Getting Started with Digital Collections

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Getting Started Getting Started With the
Digital Commonwealth with the
Getting Started with the Digital Commonwealth
Kristi Chadwick Alix
Quan Vice-President/President-Elect

Secretary Digital Commonwealth
Digital
Commonwealth C/W MARS
State Library of
Massachusetts
Robin L. Dale Director of Digital Preservation
Services LYRASIS
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Digital Commonwealth Is

• An organization designed to bring together
  digital collections held in cultural heritage
  organizations throughout Massachusetts through a
  single point of entry we are building a
  cultural commons.
• A volunteer group of librarians, archivists, and
  other people wanting to share their knowledge and
  enthusiasm about digital collections and assist
  other organizations in providing the same.

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Digital Commonwealth Is

• A Portal
• contains only the metadata that enables the
  discovery of the digital objects it does not
  contain the actual digital objects. 
• A Repository
• stores and maintains all the components of a
  digital collection (including both metadata and
  digital objects) according to a framework of
  policies and standards.  By means of its
  technological infrastructure, the repository
  provides access to the digital content.

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Current Participants

• Portal contributors
• Boston College
• Central and Western MA Automated Resource Sharing
  (C/W MARS)
• Massachusetts Historical Society
• North of Boston Library Exchange (NOBLE)
• Northeastern University
• Sturgis Library
• UMass Amherst
• UMass Lowell
• WGBH Educational Foundation

• Portal Repository contributors
• Brookline Public Library
• The Governor's Academy, Pescosolido Library
• Jewish Womens Archive
• Newton Free Public Library
• Northeast Massachusetts Regional Library System
• Watertown Free Public Library

as of April 2011
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Participation Harvested or Linked Site

• Digital Commonwealth will harvest your metadata
  for inclusion in the portal.
• Metadata must be in an OAI-PMH compliant system
  OR
• An OAI static repository document must be created
  and hosted on a web server to enable harvesting
• Digital Commonwealth will add a link on our
  portal to your online digital collection.
• Included in your annual membership fee

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Portal Queries

• Results from harvested sites will link to
  websites that the collections originate from.
• Results from sites within the repository will
  stay on the Digital Commonwealth site.

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Portal
http//www.digitalcommonwealth.org/
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Portal Queries
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Portal Queries (cont.)
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Repository
http//repository.digitalcommonwealth.org/
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Understanding the DC Repository

• Hierarchy
• Institutions
• Collections
• Objects

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Institutions
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Collections
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Objects (Items)
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Objects (Items)
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Getting Started

• 1. Collections
• 2. Funding
• 3. Digitize Your Materials
• 4.Create Your Metadata
• 5. Access

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Step One Collections

• Determine potential items / collections for
  digitization
• Think about existing collections
• What do you have that is important?
• Important to your organization
• Important to your community
• Important outside the Commonwealth
• Put it in writing!

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Collections

• Should it be digitized?
• Can it be digitized?
• May it be digitized?
• Who can host it?
• What system will be used?

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Step Two Funding

• Resources
• Available Budget
• Collaboration with other organizations
• Interns/Volunteers
• Grants
• Institute of Museum and Library Services
  (imls.gov)
• Digital Commonwealth Wilson Grants
• National Endowment for the Humanities
• (neh.gov)

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Step Three Digitize Materials

• Establish Quality Benchmarks
• File Formats
• Metadata
• Archiving
• Digitizing In-house or Vendor?
• Costs
• Skills

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Digital Commonwealth Requirements
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Digitization Vendors

• LYRASIS Mass Digitization Collaborative
• Northeast Document Conservation Center
• Luna Imaging
• Digital Ark
• Backstage Library Works
• Hudson Microimaging
• Boston Photo Imaging

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Step Four Metadata
http//siliconangle.com/
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Metadata Types

• Descriptive
• What is it?
• Where is it?
• What is it about?
• Structural
• How many files are there?
• Which file is on page one?
• Administrative
• What do I need to know to manage it?
• Who can access it?
• What needs to be preserved?
• Technical
• What is the resolution of the image?
• What compression format was used?

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Metadata Standards

• Metadata format standards
• XML
• Metadata element sets
• MARC, MODS, DC, EAD, TEI, ONIX
• Metadata content standards
• AACR/RDA, DACS, CCO
• Transmission standards and protocols
• OAI
• Controlled vocabularies / Thesauri
• LCSH, Getty Art and Architecture

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Dublin Corea.k.a. - DC

• A method of describing resources intended to
  facilitate the discovery of electronic resources
• National and International standard
• ANSI/NISO standard Z39.85-2007
• ISO standard 15836-2003
• Includes 15 core elements
• Often used for collaborative projects

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Simple DC Elements

• Creator
• Contributor
• Publisher
• Type
• Format
• Coverage
• Source
• Identifier

• Title
• Subject
• Date
• Description
• Rights
• Relation
• Language

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OAI-PMH

• OAI Open Archives Initiative
• OAI Protocol or OAI PMH Open Archives
  Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting
• Archives ? Traditional Archives
• Open ? Free

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Step Five Access

• In-House or Hosted Repository Solutions
• Examples
• DigiTool (ExLibris)
• Content Pro (Innovative)
• CONTENTdm (OCLC)
• Omeka (OSS)
• Dspace (OSS)
• Greenstone (OSS)
• Digital Commonwealth (DSpace)

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IMLS National Study on the Use of Libraries,
Museums and the Internet (2008)
http//interconnectionsreport.org/
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IMLS National Study on the Use of Libraries,
Museums and the Internet (2008)
http//interconnectionsreport.org/
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Ready To Get Started?

• Contact Us!
• Website www.digitalcommonwealth.org
• Email digitalcommonwealth_at_gmail.com

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Questions?
Kristi Chadwick kchadwick_at_cwmars.org Digital
Commonwealth digitalcommonwealth_at_gmail.com