Digitization in the Real World

Digitization and Access of Louisiana Oral Histories (@ladigilibrary)

The following chapter excerpt is from the first section of Digitization in the Real World; "Small is Beautiful: Planning and Implementing Digitization Projects with Limited Resources."  Download the entire chapter for free (PDF)  or purchase the book at Amazon.com.

Access the collections here.

Author

Gina R. Costello (Louisiana State University Libraries)

Abstract

The Louisiana State University (LSU) Libraries Center for Oral History began an effort to digitize at risk and high demand collections in 2007. The Center acquired digitization equipment, server space, and collaborated with the Libraries Special Collections Digital Services librarian to offer digitized oral histories online via the statewide Louisiana Digital Library (LDL). This paper details the history of the ongoing development of a digitization program for oral history materials using two staff members and limited resources. Decisions about what materials to digitize and how, equipment and software, and issues with access and preservation will be discussed.

Introduction

The Louisiana State University (LSU) Libraries T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History began to digitize at risk and high demand collections in late 2007. Planning for the systematic digitization of the primarily analog collection began a year prior to any digitization efforts. The Center sought advice from an expert in the field, acquired digitization equipment and server space, hired a full time employee to manage digitization, and collaborated with the Libraries Special Collections Digital Services Librarian to offer digitized oral histories online via the statewide Louisiana Digital Library (LDL).

The Center staff and the Digital Services Librarian have prioritized collections for digitization based on fragility or patron demand, made decisions about organization and access of the audio materials for the public, and addressed copyright issues. Only a small number of oral history collections have been added to the LDL, although over 700 hours of tape have been digitized so far.

This paper details the history of the ongoing development of a digitization program for oral history materials with one full time staff person and partial effort from another staff member. Decisions about what materials to digitize and how, equipment and software, and issues with access and preservation will be discussed. Results of the digitization and online access efforts have been mixed, but may serve as an example for oral history programs wishing to develop a more programmatic approach to digitization.

Download the entire chapter for free (PDF) or purchase the book at Amazon.com.

References

Bond, T. J. & Walpole, M. (2006). Streaming audio with synchronized transcripts utilizing SMI., Library Hi Tech 24, 452-462.

Bond, T. J. (2004). Streaming audio from African-American oral history collections. OCLC Systems & Services, 20, 15-23.

Casey, M. & Gordon, B. (2007). Sound directions: best practices for audio preservation. Retrieved from:http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/ projects/sounddirections/papersPresent/sd_bp_07.pdf

Hurford, A. A. & Read, M. L. (2008). Bringing the voices of communities together: the Middletown digital oral history project. Indiana Libraries. 27, 26-29.

Integration and the black experience. (2003). Retrieved December 14, 2009 from http://www.louisianadigitallibrary.org/cdm4/ browse.php? CISOROOT=/IBE

T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History Exhibits and Presentations. (2009). Retrieved December 14, 2009 fromhttp://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/williams/ep.html

The Baton Rouge Bus Boycott of 1953. A recaptured past (2004). Retrieved December 14, 2009 from http://www.lib.lsu.edu/ special/exhibits/boycott/index.html

Weig, E., Terry, K. & Lybarger, K (2007). Large scale digitization of oral history: A case study. D-Lib Magazine 13. Retrieved from: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/may07/weig/05weig.html

Digitization in the Real World...Now on Amazon.com

I just wanted to drop a quick note to you all in between our weekly chapter posts. If you've found the chapter excerpts useful and would like to get a copy of Digitization in the Real World, you can now order print copies via Amazon.com. PDF versions are, of course, still available here.

Thanks for all the tremendous support for the book. We're always happy when we hear from readers that the case examples have helped them with their projects in one way or another. Let us know!

Apollo 13.0: Digitizing Astronaut Jack Swigert's Apollo Documents

The following chapter excerpt is from the fourth section of Digitization in the Real World; "One Plus One is Greater Than Two: Collaborative Projects."  Download the entire chapter for free (PDF)  or purchase the book online at Amazon.com. 

View the collection here.

Author

Andrew Weiss (Fort Hays State University, Forsyth Library)

Abstract

The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center and Fort Hays State University Forsyth Library joined together in 2008 to digitize the personal archive of Apollo 13 astronaut John L. (Jack) Swigert. The documents (1966-1970) include blueprints and proofs of the Apollo Operations handbook Malfunction Procedures, which Swigert was called upon to revise in the aftermath of the Apollo 1 disaster in early 1967. The partnership between the KCSC and Forsyth Library has been fruitful in the area of public relations and dissemination of digital collections online. Some of the obstacles related to the partnership have yielded positive results. As a result of the partnership we created a standard for uniform file names for Forsyth’s Digital Collections, in adopting and customizing Goddard Core, a variation of Dublin Core, and in developing an External Partnership Protocol to improve future collaborative projects.

Introduction

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

--T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

While orbiting the moon in 1968, Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders photographed Earthrise, one of the iconic images of the Apollo missions. Fragile and tiny, the earth appears “almost as a disk” in a dark void and concretely shows that humans are more miniscule than imagined (Brooks, Grimwood & Swenson, 1979, p. 277). Although later missions would overshadow Apollo 8, including the successful moon-landing of Apollo 11 and the successful failure of Apollo 13, the lasting legacy of this mission was a sudden appreciation for the Earth itself (Brooks et al., 1979, p. 366). The irony that a photograph of the Earth would become one of the most lasting images of the Apollo Program was not lost on the astronauts.  Anders later remarked, “We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the earth” (Dordain, 2009, para. 6).

This image, later adopted by environmentalists, eventually contributed to the general zeitgeist that the mundane should take precedence over impractical dreams. Indeed, once an American had walked on the moon—as much a display of American real-politik might as a display of American ingenuity—public and political interest in the Apollo Program waned. By 1973 its funding was on its last legs and never again would the Apollo Program send an astronaut to the moon (McKie, 2008) (Brooks et al., 1979, p. 366). Yet if media coverage is any indication of an issue’s timeliness, the 40th anniversary of the successful moon landing in 2009 proves that the spirit of the time remains vital. General interest in space exploration remains high among specialists and the general public alike. Furthermore, the improvement of digital technology is allowing us unprecedented access to the primary materials of important historical events, making the discoveries of the time even more immediate as they appear online.  In essence, this is an exciting time to revisit the solid-state era of the Space Race of the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s through the power of digital technology.

In its partnership with the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center (KCSC) to digitize the papers of John L. (Jack) Swigert, Fort Hays State University’s Forsyth Library has had the privilege to work with documents of great importance to American and world history. At the same time we find ourselves looking inward and realize that an emphasis on the “mundane” still proves to be important. As a result of our work, we realize the need for a strong foundation in the development of sound policies and best practices that can work in reality. As the Apollo astronauts discovered, the point of a journey is not always to arrive; it’s to find out where you’ve been.

Read the rest of the chapter for free (PDF) or purchase the book online at Amazon.com.

References

Barbour, J. (1969). Footprints on the moon. New York: American Book-Stratford Press.

Bilstein, R. (1996). Stages to Saturn. Washington D.C.: NASA.

Brooks, C., Grimwood, J., & Swenson, L. (1979). Chariots for Apollo: A history of manned lunar spacecraft. Washington D.C.: NASA.

Dordain, J. (2009). International cooperation in space. Universities Space-Research Association. Retrieved November 1, 2009, from http://www.usra.edu/galleries/default-file/09Symp_Dordain.pdf

Goddard Library (2005, September 15). Goddard core. The Goddard Library. Retrieved November 10, 2009, from http://library.gsfc.nasa.gov/mrg/Goddard_Core.htm

Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center. (2009). History. Kansas Cosmosphere and space center. Retrieved November 10, 2009, from http://www.cosmo.org/mu_history.htm

McKie, R. (2008, November 30). The mission that changed everything. The Observer. Retrieved November 2, 2009, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/nov/30/apollo-8-mission

North Carolina ECHO (2009). Digitization guidelines chapter 5: metadata. North Carolina ECHO, Exploring Cultural Heritage Online. Retrieved November 1, 2009, from http://www.ncecho.org/dig/guide_5metadata.shtml

Orloff, R. (2004). Apollo by the numbers: a statistical reference. Retrieved November 14, 2009, from http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_01a_Summary.htm

 

Pratt Institute: A Historical Snapshot of Campus and Area

The following chapter excerpt is from the third section of Digitization in the Real World; "The Digital Campus: Digitization in Universities and Their Libraries." Download the entire chapter for free (PDF) or purchase the book online at Amazon.com.

View the collections here.

Author

Paul Schlotthauer (Pratt Institute Libraries)

Abstract

The chapter discusses the planning and procedures for two digitization grants received from METRO in 2005 and 2006 by the Pratt Institute Libraries. Despite the creation of a timeline, unexpected issues necessitated adjustments. Selection of materials was more labor intensive and time consuming than expected. Our collection consisted of different formats, which required managing significant differences in metadata content and interpretation. OAI-compliancy was problematic with our image management software. Also, we had modified the Dublin Core fields, which created compatibility issues with OAI gateways. In 2006, we planned for potential pitfalls based on our previous experiences, but still encountered delays and problems, such as color management. In 2008 we mounted our images on Flickr and saw a marked increase in use.

Introduction

In 2004, when we applied for the METRO grant for digitization, the library at Pratt Institute’s Brooklyn campus had a Visual Resources Center that, since 1997, had been digitizing its collection of over 160,000 slides for teaching and research purposes. We had staff and student workers with training and experience in digitization, as well as dedicated space, equipment, and technical support. Our digitized images were available online, so we had some acquaintance with the issues surrounding online collections.

For us, therefore, it was not so much a question of beginning a digitization initiative as it was beginning a new phase in our already-existing digitization program. Our hardware was no longer state of the art. The evolution of metadata schemas and best practices, such as Western States Digital Imaging Best Practices (later revised by the Bibliographic Center for Research as BCR’s CDP Digital Imaging Best Practices) (Bibliographic Center for Research [BCR], 2008), meant that our own protocols were inconsistent if not out of date: they worked for us, but they were not truly in step with the most current professional standards. We envisioned a METRO grant as an opportunity to update and tighten our practices, and believed that the resulting increase in efficiency would generate momentum to expand our digitization program in order to better meet the increasing expectations of our users.

  Download the entire chapter for free (PDF) or purchase the book online at Amazon.com.

References

Bibliographic Center for Research [BCR]. (2008). BCR’s CDP digital imaging best practices, version 2.0. Retrieved from http://bcr.org/dps/cdp/best/digital-imaging-bp.pdf

Gertz, J. (2007). Preservation and Selection for Digitization [Northeast Document Conservation Center Preservation Leaflet No. 6.6]. Retrieved from http://www.nedcc.org/resources/leaflets/6Reformatting/06PreservationAndSelection.php

Hagen, D., Horrell, J. & Merrill-Oldham, J. (1998). Selecting research collections for digitization. Retrieved from http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/hagen/pub74.html

NC ECHO. (2007). NC ECHO guidelines for digitization 2007 (Rev. ed.). Retrieved from  http://www.ncecho.org/dig/ digguidelines.shtml

Puglia, S., Reed, J. & Rhodes, E. (2004). NARA technical guidelines for digitizing archival materials for electronic access: Creation of production master files—raster images. Retrieved from http://www.archives.gov/preservation/technical/guidelines.pdf

Southeastern NY Library Resources Council [SENYLRC]. (2004). General collection criteria guidelines for HRVH. Retrieved from http://www.hrvh.org/about/selectioncriteria.htm

 

Local Objects, Local People, Local History: Creating the Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database

The following chapter excerpt is from the second section of Digitization in the Real World; "A Diverse Digital Landscape: Digital Collections inPublic Libraries, Museums, Cultural Heritage Institutions,and Knowledge-Based Organizations." Download the entire chapter for free (PDF) or purchase the book online at Amazon.com.

Access the collections here.

Author

Emily Pfotenhauer (Wisconsin Heritage Online, Wisconsin Historical Society and the Chipstone Foundation)

Abstract

The Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database is a digital collection of three-dimensional artifacts from the collections of historical societies and museums throughout Wisconsin, hosted by the Wisconsin Historical Society and supported by the Chipstone Foundation. Since 2006, the project has documented nearly 1,000 examples of furniture, ceramics, textiles and other decorative arts made by early Wisconsin craftspeople and held in the collections of over 40 institutions throughout the state. This case study examines the genesis of the project, the photographic standards and metadata specifications established for object documentation, and the unique challenges of developing a diverse digital collection of museum artifacts from a wide variety of local and regional institutions.

Introduction & Background

In the past decade, the work of state- and regionally-based digitization programs across the country has resulted in an explosion of local history resources available online. These initiatives are collaborative efforts among libraries, archives, and museums to make their collections freely available to a broad audience of students, teachers, historians, and genealogists. Some of the earliest and most influential of these programs include the Maine Historical Society’s Maine Memory Network, the Minnesota Digital Library, and the Colorado Digitization Project (now known as the Collaborative Digitization Program at the Bibliographic Center for Research). For the most part, programs such as these have focused on what some museum professionals refer to as “the flat stuff”: photographs, books, manuscripts, and other two-dimensional materials. This focus on the digitization of archival materials belies the fact that three-dimensional artifacts form the core of the collections of most local historical societies and museums. Moreover, the everyday objects people create and consume (for example, furniture, clothing, and tools) are considered by many scholars to offer significant evidence for historic research, as much if not more so than historic photographs or original manuscripts. Yet most institutions participating in collaborative digitization programs have not made their collections of three-dimensional objects available online at the same rate as their two-dimensional holdings.

Case studies of statewide and national digitization programs reveal the challenges common to most collaborative digital endeavors, regardless of the types of material being digitized. Roberto (2008) describes the lack of consistent standards in place for describing collections among even the largest and best-staffed museums in Great Britain. When collaborations are expanded to include small, local historical societies and museums, the creation of consistent collections data becomes even more challenging due to a lack of available staff, resources, and expertise (Rowe & Barnicoat, 2009). These obstacles are compounded when working with three-dimensional objects, which require more space, equipment, and technical expertise to photograph and more research and subject expertise to catalog.

This chapter examines the development of one digital collection of three-dimensional objects from multiple institutions: the Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database (http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/decorativearts). This project was initiated in 2006 by the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Chipstone Foundation of Milwaukee, a private foundation for the study of American decorative arts and material culture. Chipstone and the Society had three goals in mind at the outset of the project: 1) to bring to light objects held in the collections of Wisconsin historical societies and museums and share them with a broader audience, 2) to document examples of furniture, ceramics, textiles, and other decorative arts made by nineteenth and early twentieth-century Wisconsin craftspeople in order to reveal settlement patterns and the persistence of handicraft traditions in the state, and 3) to add the first three-dimensional artifacts to Wisconsin Heritage Online (http://www.wisconsinheritage.org), a research portal that brings together a diverse range of digital collections from Wisconsin libraries, archives, museums, and historic sites.

Download the entire chapter for free (PDF) or purchase the book online at Amazon.com.

References

Blackaby, J. R., Greeno, P., & The Nomenclature Committee. (1995). The revised         nomenclature for museum cataloging: A revised and expanded version of Robert G. Chenhall’s system for classifying man-made objects. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

Bourcier, P., Rogers, R., & The Nomenclature Committee. (2009). Nomenclature 3.0 for museum cataloging: Third edition of Robert G. Chenhall’s system for classifying man-made objects. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

Collaborative Digitization Program Metadata Working Group. (2006). Dublin Core metadata best practices (version 2.1.1). Retrieved from http://www.bcr.org/dps/cdp

Hawkins, T., Cohen, J., & Debevec, P. (2001). A photometric approach to digitizing cultural artifacts. In Proceedings of the 2001 Conference on Virtual Reality, Archeology, and Cultural Heritage, 333-342. New York: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/584993.585053

Holland, R. (1966). The last wooden beer barrels. Wisconsin Tales and Trails 7, 12-16.

Levoy, M., & Garcia-Molina, H. (2000). Creating digital archives of 3D artworks [White paper submitted to the National Science Foundation’s Digital Libraries Initiative]. Retrieved from http://graphics.stanford.edu/projects/dli/white-paper/dli.html

Miller, S. J. (Ed.). (2006). Wisconsin Heritage Online metadata guidelines (version 2.0). Retrieved from https://wiheritage.pbworks.com

Niven, P. (2001). Frank L. Horton and the roads to MESDA. Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts, 27, 1-147.

Roberto, F. (2008). Exploring museum collections on-line: The quantitative method. In J. Trant and D. Bearman (Eds.), Museums and the Web 2008: Proceedings. Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics. Retrieved from http://www.archimuse.com/ mw2008/papers/roberto/roberto.html

Rowe, P., & Barnicoat, W. (2009). NZMuseums: Showcasing the collections of all New Zealand museums. In J. Trant and D. Bearman (Eds.), Museums and the Web 2009: Proceedings. Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics. Retrieved from http://www.archimuse.com/mw2009/papers/rowe/rowe.html