November 2006 Archives

The University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee has just released a brand new digital collection of over 5,500 photographic images from the slide collections of the American Geographic Society Library. 3,284 color slides were chosen for this project from the extensive Harrison Forman slide collection. Forman’s special interest was in Asia, but his collection also covers cities across all continents. The selected images span the years from 1958 to 1978 The Cities Around the World Collection (http://www.uwm.edu/Libraries/digilib/cities/index.html) focuses on the main subject areas of: City & Town Life, Architecture, Views, Transportation, and People.

UWM's digitization unit researches each of the scanned images to provide rich, high quality metadata for digitization projects. I have always enjoyed travel, but when I worked on this collection for 3 semesters while I was enrolled in the School of Information Studies, I found myself discovering the joys of armchair travel through metadata! I learned a great deal from both my studies in library school and my internship in UWM Libraries' Digital Collections and it is very rewarding to see all the hard work pay off with this exciting launch.

In the first months on the job this summer, Dean Patty Iannuzzi asked me to write a white paper compiling important questions that need to be addressed to help direct the future of digitization projects at the Libraries. Library staff can access the paper on the Libraries staff website. As a result of the paper, the Libraries hosted an all-staff professional development event last week.

On Friday, November 17 UNLV Libraries welcomed Roy Tennant from the California Digital Library and Ann Lally from the University of Washington to speak at a day-long workshop for library staff, campus collaborators (History department, Fine Arts department, Office of Information Technology), and regional libraries (University of Nevada Reno, Nevada State College).The presenters shared their expertise growing and building successful digital library programs and addressed issues relating to digitization projects in academic libraries. Turnout was high for both the morning session and the afternoon panel discussions, where library staff participated by asking questions and discussing a variety of topics.

Audience questions included:
How do you select and prioritize projects?
How do we set the stage for the creation of sharable metadata?
How can we market digital collections and how can digital collections market the Libraries?

Quotes summing up the themes of the day:
"Only librarians like to search, users like to find!" (Roy Tennant)
"CONTENTdm's greatest strength is its ability to support collaboration." (Ann Lally)
"Digital collections often result in higher physical use of the originals." (Ann Lally)
"Break down information silos and aggregate materials." (Roy Tennant)

The workshop proved to be a great success and the whole library seemed abuzz with renewed enthusiasm. Many library staff expressed enthusiastic comments and shared their personal interest in digitization and WDS hopes to channel this energy into a continuing dialogue and committment to future digital projects.

Thanks for stopping by! This blog serves as an information source for updates on UNLV Libraries digitization activities, digital collections news, and items of interest from the field of digital libraries.

Digital collections at the University of Nevada Las Vegas are managed and created in the Web and Digitization Services (WDS) department of the Libraries. UNLV uses CONTENTdm™ as its digital media management system, which helps facilitate collaboration and sharing of digital collections. This blog will also provide updates and information regarding CONTENTdm development and implementation.

Currently, there are two major digital collections in production. The Showgirls project focuses on historic materials relating to Las Vegas showgirls and features scanned digital images of original costume design sketches and photographic prints. The Nevada Test SIte Oral History Project is being created in conjunction with the UNLV Department of History and consists of oral history interview transcripts and digital audio. The digitized content has been collected to create a much-needed research collection on the Nevada Test Site.

WDS and staff working on digital projects are always interested in hearing your comments, questions, project ideas, and feedback. Please feel free to E-mail Us, or stop by and visit!