Harvard University Library Digital Initiative Internal Challenge Grant Program

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Harvard UniversityLibrary Digital Initiative
Internal Challenge Grant Program

• NERCOMP E-learning Conference March 20, 2001
  
• Worcester, Massachusetts
• Wendy Gogel, Digital Library Projects Liaison

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• LDI Mission
• LDI Internal Challenge Grant Program
• Examples of Grant Funded Projects
• Fulfillment of Grant Program Mission
• Challenges

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LDI Mission

• LDI launched in July 1998 as a five-year program
  to develop the Universitys capacity to manage
  digital information by
• creating technical infrastructure to support
  acquisition, organization, delivery, and
  archiving of digital library materials
• providing a team of specialists to advise
  librarians and others on key issues unique to the
  digital environment
• providing librarians and staff with practical
  experience in a wide range of technologies and
  digital materials and
• enriching the Harvard University Library
  collections with a significant set of digital
  resources.

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LDI Internal Challenge Grant Program

• LDI received 12 million for five years and set
  aside 5 million for Grant Program over 10 Rounds
• LDI Steering Committee
• set program parameters and direction (whose
  eligible, what type of projects)
• announced initial call for proposals w/deadline
• established LDI Grant Review Committee
• LDI Grant Review Committee
• develops specific criteria for project selection
• selects projects for funding according to program
  parameters and specific criteria

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Grant Program Mission

• encourage broad University participation in LDI
• serve as a catalyst for infrastructure
  development
• Set development priorities
• Inform developments with real needs
• Test infrastructure
• tangible demonstration of infrastructure
• integrate management of digital materials with
  traditional materials throughout the libraries
• contribute meaningful digital resources to the
  Universities collections

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Grant Program Participation

• Who is participating?
• Project proposals from
• Archives
• Libraries
• Museums
• Faculty

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Grant Program Participation

• What is the content?
• Wide variety of materials, both converted and
  born digital
• Visual Collections including current and historic
  photographs, 19th c. trade cards, biomedical
  images
• Audio Files
• Published and Original Text
• Data Sets

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Grant Program Status

• 36 Applicants over 4 rounds
• Awarded 9 projects
• 2 involve dedicated system development
• 3 more expected to be awarding shortly
• 2 completed

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Funded Grant Project (selected examples)
Harvard/Radcliffe Online Historical Reference
Shelf

• Collection of Harvard and Radcliffe Annual
  Reports,
• 1825-1995 (105,000 pages) providing access
  through fully searchable text w/ image files
  retrieved for on-screen viewing

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Funded Grant Project (selected examples)
Harvard-Yenching Library The Hedda Morrison
Photographs of China
Collection of 4,800 photographs in albums made in
China, 1933 to 1946 by German Photographer Hedda
Morrison
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Funded Grant Project (selected examples)
Countway Library of Medicine Harvard Biomedical
Image Library (BIL)
A central catalog and collection of biomedical
images initially contributed from HSPH and
Harvard labs
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Funded Grant Project (selected examples)
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Maya
Archaeological Photographs from the Carnegie
Institute of Washington Collection
10,000 photographs related to two Maya
archaeological sites Chichen Itza and Copan
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Funded Grant Project (selected examples)
Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library Music from the
Archive A New Model of Access to Rare and Unique
Sound Recordings

• electronic research tool, integrating 140 hours
  of digital sound recordings, related image files
  (log books, performance notes) and finding aids
  for three collections
• The Laura Boulton Collection of Byzantine and
  Eastern Orthodox Chant
• The Joseph Jeffers Dodge Duke Ellington
  Collection
• The James Rubin Collection of South Indian
  Classical Music

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Funded Grant Project (selected examples)
Arnold Arboretum Library of Harvard University
Western China and Tibet Hotspot of Diversity

• on-line access to historic and contemporary
  collections related to Western China and Tibet
  (1924-current day)
• photographs
• correspondence
• plant specimens
• bird specimens
• and specimen data

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Fulfillment of Grant Program Mission

• encourage broad University participation in LDI
• serve as a catalyst for infrastructure
  development
• Set development priorities
• Inform developments with real needs
• Test infrastructure
• tangible demonstration of infrastructure
• integrate management of digital materials with
  traditional materials throughout the libraries
• contribute meaningful digital resources to the
  Universities collections

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LDI Program Challenges

• Commitment of Limited Resources
• 10 new positions
• University staff working on grant projects
• contributions collaboration throughout
  University
• to accomplish
• technical analysis
• infrastructure development
• advisory services in key areas
• administration of LDI Program Grant Program
• project management and implementation

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Grant Program Challenges

• Criteria for Selection of Grant Projects
• value of materials is subjective (and often
  community based)
• open to any projects Vs. set direction for
  proposals
• Communication
• unformed concepts about project goals (what do
  you want? what have you got?)
• language barrier between curators and
  technologists

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Grant Program Challenges

• Project Management
• lack of expertise
• lack of dedicated resources
• lack of experience in digital environment
• Elapsed Time
• at least two years
• 9 months for proposal and planning process
• plus implementation

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Challenges

• Managing Project Expectations
• Specific project goals vs. generalized
  infrastructure development
• Services and support not fully available during
  development
• Predicting long term costs associated with
  maintenance and storage of digital objects

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• LDI
• http//hul.harvard.edu/ldi
• HOLLIS portal
• http//lib.harvard.edu/
• Wendy Gogel
• wendy_gogel_at_harvard.edu