2014 sla conference - bringing parks to the people - vinson
DESCRIPTION
PowerPoint presentation prepared by Chris Vinson for the "Bringing Parks to the People" session as the 2014 SLA Conference in Vancouver, BC.TRANSCRIPT
Parks for PeopleChristopher Vinson, MLIS
Clemson University Libraries
FUNDING & PARTNERS
Introduction
Thank youNPS, Southeast Region
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Global Tiger Initiative
THE TEAMIntroduction
Elizabeth BaldwinAssociate Professor, Parks and Conservation Management
Scott Hammel Computer Systems and Operations
Autumn-Lynn Harrison Postdoctoral Research Associate
Joshua MorganDigital Projects Manager
Sandeep SharmaPostdoctoral Research Associate
Chris VinsonHead of Library Technology
David WhiteEnvironmental Informatics
Rachel WittmannNational Parks Metadata Specialist
Brett WrightChair, Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management
Ph.D. StudentsBernard Kitheka Carla MoraAgnes Sirima Dustin Wilson
CU AdvisorsRob BaldwinJim BottumVernon BurtonMathew CookJill GemmillPat LaytonJeff HalloGary MachlisFran MainellaRobert Powell
MISSIONIntroduction
Solutions for ParksThe Open Parks Network (OPN) serves the global parks community by providing information, tools, and solutions to support the stewardship of the natural and cultural assets of protected areas.
ServiceStewardshipTechnologySolutions
What does OPN provide?
Information Discovery
and Dissemination
Training and Capacity Building
Conservation Planning Tools
Communication and Collaboration
Tools
The Repository
WHAT IS IT?repository
re·pos·i·to·ry (n.)A place where a large amount of something is stored
Our repository is…
An online database of images, videos, audio clips, documents, and other digital media
• Publicly accessible
• Searchable
• Downloadable files
• Include a variety of sources
WHAT’S IN IT?repository
Mostly original digitized material
• 318,247 archival objects
• 6,914 bound documents
• 1,452,057 pages
• 7,628 foldouts
Archival content…
• Still images from photos, negatives, slides, scrapbooks (100,849)
• Aerial photographs (14,763)
• Documents and manuscripts (42,551)
• Maps (10,782)
• Stereographs (3,776)
• Newspapers (1,066)
• Plant specimens (639)
• Glass plate negatives (347)
Bound documents…
• Historic Structure Reports
• Annual and Monthly Superintendents Reports
• Land Management Plans
• Environmental Studies
• Water Quality Data
• Conference Proceedings
• Interpretive Literature
• Natural History Handbooks
Other sources…
We do or plan to pull in material from the following: • Internet Archive
(Biodiversity Heritage Lib., Smithsonian)
• Global Tiger Initiative documents
• NPS repositories: Focus, History e-Library, IRMA
WHO CONTRIBUTES CONTENT?repository
Mostly the Southeast Region!• Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHP (139,007)
• Great Smoky Mountains NP (34,260)
• Mammoth Cave NP (12,952)
• Carl Sandburg Home NHS (18,434)
• Kings Mountain NMP (10,133)
• Fort Sumter NM (7,772)
• Congaree NP (7,322)
• SERO Archives (5,304)
• Andersonville NHS (4,763)
• Cowpens NB (3,053)
• Blue Ridge Parkway (1,661)
• Outer Banks Group (1,092)
• Castillo de San Marcos NM (282)
• Timucuan E&HP (495)
• Vicksburg NMP (116)
• Additional bound documents from:
• Everglades NP• Tuskeegee NHS• Cumberland Island NS• Overmountain Victory Trail
…and some other placesNPS outside Southeast
• Yellowstone NP (3,622)
• Denver Service Center (526)
• WASO (4,042)
• Bound documents from:
• Yosemite National Park• Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks• Harpers Ferry Center• Intermountain Region Museum• Saguaro National Park
Beyond NPS
• South Carolina SP (19,581)
• North Carolina SP (23,503)
• Clemson University (15,480)
• Bound documents from:
• University of Georgia• Winthrop University• Furman University• USGS
Major SERO projects so far
Just a small sample:
• Great Smoky Mountains NP Negatives
• Fort Sumter NM, Major Brooks’ Diary on the Siege of Charleston
• Mammoth Cave NP Nitrate Negatives
• Congaree NP Slides
• Blue Ridge Parkway Maps
• Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHP, Lincoln Farm Association Donor Card Collection (more on this one later!)
36 PARTNERS IN ALL
AND STILL COUNTING…
DIGITIZE ALL THAT MATERIAL?how do we
Material brought to our facility in Clemson
• Shipped by park
• Picked up by Clemson
• Dropped off by park
Clemson Digital Imaging LabOpened February 2012
Student techs process & scan materials
Our student workers have extensive training in handling special materials and image capture techniques
• Inventory
• Capture basic metadata (descriptions)
• Scan using equipment that best fits material type
• They are VERY productive:
• 11,000 images/month
• 500/day per student
More students!
Our equipment
Planetary book cradle vacuum easel & phase/one camera
More equipment…Flatbed scanners
Used for photographs, documents, slides, negatives
We also outsource material…
…and hope to do more on-site scanning projects
• Pilot project last fall with Vicksburg NMP
• Scanned fragile glass-plate negatives & aging photographs
• Pilot project this spring with Harpers Ferry NHS
• Want to include other SERO sites in on-site scanning
WHAT IS METADATA?i mentioned metadata earlier…
meta·da·ta (n.)Data about data.
Say that again?
Purpose:
• Identification: description of content, format, or attributes of an item
• Retrieval: allows for searching & browsing of digital items
Formatting & Standards:
• Consistent format metadata fields and use controlled vocabularies allows for interoperability with other repositories & platforms (Digital Public Library of America)
OPN & Metadata
• OPN digitizes materials from NPS Units
• Where does metadata come from?
• Collaboration between OPN & NPS Units
• Park held materials:
• Captions written on envelopes • Finding Aids• Internal databases or reports
• Hired National Parks Metadata Specialist in September 2013
We can put an object onlineonce it has been scanned AND described with a metadata record—lots of groundwork to be done!
Discussion