Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Work Smarter, Not Harder, Amy Jo Hunsaker

Library Faculty Presentations

Academic institutions’ digital collections often face the challenging issue of not having enough professionals to create metadata for the thousands of digital objects that exist in their collections. Anybody can scan, but not everyone is cut out for metadata creation. However, universities abound with intellectual and energetic pre-professionals, a.k.a. students. Instead of assigning student workers and volunteers to perform purely menial tasks, why not tap into their ability to learn and train them to do more “professional” jobs, such as metadata creation and website maintenance? With an entire campus filled with students eager to gain experience and willing to study, …

Managing Risk With A Virtual Reading Room: Two Born Digital Projects, Michelle Light

Library Faculty Publications

In March 2010, the University of California, Irvine, launched a site to provide online access to papers of Richard Rorty in the form of a virtual reading room.¹ Although we didn’t know it then, we quickly learned that we were one of the first academic repositories in the United States to risk providing remote, online access to born-digital manuscripts. The virtual reading room mitigated the risks involved in providing this kind of access to personal, archival materials with privacy and copyright issues by limiting the number of qualified users and by limiting the discoverability of full-text content on the …

Institutional Repository And Archival Collaborations At Unlv Libraries: Who's In, Who's Out?, Tom D. Sommer

Library Faculty Presentations

The University Archives has become an integral part of an academic institution. It has met its role as the repository for the rich history of an institution. They have met the challenges of a changing environment at many points in their history. The most recent change being the addition of born-digital materials into their collections. However, there is an opportunity to collaborate with another unit within academic libraries. The introduction and growth of institutional repositories (IR) on college campuses has provided an opportunity for university archives. An IR’s goal is to preserve the intellectual output of an institution. This is …

Connections Newsletter Winter 2014, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Connections Newsletter

Table of Contents

• An Online Homecoming for UNLV Students: University Libraries Digitizes the Rebel Yell
• From the Dean
• UNLV Libraries Leads the Way on Preserving Nevada’s History with NEH Grant
• Students Taste the Power of Intellectual Freedom at the Banned Books Buffet
• K-12 Institute: Bringing UNLV and CCSD Educators Together
• A Treasure Trove for UNLV Grad Students Working in Special Collections During Summer
• Staff Spotlight: Michelle Light
• Project to Capture the History of the Jewish Community in Southern Nevada Begins

Exposing Missing Links: From Contentdm Digital Collections To The Linked Open Data Cloud, Silvia B. Southwick

Library Faculty Presentations

Agenda

• Linked Data basic concepts
• UNLV Linked Data project
• Technologies
• Transforming metadata into linked data
• Next steps

Survival Of The Fittest: The Evolving Nature Of Metadata Creation For Digital Collections, Silvia B. Southwick, Amy Hunsaker

Library Faculty Presentations

The evolving nature of metadata is exemplified through a pictorial timeline that expands over a decade, identifying the development of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries digital collections, the context of their development, and the various factors that emerged later on that have influenced revisions of metadata decisions.

Survival Of The Fittest The Evolution Of Metadata In Digital Collections, Silvia B. Southwick, Amy Hunsaker

Scholarship Colloquium

There is a common misconception that metadata creation for digital collections is performed in a single step by subject experts. Once the metadata record is created it is believed that the record remains mostly unchanged. Our experience demonstrates that designing and implementing digital collections is a learning process. Various elements in the environment may prompt us to review our metadata and make changes that affect all collections. We will provide you with a few examples.

Transforming Digital Collections Into Linked Data: The Rise Of Missing Links, Silvia B. Southwick, Cory K. Lampert

Library Faculty Presentations

Goals

• Study the feasibility of developing a common process that would allow the conversion of our collection records into linked data preserving their original expressivity and richness
• Publish data from our collections in the Linked Open Data Cloud to improve discover-ability and connections with other related data sets on the Web

Linked Data Demystified: Practical Efforts To Transform Contentdm Metadata For The Linked Data Cloud, Silvia B. Southwick, Cory K. Lampert

Library Faculty Presentations

The library literature and events like the ALA Annual Conference have been inundated with presentations and articles on linked data. At UNLV Libraries, we understand the importance of linked data in helping to better service our users. We have designed and initiated a pilot project to apply linked data concepts to the practical task of transforming a sample set of our CONTENTdm digital collections data into future-oriented linked data. This presentation will outline rationale for beginning work in linked data and detail the phases we will undertake in the proof of concept project. We hope through this research experiment to …

Navigating To Success: Finding Your Way Through The Challenges Of Map Digitization, Cory K. Lampert, Katherine Rankin

Library Faculty Presentations

This presentation highlights the key steps and decision points essential to completing a successful map digitization project. Topics to be covered include: overcoming the challenges of scanning large-scale materials (including file sizes and encapsulation), descriptive metadata for map collections, copyright and privacy issues for geographic materials, adding geographic coordinates to map collections, image viewer and interface options for online maps, and methods to track the impact of map digitization with users. Using University of Nevada Las Vegas Libraries’ digital project Southern Nevada: History in Maps as a case study, the authors will discuss the challenges inherent in map digitization and …

Connections Newsletter Fall 2011, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Connections Newsletter

Table of Contents

• UNLV Center for Gaming Research
• From the Dean
• Welcome Home, Howard Digital Collection Now on Flickr
• Hotel College Faculty Partner with Library Faculty on Course Design
• Census Provides More than Population Statistics
• Lied Library 10^th Anniversary Celebration
• Library Advisory Board Welcomes New Members
• Three Top Students Win Calvert Awards
• Going WEST Preserves Journal Archives Efficiently

Keeping Track Of Objects And Metadata At Unlv: From Material Selection Through Metadata Quality Control, Silvia B. Southwick, Jane Skoric

Library Faculty Presentations

Often times a large amount of time is spent in organizing materials and tracking workflow in digital collection projects. Time is a precious resource in most projects since they are constrained by a rigid schedule. This problem is exacerbated in collaborative environments where different people collaborate in various stages of the project. Silvia Southwick and Jane Skoric with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas will present effective and efficient simple tools to manage digital objects and metadata throughout the life cycle of a digital collection project. Using actual work processes, we will describe and demonstrate the tracking of physical and …

Strategic Planning For Sustaining User-Generated Content In Digital Collections, Cory K. Lampert, Su Kim Chung

Library Faculty Publications

Experimentation and exploration are hallmarks of innovative libraries, but as experiments become on-going projects and investigations become long-term commitments, it is important to gain perspective on how the roles of librarians, archivists, and information professionals are changing. As social computing becomes routine for computer users, libraries of all types are responding to these new expectations by building interactive communication features into their on-line collections. Social features and user-generated content raise several compelling issues as organizations strive to balance agile adaptation to the ever-evolving user environment with the realities of limited staff resources and greater administrative expectations. This paper examines the …

Engaging Your Campus In Utilizing Institutional Repositories, Marianne A. Buehler

Library Faculty Presentations

Essentials of IR Success
- Institutional repository (IR) best practices: engagement with administrators, faculty, staff, and students
- Acquisition of research scholarship, publications, theses/dissertations, and other research objects
- Successful marketing strategies, best practices for garnering IR content, and developing open access mandates

Toward A Nevada Digital Collaborative, Jason Vaughan

Library Faculty Publications

In mid-2008, through Library Services and Technology Act funding, the Nevada State Library and Archives brought together members for a newly established Nevada Statewide Digital Advisory Committee (hereafter referred to as “NSDAC”) to engage in a comprehensive, statewide digital planning process. As stated in the charge, “Advisory committee members participate in the identification of issues regarding digitization in Nevada, collaborate in the planning and development of a statewide digital initiative . . . and contribute to effective communication among the key digital stakeholders in Nevada.” The full charge is provided in Appendix A. By design, the committee included members from …

Metadata Dictionary Database: A Proposed Tool For Academic Library Metadata Management, Silvia B. Southwick, Cory Lampert

Library Faculty Presentations

Efficient management of metadata is critical for developing quality, sharable metadata. A variety of metadata challenges arise from metadata designed in a project-specific context versus taking a comprehensive metadata management approach applied across multiple digital collections in academic libraries.

Tales From The Field: The Right Mix Of Theory, Practice, And Soft Skills For Educating Digital Library Leaders, Cory K. Lampert, Krystyna Matusiak

Library Faculty Presentations

Technology skills have entered the LIS curriculum, but an overlooked variable in employability is often the perception of graduates’ soft skills. Communication skills, consensus-building and strategic thinking are critical to employers and by integrating coursework, internship experience, and networking opportunities as part of the core educational experience new graduates can set themselves apart as they enter the workforce. Research shows that programs that most effectively prepare future digital librarians are those that complement theory with interdisciplinary practice by developing partnerships and offer mentoring opportunities. This paper presents two perspectives identifying strategies to help develop leadership skills for the digital library …

Designing The Born-Digital Archive, Michelle Light

Library Faculty Presentations

Light spoke generally about the major issues facing archivists who manage born digital records and how the UCI Libraries responded when providing access to the Richard Rorty papers. She discussed the challenges, such as dealing with rapid technological change, ensure present and future accessibility of legacy files, managing privacy and copyrights, guaranteeing the authenticity and integrity of files, preventing loss and destruction, and selecting the most important material for preservation. She also discussed numerous decisions archivists make that impact the future archive, such as emulation or preservation of the original computing environment, the organization of files, the migration of materials …

Oral History On The Web, Tom D. Sommer

Library Faculty Presentations

This session will examine how oral history is increasing its relevance in a changing digital landscape. This session will not only showcase a few oral history collections currently online, but how oral historians can place them there. Further, this session will explain the basic steps to uploading your interviews (audio, video and transcriptions) to the Web with some practical tools. This session will also showcase a new method of access for oral history researchers. This new method is the digital collection. For example, the University Libraries at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas has created the digital collection entitled, “Nevada …

Using Contentdm To Compliment K-12 Curriculum: Southern Nevada--The Boomtown Years, Cory K. Lampert

Library Faculty Presentations

Setting the Stage for Boomtown

•2006, Libraries revamp digitization program and begin staff reorganization

•2007-2008 Implement Digitization Advisory Committee and Project Teams Launch Nevada Test Site Oral History Project: http://digital.library.unlv.edu/ntsohp/

•2008 awarded $95,000 LSTA grant to create large hybrid collection on Southern Nevada during 1900-1925

Contentdm @ Unlv: New Capabilities, New Opportunities, Cory K. Lampert

Library Faculty Presentations

Why digitize?

•Access

•Preservation (sort of…)

•Collaboration

•New forum for publishing

Adventures In Digitization: A New Librarian Shares Five Hard Earned Tips To Avoid Project Management Pitfalls, Cory K. Lampert

Library Faculty Presentations

Many institutions are feeling pressure to embark on digitization projects to provide greater access and visibility to their unique materials. Digitization initiatives have numerous benefits, but they can also drain staff time and resources if they are not planned and prioritized well. As new librarians are hired into increasingly technical entry-level positions, they are often expected to contribute to or lead digitization projects requiring a diverse skill set. Learn five key tips to help recent grads and new digital project managers to avoid pitfalls. Topics will include: the importance of the planning process, involving key people at the right time, …

From Digital Library To Institutional Repository: A Brief Look At One Library’S Path, Marianne A. Buehler, Marcia Trauernicht

Library Faculty Publications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the initial transformation of one academic library’s digital media library into the institutional repository (IR) of its entire academic organization. Design/methodology/approach – Description of an academic digital library’s evolution into an institutional repository, accompanied by both practical and philosophical analyses. Findings – Materials supporting an academic institution’s scholarship (from colleges and from supporting organizations on campus) can play an important part in the success of an institutional repository. Standards for metadata content, data structures and hierarchies of collections must be followed consistently, and adequate storage for digital …

Metadata And The Technical Services Librarian, Katherine Rankin

Library Faculty Presentations

Introduction

- Early Las Vegas Digital Project

- Background on project

- Version 1—Used MARC Records

- Version 2—Used Dublin Core in Contentdm software

The Evolving Impact Of Institutional Repositories On Reference Librarians, Marianne A. Buehler, Adwoa Boateng

Library Faculty Publications

Purpose – The paper's purpose is to share the insights that the staff of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Libraries (Wallace Library, RIT Archives, and the Cary Collection) gained into the role of reference librarians in establishing and operating an institutional repository (IR). Design/methodology/approach – The paper conducts a literature review on a range of published (1999-2005) works to research the background of IRs and to incorporate it with the authors' own experiences. Findings – The research findings, involving implementing IRs and specifically the effect on the role of the reference librarian in academic libraries, were found to be …

Some Practical Points On Organizing Etd Consortia, Silvia B. Southwick, Ana Pavani

Library Faculty Publications

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) digital libraries are being developed worldwide. Higher education organizations commonly collaborate in these efforts by forming consortia. Some of the existing consortia are at the national level while others are at regional levels. NDLTD (Networked Digital Library for Thesis and Dissertations) is an initiative that is creating an international consortium which includes organizations or other ETD consortia in various countries. Consortia are important because they create an opportunity to collaborate, to share experiences, and to establish or adopt standards that guarantee interoperability among participant ETD digital libraries. However, developing consortia is challenging since it requires …