Vermont Digital Newspaper Project:Starting a State Newspaper Digitization Program

Birdie MacLennan Project Director

University of Vermont

North American Serials Interest Group27th Annual Conference

Nashville, TennesseeJune 8, 2012

Tom McMurdoProject Librarian

University of Vermont

Vermont Digital Newspaper Project:Starting a State Newspaper Digitization Program

Birdie MacLennan Project Director

University of Vermont

Nashville, TennesseeJune 8, 2012

• Background• Project Framework• Partnerships• Infrastructure• Implementation

Vermont Digital Newspaper Projecta state partner in the

National Digital Newspaper Program

State Projects

a partnership between the The National Endowment for the Humanities & The Library of

Congress

http://www.loc.gov/ndnp/

A long-term, national effort to develop a freely-accessible, Internet-based, searchable database of U.S. newspapers

with descriptive information and select digitization of historical titles chosen and digitized by NEH-funded

institutions from all U.S. states and territories.

National Digital Newspaper Programand

Vermont Digital Newspaper ProjectBuild on efforts of the US Newspaper Program (1982-2007)

and the Vermont Newspaper Project (1996-2001)

to locate, catalog & preserve on microfilm “at risk” newspapers from the 18th century to the present

http://www.loc.gov/ndnp/

National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP)• NEH offers two-year awards to

states to select and digitize historically significant titles published between 1836 and 1922.

• Library of Congress provides technical support & guidelines.

• Newspaper content aggregated and permanently maintained by the Library of Congress on Chronicling America website.

VT

• Vermont awarded funding in June 2010; the 25th state – 1st in New England - to join the NDNP.

• Phase I: June 2010 – August 31, 2012 (2 years)

• Statewide collaboration to select, digitize, and make available to the Library of Congress 100,000 pages of Vermont newspapers published between 1836 and 1922 from microfilm collections in Vermont.

• Content hosted on Chronicling America website at the Library of Congress; freely available (see: Vermont list )

Scope: Vermont Digital Newspaper Project

4.8 million pages, May 2012.

Vermont Digital Newspaper ProjectPartnerships / Collaboration

Ilsley Public Library, Middlebury proposal research & development

Department of Libraries, Montpelier State Library, central newspaper repository, proposal r&d, USNP partner

Vermont Historical Society, Barre, Montpelier – Advisory, USNP partner

University of Vermont, Burlington project home base, proposal r&d, digital infrastructure, state newspaper database, USNP partner

NH

11Project Planning Group

Core Member Institutions- Diverse state engagement

Vermont Digital Newspaper ProjectPartnerships / Collaboration

• Project Planning Group (6 members) • State-wide Advisory Committee (12 members) -

archivists, librarians, journalists, historians, researchers - applies selection criteria for digitization:

- Papers “of record” - Research value (representative of history) - Geographical coverage - Extended run - Availability & quality of master microfilm negatives • Promotion, Outreach, Educational component

NDNP Application PreparationStart-up / Planning

• Summer 2009 – Research, Planning- NDNP requirements- Title availability / Microfilm- Infrastructure / Support

• Fall 2009 – Developing partnerships- Cohesive Planning Group

Lead institution / Host site University of Vermont

Cost-share commitments Department of Libraries Ilsley Public Library

- Advisory Committee (if funded …)

• November 2009 – Proposal submitted• June 2010 – Funding awarded

Allow sufficient lead

time to research:

(1) NDNP requirements,

(2) titles, availability of

microfilm masters, and

(3) cooperative

agreements

VTDNP To-Do List: NDNP DeliverablesIdentify master negatives / Collaborative title selection (with Advisory Committee)

Files for each original page or target on microfilm reels, including: TIFF, PDF, JPEG2000, OCR output (ALTO XML schema) and metadata files to conform to NDNP guidelines. Title essays (500 words)

Technical analysis of microfilm (reduction ratio, skew, density, duplicate pages, targets, sequencing, etc.) & Metadata collation (frame-by-frame or page-by-page inspection of microfilm)

Cataloging record updates in CONSER/OCLC databases and provision of links to digital content. Updates to local libraries records and VT Newspaper Project database.

VTDNP Start-up, Communication• July 2010 – Accounting infrastructure established

• August 2010 – National search launched for Project Librarian

• Sept. 2010 – Project communication tool established using Basecamp Project Management software

Basecamp features:- Messaging - File-sharing- Calendar- To-do lists, etc. - New projects, as needed

Fall 2010 … Project Management Group

• Advisory Committee Briefing Book (based on Minnesota model)

- Project information / scope - Title selection criteria (NDNP guidelines)

- Vermont historical timelines/events - Articulation of outreach/educational goals beyond selection

VTDNP Title Selection - Vendor Selection

• Title list analysis - 500+ titles (VTNP/USNP local database) - breakdowns by county - analysis of holdings (completeness of copy)

- inquiries for master negatives

• Request for Proposals (RFP) for Digitization Provider

Jan 2011 – Project Librarian, Tom McMurdo, joins VTDNP

Feb-Mar 2011 – List of master negatives obtained from VSARA - Vermont State Archives & Record Administration (held by: Department of Libraries)

Cross-referenced with titles and holdings from

(spreadsheet of titles identified w/in scope of grant proposal)

Reel and page count estimates

Identification of 59 titles/title families from all of Vermont’s 14 counties); ~a million pages!

Montpelier –preservation microfilm collections

VTDNP Title Selection

Convergence: Title Selection,Digitization Vendor Evaluation (RFP)

Lead time needed for frame-by-frame microfilm inspection and metadata collation

Jan-Feb 2011 – Advisory Committee corresponds on Basecamp

Face-to-face meeting postponed due to snow Project historian / Vermont history librarian shares preliminary title research from master list

Ranking form distributed

Production starts… Sample reel sent to vendors to convert for RFP response. two major titles with lengthy runs selected for production queue (available from State Archives)

Feb-Mar 2011 – Project Management Group identifies 1 sample title on a compact reel (USNP film)

Title Ranking Form - Excel sheet/ranking form for Advisory Committee – includes NDNP selection criteria (based on Pennsylvania template)

• Advisory Committee Selections: 12 titles from 10 (of 14) counties

• Positive working relationships Generated state-wide energy & enthusiasm for project Contact with Vermont and New England Press AssociationsPotential for further outreach (historians, genealogists, schools)

Convergence: Production Ramp-up

• Digitization vendors evaluated; selection made: iArchives

3 Catalogers/Metadata Professionals engaged to launch production (.3 FTE)

Digital Support Specialist hired (half-time)

Production goal:

10,000 pages /month

VTDNP Space & EquipmentMicrofilm Inspection

- Densitometer- Light table- Microscope- Film loup- White gloves- Some paper-to-microfilm

conversion?

Lab set-upTom McMurdo inspects master negatives.

. Microfilming preparation.

VTDNP Space & EquipmentDigital Preparation / Metadata Collation

- Dell workstation- 24” monitor- Microfilm reader (ScanPro 2000)- 1 TB Hard Drives (Western Digital) - Shipping cases (Pelican –durable)- Project Back-up storage (6 TB)

VTDNP Title List

12 title families in 10 of Vermont’s 14 counties

Title Selections19th century bannners

First title / Sample reel …

Finding newspaper contenthttp://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

The day book (Chicago, Ill.), Apr. 2, 1912

Some search

results

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84023255/issues/

Catalog record updates! (OCLC - CONSER, VTDNP database, local state catalogs)

http://vtnp.uvm.edu/

“The only historical remains in the United States are the newspapers: If a number be wanting, the chain of time is broken and the present is severed from the past.”

-- Alexis de Tocqueville Democracy in America

Press innovation

Thanks for

watching!