This brief eight slide presentation provides an overview of the VTDNP Advisory Committee and Title Selection processes. It was prepared by Birdie MacLennan and delivered by Tom McMurdo at the NDNP Annual Award Meeting in Washington, DC, August 29, 2011.

1. Birdie MacLennan
with Thanks to:
Chris Kirby, Lorraine Lanius,
Tom McMurdo, and Prudence Doherty
* VTDNP Management Group *VTDNP logo by Heather Kennedy
“… from reel to real ...”
Vermont Digital Newspaper Project
Grant Period: July 2010 – August 2012
NDNP Awardee Meeting
Washington, DC
August 29, 2011

2. Formation of the Advisory Committee
Background
VTDNP established as a collaborative project between 4 diverse
state institutions (UVM (state university), DOL (state library), Ilsley
(dynamic public library in Middlebury) VHS (state historical
society)  diverse state involvement at outset
Fall 2009 - Preliminary list of 12 members contacted during the
course of proposal preparation (librarians, historians from state
and county historical societies, state archivist)
Summer-Fall 2010 - List revisited & modified; recruited and
refined list of AC members after viewing Headline Vermont
video on VT public television
(http://video.vpt.org/video/1890746474 ).
 Journalism historian added (per panelist review feedback)
 Special Collections / Vermontia Librarian also serves as
Project Historian & Title Essayist
Aug 2010 – NDNP Awardee meeting (training! Ideas!)
3 members of Project Planning Team attended

3. Sept 2010 – Project Advisory communication tool established
using Basecamp Project Management software
Project Planning/Management Team (4 member group) begins
compiling an Advisory Committee Briefing Book (based on MN)
- Project information / scope
- Title selection criteria (NDNP guidelines)
- Vermont historical timelines/events
- Articulation of marketing/promotional goals beyond
selection
Fall 2010 – Refining list of 500+ titles (VTNP/USNP local database)
- breakdowns by county
- analysis of holdings (completeness of copy)
- and where are those master negatives?
Informing the Advisory Committee
& Narrowing the Title Lists

4. Jan 2011 – Project Librarian hired to manage project
Feb-Mar 2011 – List of master negatives obtained from State
Archives (via Department of Libraries)
 Cross-referenced with titles and holdings from catalog
(spreadsheet of titles identified w/in scope of grant proposal)
 Project Librarian aligns title & holdings from VSARA
lists and VTNP catalog with reel and page count estimates
 Identification of 59 titles/title families from all of
Vermont’s 14 counties); 720,000+ pages
Title_ranking_form - Excel sheet/ranking form proposed for Advisory
Committee to use in selecting titles (based on PENN model);
We also discussed using a survey form such as survey monkey or zoomerang
(Louisiana model)
Review of Selection Criteria
Availability of Master Negatives
One List: 720,000+ Pages

5. Advisory Committee meeting
Jan-Feb 2011 – Advisory Committee corresponds on Basecamp
 Face-to-face meeting postponed due to snow
 Project historian / Vermont history librarian shares
preliminary title research from master list
Feb-Mar 2011 – Project Management Group
 identifies 1 sample title on a compact reel (USNP film) &
 two major titles with lengthy runs
(available from State Archives)
Production starts…
Remember lead time needed for frame-by-frame microfilm inspection and
metadata collation
Sample reel sent to vendors to convert for RFP proposal

6. Face-to-Face meeting
Working Together / Outcomes
Apr 2011: Face-to-Face meeting with video-conferencing on
Skype (10 of 12 Advisory Committee members attended)
Presentation of project and progress to date
Distribution of Briefing Book, title list and ranking form (had
previously been distributed on Basecamp)
Articulation of a timeline (one month) for selection of [minimum]
50,000 pages of content for digital queue.
Some online discussion followed
Reminders sent out one week before selections due

7. Outcomes and Future Direction
9 of the 12 sent AC members sent feedback (some tended to focus
primarily on their county papers; others focused broadly)
Selection results – based on ranking, geographical diversity and
completeness
 sufficient for grant goals and timeline
 12 titles from 10 (of 14) counties
Positive working relationship
 Generated energy & enthusiasm for project
Contact with Vermont and New England Press Associations
Potential for further outreach (historians, genealogists, schools)
The more online content, the greater the potential for outreach &
marketing

8. Selections
Titles in process (to launch production):
Vermont Farmer - Caledonia Co. (800 pages)  sample reel
Burlington Free Press weekly - Chittenden Co. - (24,000 pages)
Rutland Herald weekly 1836-1854 - Rutland Co. (3,700 pages)
 Titles in process are about 28,500 pages, so new selections should tally about 72,000 pages:
New selections (full Advisory Cmte):
Globe - Rutland (2,000 pages)
Windham County Democrat (88 pages)
Vermont Transcript - Franklin Co. (800 pages)
Vermont Phoenix - Windham Co. (10,000 pages)
Watchman / State Journal title family - Washington Co. (12,500 pages)
Middlebury Register family - Addison Co. (18,000 pages)
Spirit of the Age title family - Windsor Co. (8,000 pages)
With the remaining 21,000 pages we would like to do about 10,000 pages each from:
Bennington Banner (42,600 pages total for all of the title)
Caledonian title family - Caledonia Co. (30,000 pages total for all of this title)
More, please? Beyond 2012 – supplemental funding? … continue remaining pages from the Bennington
Banner and Caledonian title family.