportunity was realized to make the scanned images available for public viewing through a subscription based internet service. Developing the new technology was an immensely difficult task. With the great faith and support of sponsors and contributors, the Foundation developed the Walter Digital Library's unique technology and begin offering viewing, printing, and downloading access to millions of pages November 1, 2003.
This library was named for one of the most honored and distinguished members of the Kansas Geological Foundation and Society, and the geological profession as a whole - Dr. Robert F. Walters (1914 - 1998). Among his many fine attributes was a great concern and care for the preservation of geological materials. With this as our primary purpose, it is a continuing honor for all of us involved to support this project which bears his name. (Click the selected menu item for more information.) This is a Generalized map showing Coverage area as of Jan 04. Documents are continually being added, corrected, and enhanced on an ongoing basis. ( Click on the selected menu item for more information). It is a simple procedure to download and install our client program. Please follow the directions carefully. The free demonstration version and the subscription version of the program are identical. Logging on with the demonstration username and password will allow you to use the program, but you will be limited to the demonstration township area.
