Digital Collections: New Roles for Libraries

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Digital CollectionsNew Roles for Libraries

• OCLC Members CouncilOctober 27th, 2003

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Presenters

• SARAH MICHALAK
• Director, Marriott Library
• University of Utah
• 295 S. 1500 E.
• Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
• 801-581-8558
• sarah.michalak_at_library.utah.edu

• GREG ZICK
• President, DiMeMa Inc.
• Professor, University of Wash.
• 100 W. Harrison, N480
• Seattle, WA 98119
• 206-281-1632
• zick_at_dimema.com

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Digital Collections How did we get here and
where are we going?

• From Experimentation to Implementation
• What we saw
• What we learned
• Building Digital Collections
• The opportunity
• The technology
• CONTENTdm
• New Roles for Libraries
• The Marriott Library
• Leadership and results
• New library environment

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1990s - the Experimentation Era What we saw,
What we learned

• Improved digitization tools facilitated fast item
  conversion
• Rapid Web developments opened door to global
  online access
• Projects generally outside of mainstream library
  organization
• Growing user community at seminars and workshops
  shared lessons learned and mistakes made
• Resulting in many scared attendees
• Recognition of the opportunity of digital
  collections expanded interest exponentially
• Experimentation enabled early adopters
  (librarians and users) to articulate what was
  needed in a software package

AP Photo
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Today - the Implementation Era

• Digital collection development is being done
• Tools are available
• Workflow/metadata process creation is known
• High demand for access to single copy primary
  source materials
• Requirement for local development, control and
  delivery
• Need for cross-domain searching of multiple
  databases and formats
• Standard metadata extending the end users reach
  to collections otherwise undiscovered and
  unorganized
• Institutions integrating holdings across formats
  and collections
• Expertise and support infrastructure developing

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Technology What were/are the options?

• Homegrown systems
• Dependent on individuals
• Expensive evaluate costs/benefits over long term
• Open source software
• Quantify value of support, education, and
  development
• Assess long term viability for long term
  collection plans
• Modules provided by local catalog vendors
• Catalog add-on or designed for digital
  collections?
• Closed and proprietary versus open Web standards
• Software specialized by media type
• Applicability dependent on nature, size, and
  budget of organization
• Organization will need multiple software products

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The Technology CONTENTdm product

• Software designed and developed for complete
  management of digital collections
• Based on collaborative input from librarians and
  other information professionals
• Supports each step of processcapture, index,
  store, administer, query, display, share
• Designed for large archives of digital assets
• Searches databases of millions of objects and
  identifies items in under one second
• Enables growth from tens of objects to millions

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The CONTENTdm Vision

• A software tool that enables libraries to use the
  expertise of their professional staff in building
  digital collections of their primary resource
  materials
• Proven Results
• Valuable collections
• Share best practices and collaborations
• New roles and resources

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The Opportunity Extend the library with valuable
new services
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The Opportunity Preserve primary source materials
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The Opportunity Transform archives into
educational resources for K-20
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The Opportunity Offer value to broad global
community
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The Opportunity Facilitate collaboration with
other organizations
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The Opportunity Open new funding avenues
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The Opportunity Demonstrate library leadership
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The Technology CONTENTdm product widely used

• Between 2001 2003 more than
• 120 organizations license CONTENTdm (with many
  collaborators)
• 30 states, 4 countries
• One thousand diverse collections
• One million items of rich content

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The Technology CONTENTdm product elements
Collection Delivery Tools
Utah State CONTENTdm Server
Southern Utah CONTENTdm Server
Multi-Site Server
BYU CONTENTdm Server
Custom Web Interfaces
Browse and Search
Results
Viewers
U of Utah CONTENTdm Server
PowerPoint Plug-in
Capture Index Organize
Administer Query Display Share
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The Technology CONTENTdm collection building -
Create

• Productivity tools built for speed
• Batch item loading
• Project templates and spreadsheets
• Default thumbnail options
• Image rights options to protect items
• Controlled vocabularies to ensure metadata
  quality
• Online tutorials to train project participants

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The Technology CONTENTdm collection building -
Admin
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The Technology CONTENTdm collection access -
Query

• Standard browser access to collections
• Powerful and flexible search options
• Full collection browse
• Boolean, phrase and synonym search
• Index of field contents to target queries

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The Technology CONTENTdm collection access -
Viewer
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The Technology CONTENTdm collection access -
Viewer
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The Technology CONTENTdm collection access -
Viewer
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The Technology CONTENTdm collection access -
Viewer
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The Technology CONTENTdm collection access -
Display

• Customized interfaces for varied user communities
• Predefined queries for topical searches

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The Technology CONTENTdm collection access -
Display

• Customized interfaces for varied user communities
• Localization of pages for multi-lingual users

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The Technology CONTENTdm collection access -
Share

• Learning Object Modules from Primary Resources
• My Favorites to save items for future uses
• post to Web page
• e-mail to colleagues
• include in course curricula
• PowerPoint Plug-in downloads collection items for
  presentations

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CONTENTdm collection access Share My Favorites
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CONTENTdm collection access Share PowerPoint
Plug-in
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The Technology Why CONTENTdm?

• Modular - not monolithic solution
• Right tool for the right job familiar interface
  for archivists, catalogers and end users
• Flexibility to complement existing library
  systems without IT overhaul
• Adheres to open standards
• XML, OAI, Dublin Core, http, HTML, URL
• Handles all media types in special collections
• Provides multiple views for different users
• Facilitates collection sharing within and between
  libraries
• Offers affordable solution for all libraries
• Allows library to start small and expand
  seamlessly
• Global discovery, Local Delivery

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OCLC Global Discovery - CONTENTdm WorldCat Link
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Digital Library Development with CONTENTdm

• Proven Results
• Valuable collections of primary materials
• Share best practices and collaborations
• New roles and resources
• Global Discovery Local Delivery
• Be part of building this rich new resource

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Marriott Library Digital Technologies
Building Noteworthy Digital Collections
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Start With What You Have
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Creation of a New Department

• Find a champion
• Acquire equipment
• Commit to a digital management system
• Adopt standards
• Leadership must make it a priority
• Build staff
• Identify space
• Piece together a budget
• Watch for opportunities

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Build Skill

• On Campus
• Rare Book Faculty Collaborations
• Utah Academic Library Consortium
• BYU sets an example
• Other Opportunities to Learn
• The Colorado Digitization Program

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Create and Communicate Added Value

• American Memory Project grant
• Collaboration led by BYUs Library, a more
  experienced partner
• Pioneer Diaries
• Maps our value added

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Digitization Adds Value
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Innovate

• A new approach to newspapers
• Outsource OCR conversion
• XML-tagged metadata
• CONTENTdm
• Scales to small and large institutions
• Attracts community interest and support

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Build New Constituencies

• A new partner Utah State Historical Society
• Each partner has something to gain
• Revenue development 111,000 in 2003
• Staff
• Equipment
• Maintenance
• New skill glass plate negatives

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Leadership
The Mountain West Digital Library

• A single web site http//mwdl.org
• Distributed digitization sites
• Standards compliant
• Scalable
• Self-sustaining
• Introduces the Multi-site server

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Mountain West Digital LibraryRegional Centers
and Partners

• Utah
• University of Utah (Salt Lake City)
• Brigham Young University (Provo)
• Utah State University (Logan)
• Southern Utah University (Cedar City)
• Nevada
• University of Nevada - Las Vegas
• University of Nevada - Reno

• Murray City Library
• Uintah County Library
• BYU Fine Arts Museum
• Delta City Library
• Great Basin Association
• Topaz Internment Camp Museum
• Westminster College
• Snow College
• Utah Valley State College
• UU Fine Arts Museum
• UU Eccles Health Sciences Library
• UU Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence

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Return on Investment Funding

• LSTA
• 2001-2002 - Newspapers (93,000 - includes
  22,188 match)
• 2002 - CONTENTdm server (70,000 - includes
  17,500 match)
• 2003 - Newspapers (278,000 - includes 97,300
  match)
• UALC
• 2002 - MWDL - 110,000 Mountain West Digital
  Library startup costs

• IMLS
• 2003-2005 - Newspapers (1,035,000 - includes
  565,000 match)
• 2003-2005 - GWLA Western Waters (372,000 -
  includes 173,000 match)
• New and leveraged funds total
• 1,958,000

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Return on Investment Community Impact
Wow!  I've been working in your digitized Ogden
newspapers for the last two days and am ecstatic
over what I've found.  My ancestors are from a
small town, and I've been able to find lots of
information on the mundane activities of their
lives -- things that had essentially been lost
forever, until your project.
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Digital Library Development

• Started with what we had
• Adopt best practices from the beginning
• Build skill
• Demonstrate and communicate value added
• Build constituencies
• Innovation and leadership
• Aim for return on investment

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Challenges

• Re-purposing staff
• Internal relationships
• Old practices versus new models
• Reliable technology infrastructure
• Metadata standards
• Funding

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The Process of Change

• An idea fires an individual
• Staff and resources develop
• Expertise grows and accomplishments accumulate
• Track record and skill attract opportunity and
  new funding
• Leadership emerges
• New funding and more innovation

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New Roles for Libraries

• Retrieving and featuring unique, primary research
  materials
• Selecting, structuring and organizing information
• Synthesizing, creating, and publishing new
  knowledge