Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Using Metadata To Mitigate The Risks Of Digitizing Archival Photographs Of Violence And Oppression, Claudia A. Mallea

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

Questioning the archival imperative of access, this research article discussed how descriptive metadata can be used to contextualize and problematize digitized archival photographs, which are often inadequately described in the digital environment. Beginning with literature review of atrocity photos and their use and digitization to discuss the risks inherent to disseminating photos of or born from violence. Review continued into the digital environment and the risks inherent to making difficult archival collections accessible online and the conflict between the right to privacy of the individuals represented in archival materials and the archival imperative to provide access.

Expanding on the recommendations …

How To Train Your Digital Commons, Savanna Nolan, Wendy Moore

Presentations

Creating and managing institutional repositories using tools like Digital Commons can seem large and intimidating at first, but you too can train these monsters to do your bidding! The UGA Law Library will discuss three strategies we've used to be more efficient, create new workflows, and increase public discoverability by partnering with state and national digital libraries. We will focus on the ingestion of law school journals, digitization of historical photographs, recordings, and treatises, and the metadata to facilitate wider access.

Linked Data, Wikidata And Their Implementations, Sai Deng

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

An introductory session on linked data, wikidata and related implementations delivered to participating students for a National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) Major Collaborative Archives Initiative Grant led by Dr. Rosalind J. Beiler in History and Dr. Amy Giroux in Center for Humanities and Digital Research at the University of Central Florida.

Review Of Making Your Tools Work For You: Building And Maintaining An Integrated Technical Ecosystem For Digital Archives And Libraries, Ryan Leimkuehler

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

Making Your Tools Work for You by Max Eckard introduces readers to the concept of systems and data integration. Eckard walks readers through how to approach system integration and highlights various tools and techniques to make an integration project successful. The book hits its climax with specific case studies that any reader would find valuable.

Review Of Metadata For Digital Collections: A How-To-Do-It Manual, Elyse Fox

Journal of Western Archives

Review of Metadata for Digital Collections: A How-To-Do-It Manual, Second Edition by Steven Jack Miller.

Hashes Are Not Suitable To Verify Fixity Of The Public Archived Web, Mohamed Aturban, Martin Klein, Herbert Van De Sompel, Sawood Alam, Michael L. Nelson, Michele C. Weigle

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Web archives, such as the Internet Archive, preserve the web and allow access to prior states of web pages. We implicitly trust their versions of archived pages, but as their role moves from preserving curios of the past to facilitating present day adjudication, we are concerned with verifying the fixity of archived web pages, or mementos, to ensure they have always remained unaltered. A widely used technique in digital preservation to verify the fixity of an archived resource is to periodically compute a cryptographic hash value on a resource and then compare it with a previous hash value. If the …

Free And Open-Source Automated Open Access Preprint Harvesting, Jack Peplinski, Joanne Paterson, Courtney L. Waugh, Joshua M. Pearce

Western Libraries Publications

Universities are attempting to ensure that all of their research is publicly accessible because of funding mandates. Many universities have established campus open access (OA) repositories but are struggling with how to upload millions of manuscripts under numerous license agreements while also linking metadata to make them discoverable. To do this manually requires around 15 minutes per manuscript from an experienced librarian. The time and cost to do this campus-wide is prohibitive. To radically reduce the time and costs of this process and to harvest all past work, this article reports on the development and testing of a free and …

Review Of Metadata, Greg Reeve

Journal of Western Archives

Review of the third edition of Marcia Lei Zeng’s and Jain Qin’s monograph Metadata. Metadata is the definitive guide to the metadata landscape for information professionals in the Information Age.

Creating Knowledge Graphs For Collections And Lod Visualization: Some Cases, Sai Deng

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This presentation will share knowledge graphs and other Linked Open Data (LOD) visualization the author created or helped in creating for a few projects, including people in the Pemberton Correspondence Collection, WikiProject: Chinese Female Poets, and UCF Teachers & Researchers. It will also cover the current state of LOD in Ex Libris’ library services platform Alma. The purpose of this talk is to help our cataloging folks better understand LOD and be better prepared for the upcoming changes related to LOD in our library system.

Scaling Up Video Digitization At The University Of Maryland Libraries: A Case Study, Elizabeth M. Caringola, Pamela A. Mcclanahan, Robin C. Pike

Provenance, Journal of the Society of Georgia Archivists

In 2015, a team at the University of Maryland Libraries collaborated on a pilot project to digitize 100 VHS tapes from the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange collection and, in doing so, established organizational workflows for video digitization and access. After completing the pilot phase of the project, staff who worked on the project published a case study in this journal that articulated a question echoed throughout that process: “Is this enough?” Enough descriptive metadata? Enough technical metadata? Enough storage space? This article will reflect on the pilot project, detail how the digitization specifications and workflows established during the pilot project …

Teaching Archival Research Methods Through Projects In Ethnohistory, Veronica L. Denison, Alyssa Willett, Alexandra Taitt, Medeia Csoba Dehass

Journal of Western Archives

During the spring semester of 2015 and the fall semester of 2016, two cohorts of students at the University of Alaska Anchorage learned archival research skills as part of their methodological training in the course, Ethnohistory of Alaska Natives, which subsequently led to the development of further individual research projects. As part of the course, students provided metadata to folders within an archival collection. This article explores the semester long projects, including the hardships of finding and using culturally appropriate metadata, lessons learned, and the impact the project had on students, the archivist, and instructor.

Spark A Conversation On Metadata Inclusiveness, Sai Deng

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This session introduces the context for metadata inclusiveness and presents some of the efforts the speaker has been involved with, including helped create the Inclusive Metadata & Conscious Editing Resources List as a member of the Sunshine State Digital Network (SSDN) Metadata Working Group, and organized “Embracing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in Library Cataloging” for the ALA Core Interest Group Week in Spring 2021. It focuses on describing cases, examples and other resources from the SSDN Resources List, so as to give librarians and staff members in Technical Services at the University Central Florida Libraries a better understanding and …

Law Library Blog (January 2021): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Cataloging Manuscripts And Archival Collections, Rebecca A. Wiederhold

Faculty Publications

Catalogers are increasingly responsible for creating metadata for a variety of unusual items. In the Beyond Books: Cataloging Special Format Items preconference at ULA 2019, participants learned how to catalog manuscripts/archival collections, artists’ books, zines, and posters. This webinar will reprise the Manuscripts and Archival Collections segment of that session, educating participants on when it’s appropriate to catalog special collections material archivally as a collection versus on an item level. Whether you have finding aids to use as a base for your catalog record or you are working directly with the materials, guidelines for using DACS and RDA for manuscript …

Big Data: Managing Large Scale Metadata Projects In A Teleworked Environment, Rachel S. Evans, Mary Miller, Kathleen Carter, Kelley Ansley

Presentations

Beginning in March of 2020, Mary Miller and Kathleen Carter coordinated the work of over 100 University of Georgia Libraries students, faculty, and staff on remote metadata projects for the Brown Media Archives. The great majority of these UGA employees were not catalogers, were not familiar with metadata concepts, and had never visited the Brown Media Archives. Yet, in a four-month period, they successfully completed a quantity of work that would have taken Brown Media two and a half years to accomplish at regular staffing levels. Miller and Carter will share what they got right, what they got wrong and …

Using Captions And Controlled Vocabulary To Describe Visual Materials As An Alternative To Digitization, Eric Willey

Provenance, Journal of the Society of Georgia Archivists

This article describes an Illinois State University Research Grant funded project which created newspaper style captions and controlled vocabulary terms for visual materials. These materials were not intended to be digitized, and a guide separate from the finding was created including that metadata to improve access. The collection described consisted of materials donated by Lois Lenski, who donated her collection to institutions across the United States. Student workers were hired with grant funds to provide the metadata, and difficulties, successes, and outcomes encountered during the project are described..^[1]

^[1] Eric Willey, et al. “Guide to the Graphic, Scrapbook, and …

Review Of Ethical Questions In Name Authority Control, Itza A. Carbajal

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

Ethical Questions in Name Authority Control is a new and thoughtful addition to the metadata and cataloging field of study and practice. Consisting of eighteen essays written by a number of libraries, archives, and information scholars, this edited volume investigates and responds to a number of ethical questions regarding name authority control.These include topics such as the privacy of the creator, use of geographic names for contested lands, critique of the use of gender in authority control systems, as well as considerations around multilingualism, to name a few. While the title mostly appeals to a particular field of work and …

Matching Made In Heaven: Collections And Metadata Collaboration For Print Preservation, Alie Visser, Erin Johnson, Christina Zoricic

Western Libraries Publications

Following the trend of repurposing library space to meet modern user needs, Western University is undergoing a planned revitalization and renovation of its largest library on campus. As a result, 500,000 items will need to be shifted to other locations or off-site storage. In this session we will outline the impact of metadata work in shifting this large collection of material to a shared print preservation storage facility, in coordination with Western University’s Keep@Downsview partnership (https://downsviewkeep.org/). Keep@Downsview is a partnership of five universities to preserve the scholarly record in Ontario in a shared, high-density storage and preservation facility. We will …

Here Come The Bots: Six Tips When Designing Your Ir's Metadata For Improved Discoverability, Rachel S. Evans

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

Rachel Evans draws from her experience as a web developer and a recent webinar on discoverability to compose a list of six tips for creating and maintaining strong metadata in digital repositories with SEO in mind. Each tip includes a personalized summary for why it is important, especially when Google bots crawl your site. The tips include a mix of best practices and common sense advice for rising to the top of search results.

TechScans is a blog to share the latest trends and technology tools for technical services law librarians. The official blog of the TS-SIS and OBS-SIS AALL …

“Who’S Driving The Bus?” Or How Digitization Is Influencing Archival Collections, Kathelene Mccarty Smith, David Gwynn, Beth Ann Koelsch, Jennifer Motszko

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

Archivists who work directly with unique collections, as well as librarians and other professionals who coordinate digitization, generally agree that access should be prioritized. However, each group has its own goals, standards, and timelines that may conflict with those of their colleagues. The push to maximize access to collections may, in some cases, go so far as to influence collecting policies. Is the lure of rapid digitization affecting best practices of arrangement and description? If online access to the collections is the ultimate goal, and if each stakeholder has a different perspective on how best to accomplish this, who decides …

Gla Conference Review: Workshop On Digitization For Small Institutions, Rachel S. Evans

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

Rachel Evans summarizes the recent Georgia Library Association (GLA) conference held in Macon, GA in October 2019. Specifically Evans reviews in detail a workshop on digitization for small institutions. The workshop and by extension the blog post review share valuable resources for project managers working on digitization in their libraries and within their digital repositories as well as information about metadata standards and best practices.

TechScans is a blog to share the latest trends and technology tools for technical services law librarians. The official blog of the TS-SIS and OBS-SIS AALL groups.

The Espy Project: From Paper Archives To Digital Scholarship, Mark Wolfe, Melissa Mcmullen, Amanda Partridge

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

The M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives has digitized the most complete existing collection of execution records and is making them available for digital scholarship. M. Watt Espy spent his life documenting the death penalty in the United States. He created over 24,000 index cards and over 100,000 pages of reference material to document each case. The project connects this source material to a problematic 1980s-era execution dataset. We implemented Samvera’s open source digital repository software, Hyrax, which provides online access to all of the digitized materials. Hyrax allows users to query digital collections for online viewing or …

Review Of Putting Descriptive Standards To Work, Katy Sternberger

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

For a thorough understanding of current descriptive best practices, consult Putting Descriptive Standards to Work, edited by Kris Kiesling and Christopher J. Prom, with modules written by Cory L. Nimer, Kelcy Shepherd, Katherine M. Wisser, and Aaron Rubinstein. This volume covers modules seventeen through twenty of the Trends in Archives Practice series from the Society of American Archivists. The book provides readers with the context and the applied examples needed to explore the possibilities of descriptive standards.

Breaking Out Of The Box: Transforming Archival Collections And Workflows Through Collaborative Description Projects, Cindy Cline, Libby Hertenstein, Lindy Smith, Rachel Howard, Rebecca Pattillo, Ruth E. Bryan

Library Presentations

Archivists and archival collections can often be siloed into the “special” corner of their parent library: under described, underutilized, and often even unknown. Finding a path out of isolation may require taking a new look at collection management needs and considering new partners in the work. Collaboration with colleagues can result in positive ripple effects that extend beyond the initial project goals. This session will highlight three innovative description projects where archivists partnered with non-archivists to improve access to targeted collections and will detail how their collaborations transformed their archival collections, work structures and relationships, and, ultimately, their users. After …

Palm Leaf Manuscripts In South Asia, Emera Bridger Wilson, Jessica M. Rice

School of Information Studies - Post-doc and Student Scholarship

Many thousands of palm leaf manuscripts, in South Asia and elsewhere, are currently in danger of being lost due to physical deterioration. These manuscripts contain irreplaceable cultural, religious, scientific, and artistic works. Palm leaf manuscripts, which can be centuries old, are found in numerous private collections, temples, monasteries, libraries and museums. The sheer number and wide dispersal of palm leaf manuscripts provide significant challenges to conservation and preservation, including both ethical and technical considerations. A literature search and examination of palm leaf manuscripts shed light on the urgent need to proceed worldwide along two fronts simultaneously: rapid digitization of critical …

Toward Inclusive Description: Reparations Through Community-Driven Metadata, Jillian M. Ewalt

Marian Library Faculty Publications

This case study covers the process and policies involved in creating accurate and inclusive metadata for a historically marginalized community. The Japanese American Digitization Project was a consortial, collaborative digitization project with the goal of unifying and providing online access to tens of thousands of archival materials documenting the Japanese American experience. Traditionally, the Japanese American experience, particularly the internment during World War II, has been laden with euphemistic language. This article outlines community-driven metadata development, implementing an inclusive controlled vocabulary, and thinking about archival metadata as a process that can contribute to reparations.

Microfilm, Manuscripts, And Photographs: A Case Study Comparing Three Large-Scale Digitization Projects, Emily Lapworth, Sarah Jones, Marina Georgieva

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

This article is a case study comparing three large-scale digitization projects at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Libraries: the Culinary Union Workers Local 226 Photographs, the Nevada Digital Newspaper Project, and the Entertainment Project. The authors compare the project management, workflows, and decision-making related to the many aspects of digitizing special collections and archives materials. The projects used both outsourced vendors and in-house labor and equipment to digitize microfilmed newspapers, mixed-materials manuscript collections, and photographic prints and negatives. Roles and responsibilities; grant funding; copyright, privacy, and confidentiality; arrangement; formats; and metadata are all discussed in relation to large-scale …

Creating Community: Drawing On Staff Expertise To Break Down Silos In Academic Libraries, Lori Birrell, Marcy A. Strong

Collaborative Librarianship

A discussion of the strategies and outcomes behind a special collections and metadata collaboration effort at the University of Rochester, River Campus Libraries, to make finding aids more discoverable and interoperable. Through the use of a project charter and specific goals, the project managers sought to create buy-in and build a culture of teamwork amongst the participants, resulting in both improved finding aids and a model for collaborative work across departments.

Law Library Blog (September 2018): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Overcoming Legacy Processing In Photographic Collections Through Collaboration And Digital Technologies., Terri Holtze, Rachel I. Howard, Randy Kuehn, Rebecca Pattillo, Elizabeth E. Reilly

Faculty Scholarship

In the 1960s, a Louisville photography studio began donating its negatives, prints, and invoices to the University of Louisville Photographic Archives. The Caufield & Shook Collection remains a significant primary source for local history and a prime candidate for digitization. Unfortunately, on its receipt non-archivists processed the collection with little documentation of original order or organizational decision making. Additionally, workflow choices were determined largely by the desire to maximize student labor. In 2017, the Digital Initiatives Librarian worked with in-house application developers and archives staff to create a workflow that has significantly sped up the process of making this valuable …