Digitization@METRO

Spring 2007 Digitization Training

METRO recently launched its Spring 2007 Digitization Training Schedule.

For more information and to register click on a class or go to www.metro.org

Jan 22, 2007 - Introduction to Scanning
Feb 9, 2007 - Introduction to Metadata
Feb 15, 2007 - Copyright: The Only Certainty is Uncertainty
Feb 28, 2007 - Planning and Managing a Digitization Project
Mar 9, 2007 - Site Visit: NYU Digital Imaging and Video Lab
Mar 15-16, 2007 - Knowledge Organization Systems
Mar 20, 2007 - Grant Writing for Digitization and Preservation Projects

These digitization workshops are supported in part by Federal Library Services and Technology Act Funds, awarded to the New York State Library by the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Frick Art Reference Library

METRO and a group of eleven members paid a site visit to the Frick Art Reference Library's Digital Lab on November 16, 2006. Don Swanson and his staff talked about their work, demonstrated equipment, answered questions, and left me and others quite impressed with their operation.

The Frick is currently working with ARTstor to digitize thousands of glass plate negatives and interpositives. The glass plate negatives are scanned in-house using a Better Light scanning back and interpositives are sent to an outside vendor for conversion.

The Frick captures materials at 900 dpi, 16 bit grayscale, which results in a file size of around 120 MB.

The scans are then saved to (1) local hard drive (2) cds (3) network server (offsite) and (4) tape (offsite). In addition, the original glass plate negatives are saved in acid free folders and put in cold storage. Four backup copies of the digital image, using four storage formats, saved in three different physical locations, and retention of the original. That's pretty darn good.

These images are available via ARTstor.

In addition to giving us a tour of the digital lab, Don showed us the conservation department where the staff was meticulously piecing together the bindings of old books, the spotless stacks (not even a speck of dust), and the beautiful reading room.

Thanks to Don, everyone at the Frick, and all who attended.

Image: Helen Clay Frick (and dog) c. 1918, scanned from a spoiling nitrate negative

METRO Metadata Workshops

METRO is closing out the year with a powerful series of metadata programs covering MODS, Tagging, Folksonomy, and OAI-PMH presented by experts like KB Ng and Sarah Shreeves.

METRO invites library students to register for these programs at the METRO member rate.

Workshop: Using MODS (Metadata Objet Description Schema) with XSLT
Presenter: KB Ng, Queens College GSLIS
What: MODS is a set of XML markup which can combine selected data from existing MARC 21 records with original resource description. This workshop covers how to create MODS records for online resource description and present these records over the internet by server-side processing with XSLT.
When: November 29, 2006; 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Fee: $75 members; $150 nonmember
To register for this workshop click here. For a list of resources to help you prepare for the workshop click here.

Event: Steve@METRO
What: "Steve" is a social tagging and folksonomy project initiated in order to explore the potential for user-generated subject descriptions of works of art in museum collections. Come learn about the Steve Project and network with your colleagues at the wine and cheese reception.
When: December 6, 2006; 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Fee: No charge but seating is limited and registration is required.
To register for this program click here.

Workshop: Interoperability, OAI-PMH, And Shareable Metadata
Presenter: Sarah Shreeves, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
What: This workshop will describe the OAI protocol (what it is, why it exists, and how it works), discuss options for exposing metadata via the OAI protocol, and describe how to make metadata more shareable for use within the OAI protocol or other sharing mechanisms.
When: December 8, 2006; 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Fee: $75 members; $150 nonmembers
To register for this program click here.

METRO Digital Audio Workshop Recap

Over twenty people attended yesterday's Introduction to Digital Audio workshop at METRO presented by Dave Nolan, Audio Archivist at the 92nd Street Y.

The six-hour presentation focused primarily on two areas: archival transfers (migrating from an existing format to a newer and hopefully better format) and creating new recordings of live events, oral histories, etc.

The morning session was spent discussing a slew of digital audio concepts including bit depth, sampling rate, and numerous compression formats.

Part of the afternoon session focused on audio digitization equipment with the presenter demonstrating equipment and offering tips and recommendations in the following areas:

- Computer (Mac is the obvious choice.)
- Analog to Digital Converter/Computer Audio Interface (The single most important link in the digitization chain. If you have extra $, spend it here.)
- Software (Pro Tools is the industry standard. Audacity is free and is also very good.)
- Hard Drive(s)/Digital Storage (Store your archival copy as a broadcast wave file on an external drive rather than on tape or optical (cd, dvd) disc.

The rest of the afternoon covered analog to digital transfer and the creating of new recordings including tips and recommendations on microphones, mixers, PA systems, and digital recorders.

Dave provided attendees with a list of digital audio resources and I've included them here for those who could not attend.

Dave Nolan's Digital Audio Resources as of November 1, 2006

• ARSC - The Association of Recorded Sound Collections
• ARSC-List
• CLIR - Analog to Digital Audio Best Practices
• CDP - Digital Audio Best Practices
• Richard Hess Tape Restoration Resources
• Valerie Forrestal's Audio Archiving Resources

Thanks to Dave Nolan and all who attended.

Greenstone Training

Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies (QCGSLIS) will be offering a course on Greenstone Digital Library Software in Spring 2007. Those interested in registering may call the QCGSLIS office at 718-997-3790 for additional information.

The following is a brief description of the course:

What: Managing Digital Collections With Greenstone
When: Thursdays 6:40 PM-9:15 PM (Spring 2007)
Instructor: Thomas T. Surprenant
Prerequisites: Prospective students should be familiar with digital scanning, Dublin Core metadata and digital best practices
Description: The goal of this course is to provide hands-on experience in the creation and management of digital collections using Greenstone Open Source Software.  Each student will receive a CD-ROM that contains the Greenstone Software as well as tutorials and supporting documentation. Greenstone is a suite of software for building and distributing digital library collections.  Students will contribute to the Waterways of New York postcard project sponsored by the Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies.

MODS

METRO is offering a new workshop titled Using MODS (Metadata Object Description Schema) with XSLT on November 29, 2006. MODS is a set of XML markup which can combine selected data from existing MARC 21 records with original resource description and has been adopted by a several academic institutions as well as by the American Memory Project at the Library of Congress.

While this is an introductory workshop to MODS, participants must have a basic understanding of XML and related concepts to follow the demonstration and discussion.

The workshop presenter, Professor KB Ng, is from the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at Queens College, CUNY and the author of Using XML: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians. KB has provided the following resources which will serve as a refresher for those who are interested in taking this workshop.

Learning XML by Erik T. Ray

XML online tutorial: http://www.w3schools.com/xml/default.asp (especially see the links about schema and xsl)

MARC online tutorial: http://www.loc.gov/marc/umb/

MODS overview: http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/mods-overview.html

For more information and to register, please click here.

Digital Audio for Libraries & Archives

If you're currently working on or planning to work on an audio digitization and reformatting project and want to learn more about creating digital recordings -  then this workshop is for you.

Dave Nolan, Audio Archivist at the 92nd Street Y, will be coming to METRO on November 1, 2006 to teach a class titled Introduction to Digital Audio for Libraries and Archives.

For more information and to register click here.

METRO 2006 Digitization Survey

The METRO 2006 Digitization Survey Final Report is now available on our website.

The Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO) conducted its third digitization survey in the summer of 2006. The survey focused on measuring the growth of digital activity at METRO member institutions, and gathering the information needed to develop plans for further expansion of METRO’s digital services.

Funding for this survey was provided in part by Federal Library Services and Technology Act funds awarded to the New York State Library by the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services.

To read the report please visit the Digitization Reports section of our website.

METRO Plan and Manage a Digitization Project Recap

Thirty people attended yesterday's METRO workshop titled "How to Plan and Manage a Digitization Project" taught by Susan Benz who is the Manager of Web Content and Digital Collections at the Brooklyn Public Library.

This full day workshop touched on several  topics including selection, conversion, vendors, metadata, and a demonstration of different systems and approaches for delivering digital collections via the web.  One attendee called the workshop an "Intro 101 to everything you need to know."

The Brooklyn Public Library received digitization grants from METRO in 2005 for its Fulton Street Trade Card Collection and in 2006 for its Sheet Music Collection. Here is a sneak peak of an image from the Sheet Music Collection which should be finished later this year.

Thanks to Susan Benz and all who attended for contributing to a great program.

Scanning Forum 2006

UVA is hosting its first Scanning Forum 2006: Balancing Quality, Automation, and Service on November 6-7, 2006.

Designed for staff that work with digitizing, scanning, and imaging, this forum aims to share best practices, streamline process, problem solve, and share practical information among colleagues and vendors.