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Dennis MeissnerMinnesota Historical Society
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ThesisThesisOur preeminent access and public service mission is compromised by our chronic inability to function at a meaningful scale
Special Collections holdings, as well as archives
A legacy of missed opportunities:Audience engagement and impactDigitizationDiscovery and delivery in webspace, at webscale
MPLP approaches , broadly construed, have potential
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MPLP findingsMPLP findingsProcessing benchmarks and practices are inappropriate to deal with problems posed by large contemporary collections
Ideal vs. the necessary
Fixation on item-level tasks
Preservation anxieties trump user needs
We achieve only a fraction of our productive potential
Our processing actions contradict our managerial self image
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Old processing modelOld processing model
Process driven
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Old processing modelOld processing model
Process drivenResource insensitive
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Old processing modelOld processing model
Process drivenResource insensitiveArtisan quality
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Old processing modelOld processing model
Process drivenResource insensitiveArtisan qualityHigh unit cost
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Old processing modelOld processing model
Process drivenResource insensitiveArtisan qualityHigh unit costLengthy turnaround
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Old processing modelOld processing model
Process drivenResource insensitiveArtisan qualityHigh unit costLengthy turnaroundStable resources
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New processing modelNew processing model
Audience driven
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New processing modelNew processing model
Audience drivenResource sensitive
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New processing modelNew processing model
Audience drivenResource sensitiveProduction quality
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New processing modelNew processing model
Audience drivenResource sensitiveProduction qualityLow unit cost
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New processing modelNew processing model
Audience drivenResource sensitiveProduction qualityLow unit costRapid turnaround
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New processing modelNew processing model
Audience drivenResource sensitiveProduction qualityLow unit costRapid turnaroundUncertain resources
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What MPLP really isWhat MPLP really isStern advice about resource management
Prioritizing goalsAchieving high-level program objectivesMaximizing cost-effectivenessPractical approaches, not millenial onesA profound change in approach and perspective
Making use the preeminent objective
Throwing away the cookie cuttersOpenness to archival innovationInstitutional practice limited only by resources
Extensible to non-archival collections and formats
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What can MPLP mean for Special What can MPLP mean for Special Collections?Collections?
Flexible approach to leveraging our collective ability to provide access to research collections
Extensible to deal with novel problem spaces
Brevity in resource description is positive benefit in networked environments
Economical approaches are driving innovations in practice: Description; archival approaches; digitization
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Elements of extensibilityElements of extensibility
Taking archival approaches to non-archival materials
Seeing “items” as collections
Adapting EAD finding aids
Using finding aids as discovery and delivery platforms
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Early ImplementersEarly Implementers
University of Alaska—Fairbanks
Anne Foster [email protected]
Series level processing of extensive photographs
Lets use drive more intensive processing
Involves donor in processing continuum
Solicits $$ donations from donors for more processing
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Early ImplementersEarly ImplementersUniversity of Wisconsin—Oshkosh
Joshua Ranger [email protected]
Series level processing of digitized collections
High-speed bi-tonal scanning of photocopied collection materials
The perfect is the enemy of the good
Move metadata level from item to folder level
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Minnesota Historical SocietyMinnesota Historical Society
Walter Mondale Papers
NEH “We the People” Project
High productivity + high-value products
http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00697.xml
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Mondale Papers finding aidMondale Papers finding aid
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Mondale Papers finding aidMondale Papers finding aid
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Minnesota Historical SocietyMinnesota Historical SocietyWalter Mondale Papers
NEH “We the People” ProjectHigh productivity + high-value products
Rethinking items as collectionsPhotographs (albums and loose images, as well)Sheet musicBound publicationsMapsOral historiesAudio and moving image materialsDigitizing collections at scale
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Photograph collectionsPhotograph collections
http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/sv000057.xml
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Sheet music collectionsSheet music collections
http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/sv000057.xml
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Telephone directoriesTelephone directories
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Minnesota Historical SocietyMinnesota Historical SocietyWalter Mondale Papers
NEH “We the People” ProjectHigh productivity + high-value products
Rethinking items as collectionsPhotographs (albums and loose images, as well)Sheet musicBound publicationsMapsOral historiesAudio and moving image materialsDigitizing collections at scale
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WhyWhy should we digitize? should we digitize?
Expose collection materials to users, 24-7-365
Not for preservation (we already have the originals)
Create bigger audience impacts
Harness the power of Zipf’s Law
Implement user choices: Scan on Demand
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How How should we digitize?should we digitize?PDFs: low-cost digital carriersPDFs: low-cost digital carriers
http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00744.xml
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The (im)Perfect PDFThe (im)Perfect PDFPerfection—the leading cause of program death
Scan with flatbed, camera, or photocopier
As fast as possible (whatever works)
JPEG quality (300 ppi max)
Bundle images into a single PDF
OCR, if it can be done cheaply
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The (im)Perfect PDFThe (im)Perfect PDFThrow away the JPEGs! (no preservation value)
Create strong filenames
No added descriptive metadata (inherit from context)
Archival finding aids carry metadata, discovery, and access burden
RLG’s Scan on Demand white paper: http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2011/2011-05.pdf
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PDFs: low-cost digital carriersPDFs: low-cost digital carriers
http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00744.xml
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PDFs: low-cost digital carriersPDFs: low-cost digital carriers
http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00744.xml
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“The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The next best time is now.”
--African proverb quoted by economist Dambisa Moyo