BUILDING DIGITAL LIBRARIES FOR CULTURAL OBJECTS IN LIBRARIES’ SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

WHAT STUDENTS NEED TO KNOW

Dr. Deirdre C. StamPalmer School of Library and

Information Science Long Island UniversityNew York, New YorkJanuary 2010

A PROJECT THAT PLACED MLS STUDENTS IN SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARIES: WHAT WE LEARNED

The Project: to place Palmer School students as interns in the special collections units of the City University of New York (CUNY) libraries to work on digital projects designed to increase access to cultural collections.

Note: CUNY has 23 campuses and serves 480,000 students. We worked with 12 of its campuses.

Basic data about the project: 3 years in length (2007-2010), 30 MLS (graduate) students; internships of 120 hours each; funded by a government grant to provide paid internships.

BACKGROUND:WHAT IS A “SPECIAL COLLECTION” OF CULTURAL OBJECTS?

A collection of materials that1. Need a little help to survive because of fragility or

susceptibility to theft2. Are important because of their physical properties as

well as informational content3. Relate to the recorded history of a culture (examples:

books in all forms, pamphlets, manuscripts and letters, institutional archives, photographs, drawings, theatre sets and costumes, sheet music, recorded music, maps, writing equipment, book-related crafts, script and inscriptions, and audio-visual formats)

Note: Special collections contain books, of course, but today they include many more objects that meet the criteria above.

SOME CULTURAL OBJECTS THAT COULD BE FOUND IN LIBRARIES’ SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

19th-century U.S. embroidery sampler including the alphabet, from Ohio

Artists’s folded book by David Faithfull, Scotland, about 2000

MORE CULTURAL OBJECTS THAT MIGHT BE FOUND IN LIBRARIES’ SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Below: Back-to-back embroidered binding, about 1600, European

Above: Girdle book, European, 1200 CE.

Right: cuneiform,Sumerian, 4000 BCE

WHERE ARE “SPECIAL COLLECTIONS” FOUND?

In academic and research libraries In museums In historical societies In national libraries In cultural centers

Note: In recent years, the functions of these institutions have grown very similar. The issues and solutions for their digital libraries are also quite similar.

WHAT ARE THE MAJOR TRENDS AND ISSUES IN SPECIAL COLLECTIONS TODAY?

Current trends (all have digital aspects):1. Interest in collecting everyday objects

representing recorded knowledge (advertisements, posters, commercial hand-outs and forms, programs of community events, local newspapers, campaign literature, wedding photographs and more)

2. Preservation and security3. Outreach (teaching, exhibitions, events)4. Access (online catalogs, digital exhibitions, and

online databases of holdings)5. Teaching from the collections (to young children,

to university students, and to the general public)

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SOME NEW TRENDS IN SPECIAL COLLECTIONS: ILLUSTRATED

Exhibition and teaching facilities within the Special Collections unit of Syracuse University. Materials are brought into the Special Collections classrooms.

ARE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS’ DIGITAL LIBRARIES DIFFERENT FROM OTHER DIGITAL LIBRARIES?

It is true that the technical foundations are basically the same for all digital libraries of today.

However, digital libraries for special collections materials have some distinct characteristics, reflecting trends in the special collections field.

Students who work on digital library project in special collections have to be aware of a special set of issues and approaches. These spring from inerest in the physical objects, the complexity of those objects and the need to protect and secure materials.

These special needs are noted in the following slides.

BUT FIRST, A FEW OBSERVATIONS We are NOT talking about a digital library like Google books!

Google books is interested only in the words on the page; we in special collections are interested in the physical objects that carry the words (or coded information) as well as the text itself – maybe more so!

We are also interested in the original context of the object: uses made of the object, related objects, the social function of the object, role of the object in life and/or ritual, process of manufacture, and so forth.

We are also interested in the history of the specific cultural object in hand : who owned it, who might be associated with it, and has it been altered since its original manufacture

The metadata for Google books are very simple, reflecting the narrowness of Google’s interest in the text alone. The metadata for cultural objects in special collections are complex, and vary considerably in nature from one kind of object to another.

Consider the complexity of metadata needed to capture the cultural significant of some of he following objects that might be found in a library’s special collection (next slide).

WE PAUSE HERE TO LOOK ATMORE CULTURAL OBJECTS THAT MIGHT BE A LIBRARY’S SPECIAL COLLECTION

Below: Burmese Pali manuscript with box, 1800 CE

Hebrew scroll, modern

AND MORE CULTURAL OBJECTS OF INTEREST TO A SPECIAL COLLECTION

Below: globe by Jonathan Potter, English, 1632 CE

Right: Paper volvelle. page from mathematics text by Apianus, European, 1600 CE

WHERE TO BEGIN IN THE CREATION OF A DIGITAL LIBRARY FOR CULTURAL INFORMATION?

Consider:1. Mission of the overall institution and of

the special collection2. Resources available: financial, human,

managerial, technological3. Purpose of the project: users, uses,

institutional motivation, national interests4. System-level decisions – they must flow

logically from numbers 1-3 on this list.

WHAT TECHNICAL DECISIONS ARE NECESSARY TO MANAGING A DIGITAL LIBRARY PROJECT FOR CULTURAL OBJECTS?

1. Descriptive standards2. Categories of metadata3. Tools for consistency in metadata (if necessary): authority

files, taxonomies, and rules to govern data entry.4. Photography standards (or recording standards for other

media)5. System architecture and product6. Tools to maximize utility (for example, tutorials for users,

lesson plans for teachers, search and discovery mechanisms)7. Workflow schedules and practices, keeping preservation

needs in mind8. Evaluation routines: data-gathering, bench-marking,

analytical tools and revision cycles

9. We’ll look at some of these categories of technical information in detail.

NECESSARY DECISIONS: DESCRIPTIVE STANDARDS

Common possibilities:Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd edition; subset for rare books

Note: Allows integration and consistent retrieval across institutions; can be used with turn-key systems; but metadata categories are often too rigid or insufficient for non-book materials; also it is usually implemented in the out-dated MARC format.

Archives approach (Describing Archives: A Content Standard [DACS] implemented in Encoded Archival Description [EAD] or in [MARC]Note: Good for large groups of related material; easy to add semi-structured contextual information; uses strict XML mark-up approach; complex to learn; vendors’ systems are not yet fully developed.

Unique XML-based approach within a relational database structureNote: Requires home-grown taxonomies and authority files; doesn’t integrate well with other institutions’ metadata; requires highly sophisticated discovery/retrieval tools; often requires considerable local technical expertise and support.

NECESSARY DECISIONS:CATEGORIES OF METADATA

Costumes for Salsa Dancing (a collection owned by Hostos College special collection library within City University)

Example of metadata categories for actual costumes (not just photographs of costumes): Material(s) Design Size Date Maker

And so forth

Example of a complex, non-book example:

NECESSARY DECISIONS:STANDARDS FOR PHOTOGRAPHY

Consider the purpose of the digital library to identify aspects of the object that need to be revealed and emphasized

Examples of cultural objects that could present difficulties to the photographer:

Left: Pop-up book: Pixie Hollow, 20th century

Right: Writing desk for travel, 19th century English

NECESSARY DECISIONSSTANDARDS FOR PHOTOGRAPHY

More challenges for the photographerBelow: design for a stage set.

Right: Indic palm leaf book, Sanscrit

NECESSARY DECISIONS:STANDARDS FOR PHOTOGRAPHY

Photography concerns unique to special collections material: Security and preservation during photographing and

during transporting to and from the special collections unit

Photography concerns common to all digital library projects:

Current “best practices” and standards (resolution[s], file type, file size)

Work flow (time allowed per image, procedures) Correction work (“Photoshop” treatment, color correction

and so forth)

NECESSARY DECISIONS:SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE

Management concerns: funding, user access, retrieval/discovery, technological capacity and support, staffing, data security, data storage, data consistency, ease of use, and inputting rate

Possible approaches1. Stand-alone approach. One work-station, one person. (Control is

good; access is poor; inputting progress is slow.)2. Group input under one management structure, as is typical of

one library. (Control is good; access could be good; inputting progress could be good.) D-Space is an example.

3. Multi-person contributions from various locations not under one institutions’ umbrella. (Control is poor; access could be widespread; consistency is poor; technological support could be a problem; inputting progress could be excellent.) Wikipedia is an example.

A related issue is the choice between a “turn-key” product and an “open source” product. Here technological support is a major factor in decision-making. All of the approaches described above can be supported by either vendor or open source products.

BACK TO THE STUDENTS:INTERNS IN SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

HOW DO STUDENTS ACQUIRE THE NECESSARY SKILLS TO BUILD DIGITAL LIBRARIES FOR CULTURAL MATERIALS

Within our 12-course (36-hour) Masters of Library Science program, students can concentrate in Rare Books and Special collections. That requires 5 courses.

1. Required course: Rare Book and Special Collections Librarianship2. Also one course in the History of the Book (We offer about five

different book history courses a year)3. Also two electives from a list that includes Archival Management,

Preservation, Building Digital Libraries, Web page creation, Advanced Metadata, and more

4. And an internship of 120 hours as the final course in an archive or library. Thirty students participated in the project to place interns in City University of New York libraries to work on digital projects in special collections units. They worked on 12 different campuses.

The Rare Book and Special Collections concentration is available on our New York City site at New York University.

Each year we graduate about 11 people in this concentration. Another 100 per year take rare book and special collections courses.

DID OUR STUDENTS KNOW ENOUGH TO WORK ON DIGITAL LIBRARIES BY THE END OF THEIR MLS PROGRAM?

In our evaluation we looked at two kinds of data:1. Quantitative data on what they actually processed for

improved accessibility of special collections material.2. Qualitative data on students’ perceptions (and, to

some extent, from their supervisors’ perceptions).

Note: In many cases, the students were ahead of their supervising librarians in their knowledge about digital libraries. This was an advantage to the students in that they were a part of the planning process in most of the libraries they worked in. In most cases, supervisors simply said “thank you” but did not comment on the students’ specific abilities. Students received much praise for the help they provided.

WHAT DID STUDENTS DO AS INTERNS IN SPECIAL COLLECTIONS UNITS RELATING TO DIGITAL LIBRARIES?

Digitize an analog slide collection Scan institutional archives, student magazine covers, and programs for

college events Process archives using DACS/EAD Create a web page for the special collections unit Write a grant application for funding for a digital library Catalog items (creating metadata) directly into D-Space and Content DM

(digital library software products) Photograph items Correct images using Photoshop Network the unit’s various computers and devices necessary to digital

library creation Create a web-based guide and blog for using the special collections’

online catalog Create an online exhibition of special collections materials Investigate hardware and software for purchase Identify tools for measuring public use of online materials and plan

processes for the regular use by staff of these analytical tools.

STUDENTS’ REFLECTIONS ON THEIR INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE WITH BUILDING DIGITAL LIBRARIES IN SPECIAL COLLECTIONS UNITS

Students learned how:1. To think like a manager with an overview of the entire

project, keeping its purpose in mind2. To create detailed plans3. To stretch scarce resources and to be inventive4. To develop patience in the face of reality5. To seize on opportunity and excitement6. To quantify and analyze constantly7. To regard their own efforts with objectivity8. To expect to learn constantly9. To see evaluation as a tool and not a threat.

FUTURE TRAINING OF STUDENTS FOR SPECIAL COLLECTIONS: CONCLUSIONS

The lessons for library education that we take away from our experience with our three-year internship project:

• There is a growing interest in special collections materials, especially ephemeral and less common materials

• Digital work will play an increasingly important role in special collections work

• There is an ongoing need for this work and staff to do it

• The traditional approach to library education is basically sound, involving both theory and practice

• Management training may need more attention

• Constant minor adjustments to curriculum to accommodate new technology trends and developments are needed.

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