NCompass Live: Metadata Makeover: Transforming Omaha Public Library's Digital Collections
•Download as PPSX, PDF•
1 like•470 views
NCompass Live - 2/22/2017 http://nlc.nebraska.gov/NCompassLive/ In 1998 Omaha Public Library created its first online digital library to showcase its extensive collection of original photographs and documents from the 1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, Omaha’s own world’s fair. Another digitization project was undertaken in 2004. A decade later it was only too evident that the entire digital library, with its hodgepodge of different interfaces and metadata standards, needed to be dragged into the 21st century. We did it—despite minimal staff, minimal training, and minimal time! Come hear this saga of the good, the bad, and the ugly, and what we learned from it. Presenter: Martha Grenzeback, Omaha Public Library; Mary Marchio, retired.
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (8)
Viewers also liked
Viewers also liked (20)
Similar to NCompass Live: Metadata Makeover: Transforming Omaha Public Library's Digital Collections
Similar to NCompass Live: Metadata Makeover: Transforming Omaha Public Library's Digital Collections (20)
More from Nebraska Library Commission
More from Nebraska Library Commission (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
NCompass Live: Metadata Makeover: Transforming Omaha Public Library's Digital Collections
- 1. Mary Marchio and Martha Grenzeback Omaha Public Library
- 2. World Stereoview Collection, 1259 images (2008) Early Nebraska, 440 images (2009) Early Omaha : Gateway to the West 750+ images (2002-2003) Trans Mississippi & International Exposition , 2800+ images (1998)
- 3. Cooperative projects containing OPL materials Nebraska Memories (2006-current) Western Trails (2002-2003)
- 4. Photographs by official photographer, Frank Rinehart, and papers, correspondence, and memorabilia related to the Exposition and the Indian Congress that was part of it Donated to library at the close of the Exposition (1898) by the Exposition’s Board of Directors; additional items have been donated or purchased since then Available in the library to researchers
- 6. Collection of some 770 images of photographs, lantern slides, postcards, stereoviews, and maps reflecting Omaha's importance as the site of the Union Pacific headquarters and point of eastern origin for the first transcontinental railway Source: donations from the public and Library Board members, library purchases In-library access, some check-outs
- 8. 1259 stereoviews dating back to late 1800s-early 1900s, depicting scenes from around the world Gift to the library from Charles Dietz, wealthy lumber businessman, longtime President of the Library Board, and enthusiastic world traveler For many years, available to check out or view in the library
- 10. United States, Nebraska, county and regional maps and atlases, mostly not cataloged Donations and library purchases Used by library patrons in the library
- 12. Inspired by a desire to provide better access, particularly to OPL’s extensive and unique Trans- Mississippi & International Exposition collection 1998 centennial celebration of original Exposition was impetus Trans-Mississippi project was first effort, successful for its time Showed OPL could manage a digital project internally—what next?
- 13. Formation of library staff committee Steep learning curve: organizing a project Consultant hired to evaluate physical condition of collection Major Urban Resource Libraries (MURLS) grant Solicited bids for scanning Marian High School girls: The Web Team
- 14. No metadata on website except titles, format, and dimensions
- 15. MARC records for some images in local catalog Single record for collection in WorldCat
- 16. Libraries and other cultural institutions in Nebraska, Wyoming, Kansas, and Colorado pooled digital resources on the 19th century pioneer migration to the West Scanning standards set by Colorado Digitization Program (now subsumed in LYRASIS) CONTENTdm interface: http://nlc.nebraska.gov/westerntrails/
- 17. CONTENTdm
- 18. Metadata : modified Dublin Core; Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Materials headings and LCSH Directly uploaded to UNL server via Zebra (later transferred into CONTENTdm) OPL: Basic metadata in Access database
- 19. Impetus for digitization: 150th anniversary of Omaha (2005) Part of Western Trails Scanning standards: Western Trails Metadata: Basic info in Access database (staff use); minimal on website but rich narrative description for some “Exhibit” items
- 21. 34 libraries and other cultural institutions in Nebraska pool digital resources that illustrate the state’s history and geography—more than 5,500 items to date Scanning standards: Decided by Nebraska Library Commission, which administers project Metadata: Modified Dublin Core; Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Materials headings and LCSH URL: http://memories.nebraska.gov/ OPL is still contributing
- 22. CONTENTdm
- 23. Quick and easy solution for public access Scanning standards: Same as previous projects Metadata: Minimum needed for Flickr; captions and tags URL: https://www.flickr.com/photos/omahalibrary/3110796 207/in/album-72157611223061783/
- 25. Maps and atlases of Nebraska (large-format scanning contracted out with grant money) No metadata at all, except for the Omaha maps and atlases that were included in Nebraska Memories
- 27. Image scanning is all to the same high standard (hallelujah!) Metadata is all over the lot: MARC Dublin Core Flickr Peggy Marrs’s postcard cataloging scheme Zilch Public and staff access difficult (inadequate search function) Hard to find on main OPL webpage
- 28. What to do?
- 29. Find… Clean up… Enhance… And reinvent… Trans-Miss: 3785 images Others: 4456 Total: 8241 images
- 30. Almost everyone involved in original projects gone or distracted (retired, deceased, moved to other positions) Memories failing Paper trail/documentation spotty Multiple projects, each with different parameters Project manager (Martha) inexperienced Not much staff time available (“spare time” project)
- 31. Images up to current standards; no rescanning needed Original cataloger on our team (Mary Marchio) Assistance from OPL employees with unique knowledge and skills, or memories of previous projects Great support from Devra Dragos and Allana Novotny, Nebraska Library Commission Library staff’s reluctance to purge or even tidy old files (computer and paper) Administrative support
- 32. OPL contribution to UNL’s Trans-Mississippi & International Expo portal site (http://trans-mississippi.unl.edu/) Internal OPL proposal suggesting new digital site: Aug. 2012 CONTENTdm QuickStart (hosted): March 2013 CONTENTdm vs Omeka or other option?
- 33. Pluses Is hosted and user- friendly Good support, forum, documentation, webinars; NLC uses Looks like every other digital collection website More expensive as your collection grows Minuses Can get started free with OCLC subscription Can use “out of the box” Records can be synced to WorldCat
- 34. Working group: Patrick Esser, Mary Marchio, Lindsey Bray, Deirdre Routt, Martha Grenzeback Many webinars and much reading on CONTENTdm and digitization standards In 2013, Deirdre created OPL Metadata Guidelines for CONTENTdm Entry, largely based on: Nebraska Memories Metadata Guidelines http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/metadata.pdf Huntington Digital Library Guidelines Metadata Creation and Application http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16003coll9/ id/0
- 36. Created timeline (delusional) Allocated tasks Began trying to track down any available data on OPL’s digital images Created “trial” collection (Millard Town Memories) Decided to start with Trans-Mississippi collection
- 37. Crosswalk for MARC records to Excel/Dublin Core, created by Patrick Esser Cataloging from scratch—everything but the first 600 or so records; minimal info created by Patrick using info from TMI guidebook and Official Catalogue Enhancing records; enriching descriptions, adding subject headings (LCSH, TGM), adapting to Dublin Core standards
- 38. Mary created local authority file which we use for all collections
- 39. Problematic because metadata had been directly uploaded via internet to Western Trails database; OPL kept no real record Almost all images in Western Trails were also in Nebraska Memories Allana Novotny kindly compared holdings to get a list of OPL items not in Nebraska Memories, and Mary Marchio cataloged
- 40. Nebraska Library Commission had all the metadata, which they retrieved and provided to us in Excel spreadsheet format We changed a few fields to fit our own requirements, but otherwise pretty smooth
- 41. Most of the maps in this project uncataloged; only the Omaha maps had been uploaded to Nebraska Memories Cataloging from scratch using Excel
- 42. Created document: How to Upload Items to CONTENTdm (settings, choices, etc.) Use Excel template with fields that match the fields in the CONTENTdm template for a particular collection Dublin Core, Thesaurus of Graphic Materials, LCSH Proofread in Excel. Check that names and subjects appear in our local authority file (also Excel) Batch upload to CONTENTdm Save all metadata spreadsheets in folder for each collection on network drive and in the cloud
- 44. Decide on collection content carefully User forums very helpful; also looking at other digital libraries Don’t be shy! Grill everyone involved in past projects Track down any documentation (memos, reports) Document! What you did and how you did it. No detail is too small (today’s small may be tomorrow’s big)
Editor's Notes
- INTRODUCTION: Mary and Martha Self-selected for this job! In 1998 Omaha Public Library created its first online digital library to showcase its extensive collection of original photographs and documents from the 1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, Omaha’s own world’s fair. Later projects landed OPL with a hodgepodge of different interfaces and metadata standards. It was clear that an overhaul was needed. We had minimal staff and minimal time, but plunged in anyway. It’s still very much a work in progress (and slow progress, at that), but it has been a learning process, which we will share with you now.
- MARY Intro: First we will briefly review how our original digital collections got started, and why; we will talk about how decisions were made about metadata, and the problems we faced when we decided to upgrade our digital site. In the second half of the presentation, we’ll look at how we have dealt with those problems, and what we’ve learned. Slide: These are our four major collections, with the very approximate number of images we started with.
- MARY We also contributed to two cooperative projects.
- MARTHA Now, we’re just going to summarize the collections that we have digitized, and how they have been accessed over the years. The Trans-Mississippi & International Exposition Collection is our most extensive and unique collection.
- MARTHA Keep in mind—people have been donating items to the library since 1877. In this category, we also have original documents, pamphlets, and more documenting Omaha’s early history which we would like to digitize.
- MARTHA In more recent years—no one got to see them.
- MARTHA
- I give the floor to Mary, since she was actually involved in OPL’s first digitization project. Intersection of different circumstances: 1. clear that better access was needed; 2. other institutions beginning to think of digitization 3. Centennial celebration of original Expo was coming up: how to commemorate?
- MARY In 1995 not much in the way of guidelines. Mention that the scanning met modern standards—met the standards of the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities (CDRH)
- EXAMPLE
- MARY WHY catalog in OPAC? 1995-98 WHY single record in OCLC? Minute charge to use OCLC; cost for exporting record; and charge for being on OCLC while creating records.
- MARY Originally established as the Colorado Digitization Project in 1999, the CDP later evolved into the Collaborative Digitization Program, earning national recognition for its collaborative digitization expertise. The CDP merged into BCR in April 2007, creating BCR's CDP. In 2010 BCR established a partnership with LYRASIS which hosts and has added new resources for practitioners working in the areas of digitization and preservation. OPL joined in 2002-2003 Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant for this.
- MARY Since the metadata was directly uploaded through a web interface (ZEBRA), the only record OPL retained was its Access database—which included all images—no indication of what was in Western Trails vs TMI, etc. Zebra was a “general-purpose structured text indexing and retrieval engine.” At the time, it was available free. The template was pretty basic. ACCESS database—Peggy Marrs system, useful but not LCSH or TGM (Thesaurus of Graphic Materials).
- MARY Early Omaha was OPL’s site for the WT data. Website was created by OPL staff member (Julie Kaspar) who had just taken a class in “Introduction to Web Design” (2003).
- MARY Mary Marchio hired to do subject headings and enhancement
- MARTHA
- Martha LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) grant for Nebraska Memories. Quite a few maps were scanned that are not yet in Nebraska Memories. Map Gallery nonetheless one of the most heavily used collections
- As you can see, a little utilitarian-looking.
- MARTHA SO— Metadata in various forms. The Peggy Marrs scheme is what we have in the Access database we mentioned. Searching: some collections couldn’t be searched: Early Omaha and Early Nebraska couldn’t be searched on our website; Trans-Miss no search except the approx. 600 images in our OPAC People didn’t know what we have online; staff didn’t know how to direct; people would want to purchase and very difficult to identify image; Western Trails site—local access number has been modified.
- MARTHA These problems had been discussed more than once by different staff groups at OPL. At earlier moments the focus was more on cataloging all these items in Horizon (our ILS); but as digitization became a common option, that became the goal.
- MARTHA Once again, combination of circumstances propelled this new “project.” Site looking increasingly out of date. Increasingly frustrating to help people navigate and fill image requests. Digital libraries more and more ubiquitous—libraries, archives, museums, etc. Additional spur: transition to new OPL website planned.
- MARTHA STRESS: At least there WAS a paper trail. Problem is, not all in same place, or organized, and we had to look for it. This project was not our main job—but there was an expectation that it would get done. Somehow. (Mention new website pressure again)
- MARTHA We were particularly fortunate to have Patrick Esser & Deirdre Routt on board initially Administration: administrators favored. Mention Gary Wasdin—and agreement to move to paid level of CONTENTdm.
- MARTHA Things came to a head at the end of 2011, when UNL contacted us about using our digital images for their new TMI portal site. UNL got idea of Trans-Miss portal. Timothy Schaffert, UNL English professor, writing book Swan Gondola at the time; Timothy and Gary Wasdin friends. We did briefly discuss Omeka, an open-source content management system; or Content PRO, an add-on for our ILS
- Martha We now pay for the basic level one subscription, which lets us digitize up to 10,000 items (40 GB). We are nowhere near. Collections reside on CONTENTdm server.
- MARTHA Talk about why those people? Self-selected based on their special super powers. No one really appointed—just wanted a better digital library. Patrick and Deirdre gone. 2. Metadata Guidelines: Don’t reinvent the wheel. NM guidelines are in their turn based on CDP Dublin Core Metadata Best Practices, Version 2.1.1 It is crucial to have your guidelines written down!
- One of our working papers….
- MARTHA Why is a timeline important, even if you don’t stick to it? Millard Town Memories as experiment, to get the hang of CONTENTdm (Actually, think I started with a few TMI photos….) MENTION UNL Project—as mentioned, their project gave our administration the impetus to think seriously about our digital collections.
- MARY Other reason for starting with TMI: already had MARC records, and also researchers contact OPL the most about this collection (thanks to WorldCat and Google); We had MARC records for 660? Rinehart photo images, created by Mary; Patrick expert on TMI AND technology manager If it hadn’t been for the UNL project, starting with the Nebraska Memories items would probably have been quicker and easier MARY: Authority file Mary: created original MARC records Patrick: expert on TMI and very keen. Got a chance to see before he passed away
- Even though you can create a local authority file in CONTENTdm, it is a lot less trouble to verify your subject headings and names before you try to upload records to CONTENTdm.
- MARTHA SO—once we’d got started with the Trans-Miss collection, we began looking at upgrading the other collections. Difficulties of finding WT metadata: Spent a certain amount of time trying to find it--hard to trace, no one at UNL seemed to know anything about it, but it turned out not to be as problematic as feared, since most of the WT images were duplicated in NM
- Example: dimensions and nature of original object in its own field instead of in description.
- MARTHA
- Writing down the process was one of the most useful things we have done. MENTION First of all, metadata guidelines created by Deirdre. WHY? Besides remembering how to do it ourselves, we want to be able to train other staff and volunteers in future. Everything we catalog now we do in Dublin Core, in an Excel template that will allow us to upload to CONTENTdm easily—even if we are not planning to do so in the near future. Have stopped putting things in Access.
- MARTHA STARTS: 1 &2 In CONTENTdm, you can’t switch items between collections, or pull smaller collection out of larger. Example: deciding belatedly to separate Indian Congress and Trans-Miss. Similarly: decide fields carefully. More is better, since you can leave empty but you can’t add in afterwards without reuploading everything. For example, I am wondering if a separate field for scale in map collection template might be a good idea. 2. User forum and CONTENTdm support have been helpful MARY 3. Took Janet to lunch 4. Track down documentation. Emails even from beginning of our project: DON’T BE SHY. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Be sure to acknowledge Joanne, Lindsey, Patrick, Deirdre, Lynn, Peggy Marrs, Devra, Allana, Janet, Julie Kaspar