The document outlines a workshop agenda for preparing a digitization project at Wilson County Public Library, covering topics such as planning, copyright, digitization standards, metadata evaluation, and digital preservation. It emphasizes the importance of institutional and community support, evaluating materials for digitization, selecting appropriate equipment, and adhering to metadata standards and controlled vocabularies. Additionally, it provides resources and guidance for engaging with the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center and other digital publishing options.

1. Preparing for a Digitization Project Wilson County Public Library June 13, 2011 Nicholas Graham Lisa Gregory Audra Eagle Yun

2. Agenda Welcome and Introductions About Connecting to Collections 10:00 – 10:45 Planning for a Digital Project Selecting and Evaluating Materials Copyright 10:45 – 11:15 Digitization Equipment and Expertise Standards and Guidelines 11:15 – 12:00 Description Evaluating Metadata Needs Metadata Standards and Controlled Vocabularies Creating a Data Dictionary 12:00 – 1:00 Lunch 1:00 – 1:30 Digital Publishing Free and Cheap Options Open Source and Homegrown Options CONTENTdm

3. Agenda, continued 1:30 – 2:00 Digital Preservation Long-term Care for your Digital Files 2:00 – 2:30 North Carolina Digital Heritage Center Services Offered by the NC Digital Heritage Center How to Develop a Project with the Digital Heritage Center 2:30 – 3:00 Questions and Discussion

5. Planning for a Digital Project Essential Components of a Successful Project Institutional Support Community Support Support from Other Institutions Time, Energy, Curiosity, and Enthusiasm

6. Planning for a Digital Project Deciding What to Digitize What do you have that nobody else does? What’s the most difficult? What’s the easiest? What do you already have described?

7. Planning for a Digital Project Evaluating Your Materials Does your institution own the materials you’re planning to digitize? Are the materials in good enough condition to withstand digitization?

8. Planning for a Digital Project Copyright Are the materials in the public domain? Does your library own the rights to the materials? Have you received permission from the rights holder? Have you made an effort to locate the rights holder? What is your institution’s risk tolerance? Have a take-down policy.

9. Digitization

10. Digitization Equipment and Expertise Creating a project team Roles and responsibilities Managing staff and volunteers Creating a digital production station Creating your space Choosing hardware Choosing software

11. Equipment: Flatbed Scanner Used for anything small and flat, including Loose photos Postcards Manuscripts Currency Negatives often require special inserts and expertise Cheap and easy to operate Not as good for bound materials Digital Production Center, UNC-Chapel Hill

12. Equipment: Overhead Document Scanner Ideal for large manuscript collections Adjustable surface allows for good image capture from bound materials Fast and easy to operate Expensive Digital Production Center, UNC-Chapel Hill

13. Equipment: Book Scanner Designed specifically for mass digitization of monographs Very fast and effective Expensive to lease Outsourcing book digitization may be the best option for many organizations Digital Production Center, UNC-Chapel Hill

14. Equipment: Sheet-fed Scanner Great for loose, flat, small, and sturdy items (like catalog cards or loose papers) Extremely fast (hundreds of scans per minute) Not a good option for images, manuscripts, or any materials of varying size Digital Production Center, UNC-Chapel Hill

15. Equipment: Digital Camera Back and Vacuum Table Ideal for digitizing large and fragile flat items (great for maps) Requires a good amount of training and expertise to operate Expensive Digital Production Center, UNC-Chapel Hill

16. Digitization The Scanning Process Specifications Scan once, use many times LOCKSS See NC ECHO, NEDCC, and digitizationguidelines.gov Format and resolution Text -- Master: 200 dpi TIFF; Access: 200 dpi JPG; PDF Photos or Documents -- Master: 600 dpi TIFF; Access: 300 dpi JPG Maps or Drawings -- Master: 300 dpi TIFF; Access: 200-300 dpi JPG Video -- Master: AVI; Access: MPEG Audio -- Master: WAV; Access: MP3; WMA

17. Digitization The Scanning Process Organizing files Naming Storing Workflow Create project queue Track digital production Note metadata and other tasks

18. Metadata = Data about Data What is it for? What kinds? What should you do? Standards Controlled vocabularies Data dictionaries

19. Metadata ONLINE Vital that it’s… Shareable Interoperable Consistent Audience appropriate Appropriately complete Helps keep your digital content… Findable (by humans and machines) Manageable Authentic

20. Descriptive metadata Supports user tasks Describes and identifies the object or the content of an object Discovering/locating the object Closely aligned to MARC cataloging Examples Title, Author, Date of creation, Subject, Free text description/note MARC, Dublin Core, VRA Core

21. Supports management tasks Subcategories: technical - technical characteristics about the object preservation - actions that have been performed on the object and source, custody of the object, provenance rights - information about access and use of the object Examples File size, File name, Rights statement, Digital format Administrative metadata

22. Supports long-term management and access to object May not display in user interface Meta-metadata - information about the metadata itself; who created it, when, where it came from, when it was updated. Examples Bit depth, Checksum, File type, Owner, File creation date, Last modified date PREMIS, NC-PMDO Preservation metadata

23. Structural metadata Multi-part objects in the digital environment Replicates the physical structure E.g., Paging/chaptering in digital books when each page is an image Describes the relationships between related objects Examples Relationship, Page number, Chapter number, Total page numbers, File “order” TEI

24. What should YOU do? Consider your environment Decide on standards/controlled vocabularies Test them out on a few objects Create a data dictionary Describe, describe, describe

25. Consider your users Consider your users : Will they understand the terms in the CV you’ve selected to describe your collection?

26. Consider your community Consider your community : If other medical libraries are describing their collections with MeSH, maybe you should, too. Less confusing for users Makes your collections more interoperable

27. Consider your collection Consider the nature and extent of the collection now and in the future: If the collection is small and discreet, you may not need a huge, complicated CV to describe it Flickr user define23

28. Consider your metadaters Consider the skills and available time of your data creators : Will they understand the terms in the CV, or do you need a specialist to describe the materials? What do they know about: Neuropathy? Neuroscience? Mitochondrial Dysfunction? Sometimes, you’ve just got other fish to fry

29. Metadata Standards: Examples Name Focus Description DDI Archiving and Social Science Data Documentation Initiative is an international effort to establish a standard for technical documentation describing social science data. A membership-based Alliance is developing the DDI specification, which is written in XML. EAD Archives Encoded Archival Description - a standard for encoding archival finding aids using XML in archival and manuscript repositories. CDWA Arts and Museums Categories for the Description of Works of Art is a conceptual framework for describing and accessing information about works of art, architecture, and other material culture. VRA Core Arts & Musuems Visual Resources Association – the standard provides a categorical organization for the description of works of visual culture as well as the images that document them. Darwin Core Biology Darwin Core is a metadata specification for information about the geographic occurrence of species and the existence of specimens in collections. TEI Humanities, social sciences & linguistics Text Encoding Initiative - a standard for the representation of texts in digital form, chiefly in the humanities, social sciences and linguistics. NISO MIX Images Z39.87 Data dictionary - technical metadata for digital still images (MIX) - NISO Metadata for Images in XML is an XML schema for a set of technical data elements required to manage digital image collections. MARC Librarianship MARC - MAchine Readable Cataloging - standards for the representation and communication of bibliographic and related information in machine-readable form. METS Librarianship Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard - an XML schema for encoding descriptive, administrative, and structural metadata regarding objects within a digital library. MODS Librarianship Metadata Object Description Schema - is a schema for a bibliographic element set that may be used for a variety of purposes, and particularly for library applications. XOBIS Librarianship XML Organic Bibliographic Information Schema - a XML schema for modeling MARC data. MPEG-7 Multimedia MPEG-7 is a ISO/IEC standard and specifies a set of descriptors to describe various types of multimedia information and is developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group. Dublin Core Networked resources Dublin Core - interoperable online metadata standard focused on networked resources.

30. http://dublincore.org/documents/usageguide/elements.shtml

31. Controlled Vocabulary (CV) Definition An organized arrangement of words and phrases that are used to index content and/or to retrieve content through navigation or a search Typically includes preferred terms and has a limited scope or describes a specific domain

32. What CVs give us Standard terminology Cows? Steers? Cattle? Livestock? Standard formatting Raleigh, NC? Raleigh, North Carolina Synonyms (non-hierarchical) “ USE FOR” Hierarchical relationships Photographs > black-and-white photographs

33. Controlled List: Examples

34. Thesauri: Examples Thesaurus of geographic names (TGN) Constantinople (USE İstanbul) İstanbul (USE FOR Constantinople) Performing arts BT: arts (broad discipline) NT: dance Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)

35. Controlled Vocabularies: Examples Some are freely available on the Web AAT http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/aat/index.html MESH http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html TGM http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm1/ LC-NAF http://authorities.loc.gov/ Taxonomy Warehouse (clearinghouse) http://www.taxonomywarehouse.com/ Some aren’t Library of Congress Subject Headings (online, called “Classification Web”) http://bit.ly/fsIcgy

36. Costs/Benefits – Build your own CV? Resource intensive Interoperable? We’ll never share it . . . We’re not experts Local need We’ll never share it… Just the right size We’re the experts

37. Flickr and description The Commons (www.flickr.com/commons) Pilot with Library of Congress in 2008

38. Flickr and description

39. Assigning Metadata “ New York & bridges from Brooklyn” c. 1913 gelatin silver photographic print 9.5x34” http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/4484597234/ How do we describe the format ?

41. Assigning Metadata

44. Assigning Metadata

46. ………………… .

47. Assigning Metadata black-and-white photographs gelatin silver prints panoramas

48. Elements Identifier (A) Title (D) Creator (D) Contributor (D) Publisher (D) Subject (D) Description (D) Coverage (D) Format (P/D) Type (D) Date (D) Relation (S) Source (D) Rights (A) Language (D)

49. Subjects Bulls Fairs Men Cars Hay Hertford Cattle Horns Hats

50. Authorized Subject Headings (TGM) Bulls Cattle Beef cattle Livestock Agriculture Animals

51. Authorized Subject Headings (TGM) Fairs Livestock shows Politicians Automobiles Hay

52. Names Jim Graham James A. Graham Superintendent of Beef Stock North Carolina Secretary of Agriculture “ The Sodfather” Meadows Domino 66

53. Authorized Name (LCNAF) Graham, James A., 1921-

54. Example Metadata Record Title: Jim Graham with bull, Meadows Domino 66 Creator: Fern, Douglas M. Date: 1969 Subject: Fairs; Livestock shows; Politicians; Automobiles; Hay; Graham, James A., 1921-; Description: Jim Graham, Superintendent of Beef Stock at the North Carolina State Fair stands with the 16 month-old Meadows Domino 66. The bull was sold by J. Horton Doughton of Doughton Meadows Farm, Laurel Springs, N.C., to Mr. and Mrs. A.W. Fanjoy of Joy Acres Farm, Statesville, N.C., for $10,000. It won every class ever shown in except one and received second place there, and was the Grand Champion at the N.C. State Fair. At the time, it was the highest priced bull ever sold in N.C. Weight: 1450 lbs. Time Period [Coverage]: 20th century Location [Coverage]: Raleigh, N.C. (Wake County) Format: image/jpeg; 721 KB Type: Image Rights: This image may be under copyright. Please contact INSTITUTION NAME for permission to reproduce. Identifier: agcoll_17.11.189.jpg Capture Date [Date]: 2011-06-05 Capture Tools: Epson Expression 10000XL; Metadata Creator: Gregory, Lisa

55. Data Dictionary

56. Digital Publishing Free and Cheap Options Flickr; Picasa Upload and edit on desktop or web Social tagging and geotagging Cloud-based service YouTube Upload and edit on web Formats include AVI, MPEG, MOV Cloud-based service Internet Archive Images, text, audio, and video Formats include MPEG2, WAV, TXT, XML, PDF Blogs

57. Digital Publishing Traditional Options Open-source Tools “ Homegrown” Systems CONTENTdm

58. Digital Preservation Digital preservation is the process of ensuring that you have long-term access to your digital materials Digital Preservation ≠ Digitization

59. Born-digital resources Files that are created natively on electronic devises, such as computers, cell phones, digital cameras, and digital audio recorders

60. Digitized resources Analog objects that are transferred to a digital format through some conversion process. Paper documents/printed books Photographic materials like slides, prints, or glass-plate 3D objects Audio such as cassette tape and LPs Film and other moving images

61. Multiple parts to preserve

62. NASA loses big. Lunar Orbiter program of 1966 and 1967 Mission: to map the entire surface of the moon in preparation for the Apollo landings -- and all five performed magnificently. Lunar Orbiter 1 took the first pictures of Earth as a full planet.

64. NASA loses big. Nancy Evans, a NASA archivist, began collecting the technology in the late-1980s. Grabbed the analog tapes and saved imaging hardware from government surplus After she retired she stored everything, shrink wrapped and on wooden pallets, in her garage

65. NASA loses big. Almost. In 2007, two engineers became interested in the project: Hired technicians out of retirement Located some of the documentation Working out of a converted McDonalds near Ames Air force Base in California, they have extracted some of the best quality images of the moon available

66. Why the story? To scare you into caring even more . . . To give you ammunition when advocating for digital preservation in your institution (because it isn’t sexy, like those fancy digital collections) Just remind yourself, someday they’ll thank you.

67. “ I’ve digitized this stuff … now how do I preserve it?” With digital preservation, this might not apply.

68. Look out...

69. Digital object lifecycle

70. Concerns: File Formats - Obsolescence can affect Media Software Examples: WordStar, AmiPro, Visicalc http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WordStar_4_CPM.JPG

71. Concerns: File Formats - Proprietary vs. Open Source Software Proprietary: code is locked down Open source: code is available for viewing and manipulation by all Escrowed source: source code is held by third party, should company ever cease

72. File Format Best Practices Use or save in open formats Images: PNG, JPEG Text: ASCII, Open Office, PDF, XML Structured data: CSV Keep an eye on old file formats/media May need to re-save as a newer version before your software is upgraded or your media can’t be read

73. Concerns: Context Metadata External: Information from the creator Could go in a manifest, a .txt file in the same folder Internal: File header Could mean using the “properties” options available in many software programs File names “ Intelligent,” consistent identifiers

74. Concerns: Context Original item? Is it all? Part? Copyright? Creation date? Creation equipment? Creator? Manipulated?

75. Context Best Practices Get the metadata up front Keep the metadata with the file (or refer back from an alternate location) Name file names intelligently and consistently, using a standard For human eyes For computers, too

76. Concerns: Storage Special constraints at your institution Access restrictions Disaster! Staff turnover Human error

77. Storage Best Practices Recognize that IT is often interested in BACKUPs not PRESERVATION Keep your important items in multiple locations Skip the CDs – use external hard drives if possible Keep in mind who has access Metadata will help with storage

78. Digital Preservation There are lots of resources to help you Digital Information Management Program, State Library of North Carolina http://digitalpreservation.ncdcr.gov Other online resources – see handout and Digital Preservation Section

79. North Carolina Digital Heritage Center Current Projects Images of North Carolina College and University Yearbooks North Carolina Memory North Carolina Newspapers

80. North Carolina Digital Heritage Center Who Can Participate? Any cultural heritage institution in North Carolina that holds collections that are open to the public. Participants to date have included public and private college and universities, community colleges, public libraries, private libraries, and museums.

81. North Carolina Digital Heritage Center Services Provided Digital Publishing materials are published on DigitalNC.org, where they can be searched and discovered alongside collections from other institutions around the state Digitization the Digital Production Center at UNC-Chapel Hill supports the NC Digital Heritage Center with a wide variety of services Project Planning and Consulting staff members are available for consultation whether you’re working with the NC Digital Heritage Center or not

86. North Carolina Digital Heritage Center How to Get Involved Review the Contributors Manual Contact us to discuss project ideas: Nicholas Graham [email_address] / (919) 962-4836 Maggie Dickson [email_address] / (919) 962-4836