Digital Repositories

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Digital Repositories

• Build It They Will Come
• Michael J. Bennett
• Access Services Supervisor
• C/WMARS, Inc.
• [phone] x.23
• mbennett_at_cwmars.org

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I. GOALS of DIGITIZATIONquestions to ask while
planning

• Why does your institution wish to digitize?
• What are the anticipated outcomes?
• Who are the targeted end-users?
• How can these outcomes and users be periodically
  evaluated as the project progresses?

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II. LOGISTICAL CONCERNSthe view from 30,000
QUESTION HOW WILL OUR ORGANIZATION DIGITIZE
OUR MATERIALS???
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II. LOGISTICAL CONCERNSthe view from 30,000
OPTION 1 BUILD LAB REPOSITORY Pros
Control of Everything Including Imaging, Metadata
Schema Customization of Patron Access. Cons
Costs The Responsibilities of Control.
Software Hardware Maintenance May Necessitate
Specialized Staff. Will Chosen Metadata Schemas
be Interoperable into the Future?
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II. LOGISTICAL CONCERNSthe view from 30,000
OPTION 2 BUILD LAB BUT STORE SERVE UP
MATERIALS THROUGH 3RD PARTY REPOSITORY Pros
Costs, Possibly Maintain Some Control Cons
Imaging Metadata Standards Must Align Closely
with Existing Repository. Patron Access Control
May Be Limited.
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II. LOGISTICAL CONCERNSthe view from 30,000
OPTION 3 DIGITIZATION, STORAGE ONLINE
DELIVERY THROUGH 3RD PARTY REPOSITORY Pros
Costs, Minimal Infrastructure Support
Specialization. Cons Digitization Metadata
Standards Must Align Closely with Existing
Repository. Possibly Little Control of Patron
Access. Migration to New Vendor, if necessary,
May Be Complex.
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II. LOGISTICAL CONCERNS
OPTION 1 CASE STUDY BUILD LAB
REPOSITORY e.g. Digital Treasures
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III. Digital Treasuressome facts

• URL http//dlib.cwmars.org
• Initial Planning Commenced, Fall of 2005
• Digital Library Goes Live March 1, 2006
• First Library Collections Entered Southbridge
  Public, Westfield Athenaeum

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so what does this all look like???
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the lab
where the analog becomes digital
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the data center
where the digital takes up residence then is
served up to the Web
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IV. Digital Treasuresthe workflow

• Library attends Dublin Core workshop or is paid a
  library consultation visit.
• Library selects items from their collection.
• Library creates item metadata and makes
  electronic submissions through online Dublin Core
  form.
• C/WMARS receives electronic submissions.
• Library makes scanning lab appointment once all
  Dublin Core records have been submitted.
• Items are scanned in D-Lab (1.5 hrs./ 20 items)
• Archival TIFF files are batch processed to create
  full size and access size 72 ppi jpgs in
  Photoshop.

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IV. Digital Treasuresthe workflow (con.)

• Access jpgs and their metadata are joined
  together in the lab through CONTENTdms
  Acquisition Station interface.
• Digital objects are uploaded across WAN to
  downtown data center repository server.

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IV. Digital Treasuresthe workflow (con.)

• After upload from Acquisition station, digital
  objects are then served up to the Web where they
  can be browsed and searched through the Digital
  Treasures front end.

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V. Digital Treasures collection level statistics

• Collection-level usage statistics are also
  updated monthly for participating libraries that
  examine hits visitors, referring domains and
  end user search terms.

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V. Digital Treasures repository statistical
snapshot

• Current Number of Library Collections 26
• Total Number of Digital Objects 833
• Average Number of Hits to Site per month for
  2007 219,138
• Average Number of Visitors to Site per month for
  2007 26,744

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V. Digital Treasures repository statistical
snapshot
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VI. CONTENTdm advantages

• Clean, lightweight UI
• Fast, php-powered search engine
• Employs PURLS
• Compound Object structure for multi-part objects
• Metadata can relatively easily be made extensible
  through search engines, OAI portals, WorldCat,
  and ILS OPACs
• Strong user group community
• Customizable and can handle widget implementation
  well for a proprietary software package

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VI. CONTENTdm disadvantages

• Version updates can be difficult to cleanly
  implement (particularly around any
  customization!)
• Expense (not free)

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Digital RepositoriesBuild It They Will Come

• The End
• Michael J. Bennett
• Access Services Supervisor
• C/WMARS, Inc.
• [phone] x.23
• mbennett_at_cwmars.org