Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Roping, Corralling And Branding Silos Of Information: Old West Techniques For A New World, Cheryl D. Walters, Randy Williams, Liz Woolcott

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

Isolated silos of information are somewhat outdated in today's fast paced, Google-ized search environment. At Utah State University Libraries, we are creating strategies for aggregating unique primary source materials form multiple institutions and creating uber-collections that preserve institutional-level branding. Modeling our efforts on Indiana University's and the American Folklore Society's OpenFolklore Initiative, we are "roping" the oral histories (and associated materials) of American Folklorists, "corralling" them with CONTENTdm and rich metadata records, and branding them with institutional logos. The digital collection Collecting Memories: Oral Histories of American Folklorists is our first such effort.