Digitising Special Queen’s - the JSTOR Project Preservation Teaching Research 1

The usual challenges Rare material Fragility Range of titles Cataloguing/metadata Poor quality of text Finance 2

The core resource Irish Studies Collection in JSTOR Digital Library of core e-resources on Ireland Journals - full-text, interdisciplinary Monographs - full-text, interdisciplinary Manuscript images – music, travel writing 3

Library Imperatives Preservation Access – enhanced, wider and remote Collaboration Integration of related materials elsewhere Exploiting IT Insert image 4

Scholarly Imperatives Access to rare resources Resource discovery New, complex searching Serendipity Collaboration Enhanced research potential Insert image 5

Project Background Initial plans included Creating an index Digitisation of Hayes bibliographies Manuscript sources for the history of Irish civilisation and Sources for the history of Irish civilisation: articles in Irish periodicals Hayes presented some problems – limited range of titles, complex structure, outdated, quality of print Improved technology and user expectations – full-text archive now necessary 6

Audience Analysis Consultation patterns Statistical evidence Academic recommendation International researchers 7

Content Selection - JSTOR JSTOR selection criteria Peer reviewed and others by academic recommendation Licence agreements signed 8

Pressure Points Delays – licence preparation Delays – licence signing Delays - staffing Review 9

Collaboration model Queen’s and JSTOR create full-text Irish journal collection Free resource in Ireland and UK Subscription based resource outside the ‘free zone’ Revenue Shared with publisher Maintenance, sustainability, moving wall 10

JSTOR Project challenges In excess of 600,000 pages to be digitised High image quality required - post-printing annotations removed Detailed indexing & metadata requirements e.g. Journals require issue, article, editorial, book reviews, notices and announcements to be tagged, plus details relating to front and back matter 11

Digitisation Challenges Quantity of research material available and research range in Humanities Future proofing (scan once) to create archival & working sets Old & rare materials, variable physical condition Faithful replica of originals – JSTOR strength 12

Reliable, Successful, Sustainable Diaspora of Irish Studies Good business model with JSTOR Sustainable technical solution in place with JSTOR Significant body of material continuously updated Content chosen by academics 13

The future Linking Queen’s Digital Collections and other e-resources Ireland Collection is infinitely extensible, Ireland Collection 2? Advancement of an Irish Studies research agenda through international collaborations, providing access to research resources and resource discovery tools Only our imaginations limit the possibilities for future development – collaboration is our strength 14

Projects – a few considerations IPR Administration Staffing Content Finance Experience Flexibility Synergy TRUST 15

Ireland Collection in JSTOR JSTOR Ireland Collection Developed in collaboration with Queen's University Belfast Interdisciplinary collection of journals and other materials 75 journal titles, with previous titles included Includes Journals with moving walls between 1 and 5 years Ceased journals from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries Over 200 monographs 2,500 manuscript pages 16

Contact details for further information: Deirdre Wildy Head of Special Collections & Archives Queen’s University Belfast Tel