1. Digital Archiving and Libraries Kathryn Lybarger November 6, 2008

2. Outline Digitizing archival materials Archiving digital materials Communicating about archival materials Providing access to digital materials

3. More practically... How to prepare for a digital archives job Things to keep in mind once you get there

4. Digitizing archival materials

5. Why digitize? What to digitize? How to digitize?

6. Why digitize?

7. Digitize for access

8. Digitization for (any) access If materials are not online, they will not get used People may not know they exist

9. Digitization for better access Easier searching Easier distribution More flexible organization Zoom in to read small text Access for visually impaired

10. Digitize for preservation

11. Digitization for preservation (no further damage) Digital copies are an effective surrogate  Better than original?  Less handling  More security

12. Digitization for preservation (conservation) A conservation opportunity!  “Do no harm”  May mean better image  You may find: Incomplete materials Mold / damage

13. Digitization for preservation (information) Record current state Copy may last May have color

14. What to digitize?

15. What to digitize (first)? First come, first serve? Projects with the most funding? Artifacts in the best shape? Artifacts in the worst shape?

16. What to digitize: Access factors

17. What to digitize: Opportunity factors

18. What to digitize: Preservation factors

19. What to digitize: Other factors

20. How to digitize?

21. Scan once / handle once Scan at true (uninterpolated) DPI Master digital image with:  Minimal noise reduction / sharpening  Minimal contrast changes (“gamma”)‏ Make changes to “display master”

22. Standards / best practices Example: NARA (National Archives and Records Administration) Guidelines

23. Standards / best practices Example: Project specific guidelines NDNP‏ - National Digital Newspaper Program

24. Archiving digital materials

25. Why archive?

26. Why archive a digital version? Digitization for preservation Many artifacts are born digital

27. How to archive digital materials Print to paper / film? Burn to CD / DVD? Hard drive? Server? Tape? Multiple copies?

28. Trusted Digital Repository (TDR)‏

29. TDR - Compliance with OAIS model Open Archival Information System reference model:

30. TDR - Administrative Responsibility Use standards and best practices  Environment  Procedures  Security Transparency  Active sharing with depositors

31. TDR - Organizational Viability Commitment to maintaining materials Appropriately skilled staff Formal succession plan

32. TDR - Financial Sustainability Sustainable business plan Standard accounting procedures Adequate operating budget and reserves

33. TDR - Technological and Procedural Suitability Consider a range of preservation strategies Appropriate hardware, software and staff Plans to replace hardware / software / procedures

34. TDR - System Security Standards for copying, redundancy, backups Disaster preparedness, training Data integrity checking

35. TDR - Procedural Accountability Practices documented and available Systems monitored Policies in place to address problems

36. TDR - TRAC Checklist

37. TDR may not be possible... But you can:  Show the checklist to administration  Follow the OAIS model  Learn and follow standards and best practices

38. Digital communication about archives

39. Communicating about archives: Finding Aids

40. Communicating about archives: OAI-PMH Open Archives Initiative – Protocol for Metadata Harvesting Search “dark archives”

41. Communicating about archives Blogs Websites Mailing lists

42. Digital access to archival materials

43. Digital access to archival materials: Web/FTP sites Need not be fancy Simple to set up Limited functionality

44. Digital access to archival materials: Content Delivery Systems Examples:  DLXS  ContentDM  Greenstone More functionality Harder to set up May not be free

45. Digital access to archival materials: Custom systems No appropriate system may exist Custom software may be written

46. How to prepare?

47. Classes Preservation, Archives Computers / Internet technology Cataloging Collection development Management …

48. Get involved with digital projects Volunteer! This can give you experience:  working with others  creating content to a standard  quality control, validation  project management

49. Wikipedia Collection development Subject cataloging Reference Dispute resolution

50. Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders Project management Scanning / OCR Proofreading / QA Standards  PGDP  XHTML  LaTeX  Project-specific

51. Librivox Create audio books Similar to PGDP Digital audio

52. Projects at University of Kentucky: National Digital Newspaper Program Digitizing historic Kentucky newspaper from microfilm Managed by Kopana Terry Project with NEH / LOC

53. Projects at University of Kentucky: Daily Racing Form Preservation Project Preserving / digitizing historic newspaper from microfilm and originals Managed by Kathryn Lybarger Partnership with Keeneland

54. Be comfortable with “metadata” “data about data” Metadata does not imply a specific format Metadata need not be digital

55. Metadata examples (digital)‏ MARC TEI EAD

56. Types of metadata Descriptive Metadata Descriptive Metadata Structural Metadata Structural Metadata Administrative Metadata Administrative Metadata  Preservation Metadata  Rights and Access Metadata  Technical Metadata

57. Metadata examples (physical)‏

58. Examples DescriptiveStructuralAdministrative PRIVATE PUBLIC A - K L - Z PERSONAL BUSINESS

59. Be familiar with web 2.0 Blogs Wikis RSS feeds

60. Set up a digital library Some content management software is free May be set up on a home computer Manage photos, e-books

61. Learn a programming language Learn to:  Recognize  Compile / execute  Edit  Write! Examples:  Perl  PHP  Javascript  “regular expressions”

62. Once you are in a job…

63. Be flexible about the tools you use Be aware of free / open-source substitutes for expensive software:  GIMP – GNU Image Manipulation Program  SoX – Sound eXchange  Pdftk – PDF toolkit  Open Office – productivity suite

64. Be flexible about how much you do Do it yourself  More management, higher cost  More control, learn more, pride Outsource  Less control, other management, still do QA  Lower cost, build relations with vendors

65. Be flexible about encoding levels It may not be practical to:  Re-key newspaper text  Make each finding aid lovely  Encode e-texts at very high levels Doing so means:  Fewer documents will be digitized  Your collection will not be consistent  You may do a disservice to researchers

66. Be willing to learn Technology and standards change Software may become unavailable Formats may become obselete New projects require learning new things

67. Be patient May be doing many projects at once Conservation may be necessary Digitization is not always straight-forward Digitization takes time Delivery is a separate problem

68. Don't panic! Within a collection, not all documents are the same Equipment breaks but can be fixed Your colleagues can help you