this report, Abby Smith synthesizes the nearly 10 years' experience that libraries have had digitizing items from their rare, special, and general collections, and making them available online. The learning she uncovers is distilled in and extended by several case studies conducted in leading digital libraries with very different digitization programs. Smith demonstrates that digitization programs work best where their role within a library's collection development strategy is clearly understood, and she identifies several roles v Daniel Greenstein Director, Digital Library Federation that such programs can play. Smith also asks a number of searching questions. She muses about the extent to which digitally reformatted special and rare collections can actually support scholarly research. Probing further, she wonders whether leading research libraries in particular might more usefully focus on digitizing general as opposed to special and rare collections. In this way, they would make important holdings available in new ways while taking a first step in avoiding costs associated with their redundant management. The report is consequently much more than a strategic guide for individual institutions; it is a route map that points important directions for the library community as a whole. vi Acknowledgments This report would not have been possible without the cooperation of the six libraries that opened their doors to me, invited my direct questions, and answered them frankly and with great thoughtfulness. I thank the library directors and their staff at Cornell University, the New-York Historical Society, The New York Public Library, New York University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Virginia. I profited from their time, attention, and careful revie...
VAN EyCK (Visual Arts Network for the Exchange of Cultural Knowledge) is an online subscription database for the visual and applied arts. VAN EyCK intends to be a primary research resource for professionals involved in the arts: art historians/ researchers, museum professionals, auctioneers and art dealers. VAN EyCK contains almost 390,000 records, though it should be noted that 240,000 of these records are currently text based artist records, with 70,000 art object text records and 80,000 images. Van EyCK claims that the current focus on western art will expand in scope over time with an annual addition of 50,000. It is hoped that peer institutions will both subscribe to VAN EyCK and add images from their own collections to its database.
This paper is a case study of metadata development in the early stages of the National Digital Newspaper Program, a twenty-year digital initiative to expand access to historical newspapers in support of research and education. Some of the issues involved in newspaper metadata are examined, and a new XML-based standard is described that is suited to the large volume of data, while remaining flexible into the future.
The rapid growth and distribution of scholarly research in the middle and late twentieth century, the limited supply of old books and other paper-based materials, and the deterioration of items printed on acidic paper since the mid-1800s have meant that many libraries lack suitable copies of printed sources that their users would like to read. For some time, libraries have converted books, journals, and newspapers to forms that are more stable, easier and cheaper to copy, and more compact. The most important such form has been microfilm, which is considered a safe, durable, and inexpensive preservation option. Digital imagery is now seen as a viable alternative that offers long-term promise, and is rapidly becoming more accessible to libraries. This report compares digital and microform imagery and emphasizes that making either kind of copy is preferable to leaving acidic paper to decay. Topics addressed include: (1) preservation alternatives, including chemical deacidification, microform, digital imagery, and ASCII (non-image); (2) storage considerations--i.e., magnetic disk, optical WORM (write-once-read-many) disk, digital videotape, digital audiotape, conventional magnetic tape, CD-ROM, magnetic-optical erasable disk, and digital paper; (3) conversion considerations; and (4) transmission considerations. It is concluded that, because microfilm to digital image conversion is going to be relatively straightforward, and the primary cost of either microfilming or digital scanning is in selecting the book, handling it, and turning the pages, librarians should use either method as they can manage, expecting to convert to digital form over the next decade. (SD)
Newspapers have always presented a challenge to those wishing to ensure their ongoing survival. Designed for impermanence, newspapers require active management if their content is to endure. For many years, Australian libraries have relied on copying newspapers to microfilm to ensure their long‐term survival. But with developments in digitisation and the associated possibilities for providing enhanced access, microfilm is now being challenged as the pre‐eminent preservation medium. Australian libraries are exploring the role digitisation might play in preserving access to newspapers and under what circumstnces a digital version might be preferred to a microfilm one. This article describes recent investigations from the Australian Newspapers Plan (ANPLAN).
The project of the Archivo General de Indias (AGI) in Seville, Spain has digitized more than 11 million of its pages of documents relating to Spanish history in the New World. This report illustrates the experience of the AGI, and the range of decisions that managers have faced throughout the project. Following an introduction and background information, the report focuses on the following: project objectives of Stage I (1986-1992) and Stage II (1993-present); general system architecture; information and reference subsystem; digital image storage system; technical aspects; and new prospects for long-distance access. In a concluding section, the multidirectional progress, project costs and results, and final observations are outlined. Appendices include an analysis of conservation results, analysis of consultation results, analysis of results of "supplemental" digitization of documents from other archives, and figures for costs and production. A bibliography is also included. (AEF)
The Commission on Preservation and Access has published a number of reports on the preservation and access implications of scanning text and microfilm. This report focuses on what sets the digitization of visual collections apart from other scanning projects. Projects to digitize visual collections present their own unique set of questions and concerns, as well as issues that overlap with digital capture of text. The report provides basic suggestions about planning digitization projects, practical guidelines for working with images, and some final thoughts about the future systems and infrastructure needed to provide collections of images over the long-term. To use digitization as a tool to provide worthwhile, enduring access to treasured cultural and historical resources, one must become informed, establish guidelines, and proceed in rational, measured steps to assure that such reformatting of visual matter is accomplished as well and as cost-effectively as possible. The paper includes the following sections: (1) Introduction (Digital Images as a Reproduction Medium and Of Letters, Lines and Images: Reproductions in Print Publications); (2) The Original Object and Its Reproduction; (3) A Framework for Assessing Image Quality; (4) Color Matching for Image Collections (Color Management, Transformation and Image Output and Controlling Images in Distribution Environments); (5) Documentation and the Integration of Image and Text (Production and Management Documentation); (6) Building Image Collections; and (7) Image Access and User Environments (Rights To Image Collections, Electronic Publications and Use of Visual Materials, and How Will Collections of Digital Images Be Created?). (Contains 45 references.) (SWC)
Argues that the quality of information provided to scholars by microform sets of manuscript collections, as compared to original manuscripts and critical editions, does not justify the expansion of research libraries' collection boundaries and fiscal responsibilities to include such materials. (CLB)
Report on characteristics of different kinds of microfilm available indicates proper film for specific needs. Silver halide and nonsilver films, diazo film, vesicular film, reaction of films to light, effect of heat and humidity on films, film susceptibility to scratching, and potential longevity of film types are covered. (35 references) (EJS)
Illustrates the importance of following the advice in the American Library Association's "Preservation Microfilming" guide and maintains that in library and archive-preservation microfilming, 100% inspection should be conducted on every completed film. Discusses inspection criteria and examining what is and was being filmed and what is being measured. (AEF)
Describes historical background of "Register"--main entry microfiche catalog of New York Public Library master negatives of monographs--and bibliographic problems of compiling catalog whose entries have been prepared according to differing cataloging rules; methodology used to produce fiches; means by which "Register" can be accessed. Eight references are cited. (EJS)
For the last 20 years, my work has been linked directly to microform production. During those 20 years I have spent the majority of my work time repairing or trying to repair some permutation of a Kodak MRD microfilm camera. At this stage of my career it gives me great pleasure to review what I consider to be the next generation state-of-the-art preservation microfilm camera.
The literature comparing microfilm to CD-ROM or digital formats is growing, but typically considers the physical aspects of mass storage and durability. This study comparing three versions of The Times of London and its indexes -focuses instead on the researcher's ability to navigate various formats. Several examples of typical searches are included as illustrative comparisons
Recent developments impacting the acquisitions of government publications are related. An acquisitions guide incorporating sources resulting from these developments is included.
For almost 50 years IDC Publishers has been publishing primary sources on analog carriers, thus combining access possibilities with the preservation of often vulnerable sources. The fact that access to online resources is much more convenient compared to analog sources will need no further clarification. As a result IDC is focusing increasingly on online access to existing and new publications. Online resources such as Art Sales Catalogues Online and COMINTERN Online are examples of dedicated services offering access to a specific resource containing millions of pages. In the last quarter of 2005 IDC will launch its new platform for online access to relatively small sets of titles. Through this platform, each library can put together its own collection of titles that is online accessible.
In the year 2000, the directors of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology decided to add moving images to their Library of Natural Sounds. By that time, the sound library had been building for more than 70 years and had become the world's largest archive of animal sounds. The decision to add video and film to the world-renowned audio archive expanded the mission of the Library toward the archival of animal behavior recordings writ large. The new multimedia archive was renamed the Macaulay Library, after our principal patrons Linda and William Macaulay, and was re-branded as a medium-agnostic resource for zoological natural history recordings.
Digital imaging has greatly enhanced how libraries and archives achieve their stated goals, whether it is for public or higher education. The double-barreled benefit of increased access to rare, fragile or special collections via the internet, and reduced handling of such collections by using electronic surrogates, has proven too alluring for most institutions to resist. The interest in digital imaging has been fueled by funding from both private and public funds that have been increasingly available over the past 5 years for digital library projects. The Library of Congress/ Ameritech National Digital Library Competition awarded grants from 1996-99, and did an excellent job of introducing many libraries and archives into the intricacies of digital conversion. Along with the CLIR-supported Digital Library Federation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has also been active in supporting and encouraging cooperative projects in the field. More recently, both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities have awarded digital conversion grants, and the National Science Foundation has partnered with the Library of Congress to encourage initiatives using digital libraries as a platform for research. So, clearly, the momentum is there to begin production-scale digital conversion. But there are many difficult decisions that have to be made along the road to establishing a successful digital library program. Once institutions get involved with digital capture, they find it can be a complex and daunting process. Crucial decisions have to be made in selection, benchmarking, quality control, metadata schema, systems infrastructure, web site design, and digital preservation. These determinations often require a re-thinking and re-tooling of many areas of a library's established mode of operation, including cataloging, conservation and preservation, copyrights and permissions, systems infrastructure, and personnel.
Microform holdings of libraries are increasing each year. The average American research library has between 20 percent and 25 percent of its holdings in microform. Dr. Reichmann discusses the need for bibliographic control of microforms and some of the work completed to date on this problem.
This paper, first presented at the “Conservation in Archives” Symposium, National Archives of Canada, May, 1988, was published in the Abbey Newsletter 12(5), July 1988, and is reprinted here with permission.
Publishing books simultaneously on microfiche has recently been adopted by several University Presses. Butterworth & Co., a leading British legal, medical and scientific publisher has considered using this concept. The following is a report of Butterworth's findings from an extensive survey of 2,612 university librarians all over the world.
Decisions prises par la Societe Human Relations Area Files lors du transfert de certaines de ses collections de textes sur la vie des groupes culturels de la microforme au CD-ROM, concernant la saisie, l'affichage et l'acces, celui-ci etant base sur l'index-matiere OCM (Outline of Cultural Materials)
Metaphoriquement, l'usage d'un nouveau support de stockage de l'information se fait selon l'ancien. L'auteur regarde ce comportement d'ordre mental et social, en faisant un retour sur l'histoire du papier et sur l'evolution des techniques du memorisation de l'information qui montre, en particulier, la persistance encore actuelle, de la metaphore de la carte de fichier
As an educational experience, one of the most unique features of the project is made possible by the cooperation between a museum and a university. Students digitize objects from the museum collection and build an image database available on the Web. The experience includes the use of videoconference technologies to enhance collaboration between the museum and the university. Students communicate with the museum staff, work on images and database information simultaneously, and share experiences immediately. The project may serve as a model for training professionals in the creation, use, and management of digital images. The advantages and disadvantages of collaboration between museums and universities are invertigated. In addition, the project assesses the impact on users resulting from improved access to a museum collection through the Web.
One of the first projects of the State and Local Documents Task Force, a unit of ALA/GODORT (Government Documents Round Table), was to assemble a “Documents on Documents” collection. Now ten years old and about to be widely distributed through the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) system, the collection consists of diverse materials—legislative papers, informational brochures, administrative manuals, library forms, labels, shipping lists, questionnaires, etc. - —used in the administration of state documents depository programs. After reviewing its history, the author describes both the benefits and the problems of converting the collection to microfiche format.
To members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), establishing one's genealogy is an important part of his or her religion. As a result, the church has established a Genealogical Department which is responsible for 1.4 million feet of microfilmed birth, marriage, and death records. Here, the author traces the origins of the Genealogical Department, as well as the manner in which the staff has developed cameras, lenses, and other equipment which fit their particular needs.
L'article examine quelles difficultes furent rencontrees par JJT, Inc. (Etats-Unis) lors du developpement et de la mise en place d'un systeme integre de numerisation d'images pour le compte de la Bibliotheque du Congres, et comment ces difficultes furent resolues. Ce systeme permet d'optimiser le processus de numerisation en liberant les techniciens des tâches realisables par ordinateur. Les problemes rencontres sont regroupes en 7 categories : bruit introduit durant la correction tonale ; resolution ; reproduction de la distribution tonale ; creation de conditions communes de visionnage ; anomalies et artefacts ; logiciel de traitement des images ; productivite.
La Bibliotheque Publique de New York a un tres gros fonds sur la Premiere Guerre Mondiale, compose de bibliographies, monographies, periodiques, documents de regiment, brochures, photographies et affiches. Apres etude elle a mene un programme de conservation: microfilmage des documents fragiles, mise en coffret des documents originaux et amelioration de l'acces grâce au catalogage selon la regle AACR2 et en format MARC et le chargement des references obtenues dans les bases RLIN et OCLC
Pat Flowers is a Reference Librarian at the Rivera Library, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521. Comments may also be addressed to her via Bitnet: [email protected]/* */ or Internet: [email protected]/* */
