Duke Digital Collections: From Projects to Program

Jill Katte VermillionDigital Collections Program

Duke University Libraries

Documentary ArtsJames Karales Photographs: “The Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights March, 1965”

Duke History

Duke Football Programs: “Duke vs. University of North Carolina, 1981 Nov 21”

Advertising & Consumer Culture

Medicine and Madison Avenue: “She's a Calendar Girl - But She Has No Dates!” 1957

Transcultural ExperiencesSidney D. Gamble Photographs: “Robert Fitch & Three-Man Chair,” 1917-1919

Digital Collections

Program

Collections & User Svs

Digital Production Center

Preservation

Cataloging & Metadata Svs

Special Collections Tech Svs

Discovery & Core Svs

Digital Experience Svs Priorities

Assessment

Digital o

bjects

Conservation

MetadataMetadata

Stor

age

Tech

infra

stru

ctur

e

Web interfaces

Duke Digital Collections: Distributed model

Sidney Gamble Photographs, 1917-1932North China Union Women’s College, Library, 1917-1919

Lessons Learned: Sidney Gamble Photographs

• Digitize at-risk formats to provide access• Promote digital collections actively• Use external tools for internationalization and

mapping

Lessons Learned: AdViews

• Promote digital collections actively x2• Digitize at-risk formats to provide access x2• Take a risk-management approach to

copyright/permissions• Explore external hosting: iTunes U, Flickr,

YouTube, etc.• Be realistic about internal resources/workload

Alternative interfaces: CoolIris 3D Wall

Alternative Interfaces: Duke Mobile iPhone App

Lessons Learned: Alternate Interfaces

• Provide one open data source (Media RSS) to enable multiple interfaces

• Separate content from presentation• Expose data using standards• Let other people do the development work

Takeaways• Let users help set digitization priorities• Digitization is just the first step• Normalize metadata, esp. names, dates,

geographic terms• In-house and home-grown are not always the

low-cost approaches• Optimize for search engines• Promote digital collections and assess use

Resources

• “Shifting Gears: Gearing Up to Get Into the Flow [PDF]” (OCLC Programs and Research, 2007)

• “Well-intentioned practice for putting digitized collections of unpublished materials online [PDF]” (OCLC Programs and Research, 2010)

• State Historical Records Advisory Boards; IMLS State Programs

• Consortia-sponsored digitization programs• Communities of practice

Connect with us

http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/

Jill Vermillionjill.katte@duke.edu