WGBH Media Library and Archives presentation from New England Archivists Spring 2014 conference. Covers 2 grants we're completing: The Boston TV News Digital Library and the Mellon Participatory Cataloging Project.

1. AV Archives:
Using Grants to Provide
Better Access
Presented by Allison Pekel and Sadie Roosa

2. Who we are:
WGBH Media Library and Archives 2

3. The WGBH Archive Vault 3

4. Boston TV News
Digital Library
Experience Boston history as it was reported

5. Funded by 5
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6.  WGBH Media Library and Archives (WGBH)
— Public TV station (and archive)
— Local Boston Public TV news collection
 Northeast Historic Film (NHF)
— Regional Archive
— Local Boston commercial station (WCVB) news collection
 Boston Public Library (BPL)
— Major Public Library
— Local Boston commercial station (WHDH) news collection
 Cambridge Community TV (CCTV)
— Community access TV station
— Local Boston community access coverage
Partners
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7. The Site 7
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www.bostonlocaltv.org

8. Types of Content
 Edited stories
 Original footage
 B-roll
 Full broadcasts
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 Silent
 Sound
 Mixed silent and sound
 Color
 B&W

9. Edited stories
 Certain amount of
context guaranteed
 Easy to identify
reporter
 Artifact of what people
actually saw
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10. Original footage
 Primary source
 Additional, often
never-before-seen
content
 Have to check for off
the record comments
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11. B-roll
 Not much context
 Often less
accompanying
descriptive data
 Shows the process that
went into producing &
editing news stories
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12. Full broadcasts
 Artifact of what
people watched
 Extra context of what
else was happening
at the same time
 In-studio segments
broadcast live
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13. Blog 13
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 Highlights project accomplishments
 Highlights content and gives additional context
 Acts as an easy and interesting portal into the
collections
 Makes our site more Search Engine friendly

14. Most Popular 14
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 2nd
most viewed
page on site
 Brings in new
users through
Google searches
 Links directly to
media

15. Using Social Media 15
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16. Traditional archives aspects
 Inventory
 Transcription
 Cataloguing
 Preservation
 Digitization
 Access
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17. Inventory 17
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18. Transcription 18
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19. Cataloguing
 Location, Name, and
Subject headings
 LOC Subject Headings
and Name Authority Files
 AACR2 compliant local
headings
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20. Preservation and Digitization
 Physical preservation based
on format and condition
 Digitization as 8 or 10 bit
uncompressed quicktime
files
 Digital preservation of
uncompressed essence
files
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21. Access: Catalog
 Full searchable catalog published online
 Filemaker fields mapped to PBCore
 PBCore XML ingested and stored in Solr index
 Blacklight app for searching and browsing
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22. Access: Video
 Compressed and
watermarked videos
streaming online
 Enhanced descriptions
for increased
discoverability
 Fair use
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23. Uniqueness
 Collaboration
 User participation
 On-demand/user-
sponsored digitization
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24. Collaboration: Bringing materials together 24
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1960
-
1969 1970
-
1979 1980
-
1989 1990
-
2000
WHDH
WCVB
WGBH
CCTV

25. Collaboration: Bringing skills together
 WGBH
— Deep experience with film, video, audio and moving images
— Need to solve issues of digital moving images
— Have beginnings of a solution and work flow of digital files
storage, preservation, and access
— Strong relationship with broadcast and on-line viewers, the public,
and educators
 NHF
— Extensive experience with film
— Extensive experience with issues of moving image preservation
and access
— Film transfer and storage capabilities
— Strong relationship with broad New England community many
who have lived in the area for years
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26. Collaboration: Bringing skills together
 BPL
— Extensive knowledge of library standards as applies to paper,
books, photos
— Strong relationship with local community as a public library
resource
— Strong public access policies and capability
— Well known institution
 CCTV
— Close relationship with patrons and community
— Strong and successful community access station
— Captured and saved community history from 1990-2000
— Truly understands the need for digital solutions at economical
prices
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27. Educational Resources
http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/bln12/
Video Resources
Lesson Plan that links with student blog the Boston
TV News site
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28. Rights guide
 Explore legal concerns for local news collections
 Outlines opportunities and risks for other archives
 Easy to use resource
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29. FLOW CHART 29
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30. Collaboration: Future Opportunities
 Participating in Digital Commonwealth
 Reaching out to other local news collections
— Television
— Radio
— Print
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31. User participation: Direct
User comments
User feedback survey
Student written blog
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32. User participation: Voting for digitization
Before digitizing anything we:
Published full-text catalog
Asked users to vote on
which assets to digitize
Consulted academic
advisors in the field
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33. User participation: Voting results
 1184 votes
 825 assets received
votes
 Priority ranking- weighing
user votes and advisor
suggestions
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34. Digitization on Demand: Searching full catalog
 Initial website search results
return only video assets
 Check box for full catalog
search including text-only
records
 Any item without media can
be requested for digitization
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35. Digitization on Demand: User/Admin dashboard
User can see
 The digitization status of any artifact they’re
following
 All of the digitization requests they’ve made
 All of the videos they’ve sponsored
Admin can
 Monitor all request
 Change status of each artifact
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36. Digitization on Demand: Institutional workflows
 Communications and transactions with users happen
off-site through email or phone
 Each partner handles their own digitization and
payment workflow
 With increased demand a regular fee structure could be
created, further automating the process
 All media made publicly available on the site
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37. Please visit
Boston TV News Digital Library
www.bostonlocaltv.org
www.facebook.com/BostonTvNewsDigitalLibrary
www.youtube.com/user/bostonlocaltv
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38. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Digitized & Provided Scholarly Access to
Over 165 Hours of Archival Content

39. Mellon 39
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Goals Challenges
• Launch Catalog
• On Demand Digitization
and Transcription
• Incorporation of User
Generated Metadata
• Curated Collections
 Incorporation of text only
records
 Search functionality for
records with limited metadata
 Programs vs. Assets

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MARS
Program
Records

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Media Player with Synced
Transcript
Topics
Subject Headings

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Faceted Search
Functionality

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Program
Record
Asset
Record
⏎
⏎

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Goals Challenges
• Launch Catalog
• On Demand Digitization and
Transcription
• Incorporation of User
Generated Metadata
• Curated Collections
 Request Guidelines
 Transaction Process
 Program Rights Restrictions
 Cost & Sustainability

45. Mellon 45
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Goals Challenges
• Launch Catalog
• On Demand Digitization and
Transcription
• Incorporation of User
Generated Metadata
• Curated Collections
 Participant Requirements
 Available Fields
 Data Addition or Substitution
 Tracking Changes
 Approval Process
 Crediting System

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• Solicit Participation
- Past users of the Archive
- Cold emailing
- H-Net.org: Humanities and Social Sciences Online
H-NewEngland: New England History & Culture
H-Afro-Amer: African American Studies
H-Women: Women’s History
H-Animal: Animal Studies

47. Mellon
• Access to the Catalog
- Archival Visits when possible
- Research done by staff
• Access to Audio Visual Materials
- Watermarked Video
- DVD/CD loan system
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• Contributing Metadata
- Guide to Submitting
Metadata

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Metadata
Submitted by
Carol Bunch Davis
Assistant Professor at
Texas A & M University at
Galveston

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Metadata
Submitted by
Sarah Suhadolnik
Doctorial Candidate in
Musicology & Philosophy
at the University of
Michigan

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Goals Challenges
• Launch Catalog
• On Demand Digitization and
Transcription
• Incorporation of User
Generated Metadata
• Curated Collections
 Elements of a Collection
 Application Process
 Rights Clearance
 Advisory Process

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• Elements of a Curated Collection
- Introduction
- Article
- One Audio-Visual Media Item
- Biography
- Links to Related Media
- Metadata & Summaries
Early Curated Collection Draft

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• Application Process
- Prospectus
- Roles
Senior Collection Curators
Collection Curators
Asset Experts
- Payment

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• One Audio-Visual Item: Rights Clearance
- Scholar Selected Assets viewed as most important to scholarly community
- Forced us to create a Rights Clearance workflow
- Out of 165 hours, we cleared the rights to 54 hours of full programing and 19 hours
of unedited interviews.
- That’s a total of 73 hours of new content online!

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• Advisory Process
- Scholar Selected
- Paid
- Submission of edits & Questionnaires
- Optional Revision Period

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Featured Media: Joyce Chen Cooks
•Starred Joyce Chen, a Boston local chef & restaurateur
•Produced by WGBH in 1966
•26 Episodes
Curated Collection Topic:
•Joyce Chen came along after the success of the French Chef with Julia Child.
Though different in personality, both set out to mediate foreign food for American
palates and they enable us to pinpoint the regularities in cooking pedagogy at the
time.
Senior Collection Curator: Dana Polan
•Doctorat d’Etat in Letters from the Sorbonne Nouvelle
•Ph.D. in Modern Thought from Stanford.
•Professor of Cinema Studies in the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.
•Author of 8 books in film and media, including, most recently, Julia Child's The French
Chef
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Joyce Chen

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Museum Open House
•Starred Russell Connor
•Co-Produced by the MFA and WGBH for multiple seasons beginning in 1963
Invitation to Art
•Starred Brian O’Doherty
•Co-Produced by the MFA and WGBH for multiple seasons beginning in 1959
Bengtz on Drawling
•Starred Ture Bengtz
•Co-Produced by the MFA and WGBH in 1958
Collection Curator: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
•Est. July 4, 1876
•One of the most comprehensive art museums in the world with a collection
encompassing nearly 450,000 works of art.
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Brian O’Doherty

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Erica
•Starred Erica Wilson
•Produced by WGBH for two seasons
•Season 1: 1971 with 26 episodes
•Season 2: 1975-1976 with 13 episodes
Curated Collection Topic:
•Explores Erica Wilson’s work, legacy and her tremendous impacts both
on needlework and on public television.
Collection Curator: Amanda Grace Sikarskie
•Ph.D Michigan State University
•Adjunct Assistant Professor: Museum Studies Program at Michigan State U.
Adjunct Assistant Professor: Dept. of History at Western Michigan University
•Research Associate with the Quilt Index: Online archive for images & metadata of
over 60,000 quilts
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Erica Wilson

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Poetry from M.I.T.
•Produced by M.I.T. and broadcast by WGBH 1962-1963
•9 poets featured: Robert Penn Warren, Mark Van Doren, Richard Wilbur, Robert Graves,
John Ciardi, David Ferry, Denise Levertov, Theodore Weiss & X.J. Kennedy
Curated Collection Topic:
•These media events occurred during the collision between American poetry and an
increasingly scientifically-oriented public culture. In this setting, poets took up the rare
opportunity to speak as poets, on behalf of poetry, while confronting one of the primary seats
of science and technology.
Collection Curator: Jim Cocola
•Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia
•Assistant Professor of Literature, Film, & Media at Worcester Polytechnic Institute
•Essays have appeared & are forthcoming in College English, College Literature,
Discourse, the Minnesota review, n+1, SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 and
The Worcester Review.
© 2014 WGBH
David Ferry

60. American Archive
of Public Broadcasting
Library of Congress and WGBH
Funded by Corporation for Public Broadcasting
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61. American Archive 61
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www.americanarchive.org
Mission: To identify, preserve, and make accessible as
much as possible the historical record of publicly funded
broadcasting in America

62. American Archive
To start
40,000 hours of digital materials from over 100 stations
2.5 million inventory records from 120 stations
Identified over 3 million items kept at stations, archives,
producers, and university collections across America
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63. Thank you!
Please visit
www.openvault.wgbh.org
and
www.bostonlocaltv.org
Contact us
allison_pekel (at) wgbh (dot) org
sadie_roosa (at) wgbh (dot) org
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