sharing your digital collection

Sharing Your Digital CollectionRose Fortier, Coordinator of Digital Programs, Marquette University

rose.fortier@marquette.eduAndrea Coffin, Community Liaison/Service Specialist, WiLS

acoffin@wils.org

South Wood County Historical Museum

http://content.mpl.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/swch/id/1229/

rec/232

Why digitize?• Connect to your

community• Reach new audiences• Improve access to

“invisible” materials• Protect fragile or heavily

used materials• Learn more about your

collections• Contribute to our

collective knowledge

What do you mean, digitize?

• Selecting materials• Reformatting materials

(scanning or photographing)• Adding metadata

(descriptive information)• Making available online• Storing and maintaining

digital files and data (digital preservation)

Wisconsin Historical SocietyMilwaukee Public Libraryhttp://content.mpl.org/u?/mcml,1319

Defining a digital collection

• A good digital collection…– Is publicly accessible– Is searchable - Includes keywords and other descriptive

information (metadata) so users can find what they’re looking for

– Uses software that is sustainable (will be around for a long time) and interoperable (can be migrated or shared)

– Remains true to the original materials– Respects intellectual property rights

Selecting materials

• Decisions to make– Digitize selections from a collection• Good for collections with like materials

– Digitize an entire collection• If it’s very large, how will the project be staged?

• Do you have the rights to put up the collection?– Physical ownership doesn’t translate to copyright

Digital reproduction

• Assess/choose the collection based on your digitizing capabilities

• Can it be done in-house– Where to outsource reproduction if not– Great area for fund-raising

• Make sure your images are being reproduced to current standards– NISO’s

A Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections

Image editing• How much image

editing should you engage in?– Two schools of

thought

Carroll University, Charles & Rufus King Digital Collectionshttp://content-dm.carrollu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/King/id/60http://content-dm.carrollu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/King/id/1707

Metadata

• Probably the most important step– Describes the object and adds access points– Allows users to find the item and to know what

they’re looking at• Metadata adds context and allows it to stand

on its own

Milwaukee Public Library, Horace Seaman Wisconsin Infantry Collectionhttp://content.mpl.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/horace

Keys to metadata

• Be consistent!!!– Use controlled vocabularies• Update and maintain the CVs

– Create a local style guide• We modeled ours after the one provided by

Recollection Wisconsin– Wisconsin Heritage Online Metadata Guidelines

Where do I start

• Most people start with image collections– Advantages and disadvantages to starting with

images• Get your feet wet– Start with a small, well-described collection

• Bring in enthusiastic staff members• Foster collaboration– Both within and without your institution

Collaborations

• Many tools exist– Google Drive for metadata entry

• Spreadsheet with Forms

• Social media– Collections on social media

• MPL has a Flickr photostream

– Soliciting metadata through library’s Facebook page• A type of crowd-sourcing

recollectionwisconsin.org provides free access to a growing set of state and local history resources from the collections of libraries, archives, museums and historical societies across Wisconsin.

South Wood County Historical Museum,Wisconsin Rapids

http://content.mpl.org/u?/swch,64

Recollection Wisconsin also provides guidelines, training and support to contributing partners and offers opportunities for visitors to share their own stories, images and comments.

UW-Madison Archiveshttp://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/

SSRecIDSearch?repl1=UW&repl2=UW.uwar00831.bib

Program sponsors and partners• WiLS• Milwaukee Public Library• University of Wisconsin-Madison• Wisconsin Historical Society• Nicholas Family Foundation• Academic libraries, public libraries, archives,

museums, and historical societies around the state

Wisconsin Historical Societyhttp://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/maps/id/248

Founded as Wisconsin Heritage Online in 2004– Original mission: “to inspire education and discovery by

making Wisconsin’s cultural heritage available to the public via the World Wide Web”

New name, Recollection Wisconsin, and new website launched in 2013– Addition to mission: “and provide opportunities for

audiences to discover personal connections to the past.”

Three Lakes Historical Societyhttp://content.mpl.org/u?/tlhs,88

February 2014: recollectionwisconsin.org includes:132,142 historical resources from 208 digital collections

…and more content is added every month.

McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapidshttp://content.mpl.org/u?/mcml,1319

• Apply Recollection Wisconsin standards and guidelines for digital imaging, metadata, and digital preservation

• Ensure that digitized resources are freely available to the public for personal, educational, informational, recreational and research use

• Ensure that digitized resources are in the public domain or cleared for public access

• Accept responsibility for preservation of digital master files

Contributing Partners are expected to . . .

Mount Horeb Public Libraryhttp://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/SSRecIDSearch?repl1=WI&repl2=WI.hitch0187.bib

– File naming– Digital preservation– Protecting your physical

collections– Metadata– Project promotion– Video tutorials on photo

scanning and assigning titles to historic photos

recollectionwisconsin.org/guidelines

– Project planning– Selecting materials– Copyright– Creating digital images

Woodville Community Libraryhttp://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/

SSRecIDSearch?repl1=WI&repl2=WI.indh0078.bib

Ways to participate– Add up to 50 items to the

Recollection Wisconsin Shared Collection in Omeka, recollectionwi.org/contribution

– Build a collection hosted in CONTENTdm by Milwaukee Public Library

– Build a collection using an OAI-compliant platform of your choice

– More info: recollectionwisconsin.org/organizations

Wisconsin Historical Societyhttp://collections.lib.uwm.edu/cdm/ref/collection/march/id/663

Recollection WI Shared Collection

• recollectionwi.org• Hosted in Omeka by WiLS• User-submitted content and small, first-time

collections from libraries and historical societies

• Submit content using form at recollectionwi.org/contribute

CONTENTdm

• Produced and distributed by OCLC• Hosted by Milwaukee Public Library through

Recollection Wisconsin• $200 one-time setup fee• Annual hosting fees starting at $75 for 500 items

• Hosted by OCLC• “Quick Start” version (up to 3,000 items) free for OCLC

FirstSearch Base Package subscribers

• Hosted on your own server

http://content.mpl.org/ashland

http://content.mpl.org/ashland

http://content.mpl.org/ashland

http://content.mpl.org/ashland

ResCarta Web

• Free and open source• Host it yourself; or hosting available through

Northern Micrographics (fee-based)• ResCarta Foundation – based in La Crosse• OAI-compliant (metadata can be harvested by

Recollection Wisconsin)• rescarta.org

http://www.ecpubliclibrary.info/research/general/history.html

http://www.ecpubliclibrary.info/research/general/history.html

http://www.ecpubliclibrary.info/research/general/history.html

Omeka

• Free and open source• Host it yourself; or subscribe to hosted

version, omeka.net• Developed by the Center for History and New

Media, George Mason University• OAI-compliant (metadata can be harvested by

Recollection Wisconsin)

http://uwoshkosh.omeka.net

http://uwoshkosh.omeka.net

http://uwoshkosh.omeka.net

Digital Public Library of Americadp.la

Bringing Wisconsin collections to a national stage

Digital Public Library of Americadp.la

“The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world. It strives to contain the full breadth of human expression, from the written word, to works of art and culture, to records of America’s heritage, to the efforts and data of science.”

• Conversations are underway to establish a “content hub” for DPLA in Wisconsin. Hubs are “the on-ramp to the DPLA” for local organizations.

• Minnesota Digital Library reported a 50% increase in digital collections use after joining the DPLA.

• DPLA Community Representatives in Wisconsin: Dorothea Salo, UW-Madison SLIS and Mark Merrifield, Nicolet Federated Library System

Other tools for online sharing

• Historypin• Flickr• Tumblr• Pinterest• Picasa• FacebookConsider these as ways to expand your reach, not your primary digital archive.

Milwaukee Public Libraryhttp://content.mpl.org/u?/HstoricPho,1302

Milwaukee County Historical Societyhttp://www.historypin.com/channels/view/42465

Milwaukee County Historical Societyhttp://www.historypin.com/channels/view/42465

Milwaukee County Historical Societyhttp://www.historypin.com/channels/view/42465

Lester Public Library, Two Riversflickr.com/photos/lesterpubliclibrary

wiscohisto.tumblr.com

For more information– Find out how your

organization can start a digital project at recollectionwisconsin.org/organizations

– Get in touch with Recollection Wisconsin at recollectionwisconsin.org/contact or emily@wils.org

McMillan Memorial Libraryhttp://content.mpl.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/mcml/id/178/rec/33

Thank You!

Mineral Point Historical Societyhttp://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/

singleitem/collection/mphs/id/3/rec/29