1. Cheap, Quick, and Pretty: Mass Digitization of Large Manuscript Collections Jody L. DeRidder University of Alabama Libraries jlderidder@ua.edu

2. Outline How difficult is it? What does it look like? How long does it take? What does it cost? How effective is it? What’s missing?

3. How difficult is it? And sequence: 1, 2, 3 … Each file name includes:

4. What does it look like? (item)

5. What does it look like? (EAD)

6. What does it look like? (item outside Acumen)

7. How long does it take? Old method: 8.25 min. / scan New method: 4.34 min. / scan Processing: reduced. QC: reduced. Metadata time: none. 47% LESS TIME!

8. What does it cost? Old method: $2.47 / scan New method: $0.80 /scan Processing: reduced. QC: reduced. Metadata costs: none. 68% CHEAPER!!

9. How effective is it? Experienced researchers prefer it! Those new to digital collections found it easier!  42% less time  27% fewer clicks  12% more success Foreign students found the terminology difficult.

10. We still need… Improved usability of EAD interface: Terminology Search in page Navigation links Then: Establish learnability

11. Summary Easy: put info in file names; run scripts Looks: pretty darn good! Time: 4.34 min. / page Cost: 79.5 cents / page Effectiveness: great for scholars; surprisingly good for novices Need: improved usability of EAD interface

12. For More Information: Upcoming American Archivist article?? Jody L. DeRidder, “Leveraging EAD for Low-Cost Access to Digitized Collections at the University of Alabama Libraries,” Journal of Library Innovation, 2:1 (2011), http://www.libraryinnovation.org/article/view/69 University of Alabama Libraries, “Septimus D. Cabaniss Papers Digitization Project.”  Project Site: http://www.lib.ua.edu/libraries/hoole/cabaniss  Wiki: http://www.lib.ua.edu/wiki/digcoll/index.php/Cabaniss  Display: http://acumen.lib.ua.edu/u0003_0000252 University of Alabama Libraries, “Acumen Digital Library Software.” http://sourceforge.net/projects/acumendls/

13. Experienced researchers prefer the finding aid interface: Tim West, Kirill Fesenko, and Laura Clark Brown, “Extending the Reach of Southern Sources: Proceeding to Large-Scale Digitization of Manuscript Collections,” Final Grant Report for the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Southern Historical Collection, University Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, June 2009, http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/archivalmassdigitization/download/extending_the_reach.pdf Cory Nimer and J. Gordon Daines III, “What Do You Mean It Doesn’t Make Sense? Redesigning Finding Aids from the User’s Perspective,” Journal of Archival Organization 6, no. 4 (2008), http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15332740802533214 Novice users experience a learning curve: Wendy Scheir, “First Entry: Report on a Qualitative Exploratory Study of Novice User Experience with Online Finding Aids,” Journal of Archival Organization 3, no. 4 (2006), http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J201v03n04_04 Joyce Celeste Chapman, “Observing Users: An Empirical Analysis of User Interaction with Online Finding Aids,” Journal of Archival Organization 8, no. 1 (2010) http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15332748.2010.484361 References