Kate here. I spent the day today (10/25/07) at Holy Cross in Worcester learning about digitizing library resources (like the photographs, letters and maps in our local history collection) to make them available on the web.
The Digital Commonwealth promotes the creation of digital resources by libraries and other cultural organizations in Massachusetts. They just unveiled an online portal that provides public access to digital resources all over the state. Instead of having to contact dozens of different libraries, historical societies and museums in order to find all the images and other records about a Bay State place, person, or thing, we'll be able to look it up in one place.
The big message I got is that it may be easy to scan photos and documents, but there's a lot more to creating useful and lasting digital resources than just posting pictures online. Considerations include copyright, image quality, organization, risk of damaging originals during reproduction, longterm funding and staffing commitments, publicity and metadata quality (information about item - describing content, relating it to other items, describing the who, what, when, where and why of its creation).
At a program we had at the library in September, we had patrons begging us to put our local history collection online. I would like to work toward the creation of a Waltham digital collection, offering access to documents, images, recordings and information from as many Waltham organizations as possible. MBLC grants funds for such projects. Possible collaborators include the City Clerk's office, the Historical Society, Stonehurst, and the Cemetery Department, among others.
I went to 6 presentations - handouts etc online:
-May I Digitize This Photo?
Copyright considerations presented by Mary Minow, Library Law Consultant
Presented as clearly as possible, considering how complicated this can be. Handouts are very useful.
-Case Studies in Digital Collaboration: Sudbury's Goodnow Library and Town Organizations and the Topsfield Historical Society and Town Library
Bill Talentino, Laura Scott Lowell, Bill Whiting, Jackie White
Thought-provoking and inspiring examples of libraries working closely WITH other city departments and community organizations to provide access to important records that are otherwise hard to find.
-The Digital Commonwealth: the Bridge to Library 2.0
Marshall Keys is a wonderful, articulate, provocative speaker and writer - see/read him if you can.
Keys admonished us to go beyond doing what we've always done with different technology, and Do Different Things. Like organizing others to capture images, stories and information about our communities right now, and sharing/storing/improving these online. Keys advocates paying attention to and incorporating the current trend toward a preference for interactive media.
-Virtual Archives: Preparing to Create a Digital Collection
Gregor Trinkaus-Randall, Preservation Specialist at the Mass Board of Library Commissioners
Gregor gives a very sobering talk about the risks and benefits to consider before embarking on a digitization project. What are the goals? Who will do the work? Is there a commitment to maintaining the digital collection so it'll still be accessible when our cutting edge technology becomes the equivalent of a 3 1/2 inch floppy disk? Digitizing doesn't save space and may not minimize handling of originals, since it usually increases traffic at the owning site.
-Scanning 101
Scott Kehoe, Technology Consultant with NMRLS
As advertised, lots of practical information on the process of scanning. Oodles of helpful links on del.icio.us/massdc2!
-Backstage Library Works
A representative of this company talked about the advantages of outsourcing the scanning and processing of images, to take advantage of the great equipment and experience such a company can provide.
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