Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Ethical Access Practices: Interviews With Practitioners​, Virginia A. Dressler, Kelley F. Rowan

Works of the FIU Libraries

This presentation was given at the Digital Library Federation in 2024. It shares interviews conducted with various institutions and their practitioners who manage digital collections. The authors are exploring the use of access, access restrictions, privacy, and policies that are in place to help practitioners manage complex ethical issues in determining privacy and access. The presentation is part of a 2025 publication by the authors titled, The Ethical Digital Repository: A Compassionate Approach to Managing Sensitive Content and Decolonial Archives.

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 …

Lantern Slides For Engineering Instruction In The Early 20th Century, Jill H. Powell

Upstate New York Science Librarians Conference

Cornell's Engineering Library received a donation of some 360 lantern slides from the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, which were used as visual aids in industrial engineering classes in the 1920s-1930s. They include pictures of machines, people operating machines, organized recreation in factories, automobile assembly, and sample hiring practices, many of which were discriminatory. We would like to get the slides digitized, and will discuss the experience of applying for a grant.

Wikimedia And Beyond: Linked Data Projects In Minnesota, Greta Bahnemann, Theresa Berger, Bri Krumwiede, Sara Ring, Heidi J. Southworth

Library Services Publications

How many linked data conference sessions have you attended where the benefits of linked data to libraries were discussed, with the ultimate goal of leading to better visibility for libraries? These sessions likely mentioned research initiatives at large, well-resourced institutions such as the Library of Congress and OCLC Research. But then the post-conference reality sets in and linked data applications in the real world seem almost unattainable. Join us to learn about some of the more approachable and practical implementations of linked data in libraries. We have discovered that one of the best ways to learn about the impact of …

Reaping The Harvest: Developing The Idaho Harvester, Robert Perret, Michelle Shannon, Amy Thompson, Courtney Berge, Devin Becker

Journal of Western Archives

Social media platforms like Tumblr offer a quick, easy, and popular way for archives to conduct outreach and engage users with collections without requiring technical expertise like computer programming and web design. However, as the University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives Department discovered after years of using Tumblr for online outreach, there are significant disadvantages to using a third-party social media platform. Unable to control the discoverability, display, and preservation of blog posts, it became clear that Tumblr was no longer serving the department’s evolving needs, necessitating an alternative solution moving forward. Special Collections & Archives partnered with …

How Will This Benefit You? ​Ethical Guidelines For Community Driven Archives​, Kelley Flannery Rowan

Works of the FIU Libraries

This presentation was given at the Centre for Excellence on Empathy, Equity & Diversity's (CEEED) inaugural seminar, Making Empathy, Equity, and Diversity Relevant for Digital Ethics seminar. It provides a brief overview of how to develop an ethical foundation when working with historically marginalized communities in developing archives and digital collections.

An ethical approach to digital collections is essential for creating collections and partnerships that benefit and represent community members and the institution hosting the collection. While examples in this presentation are based on developing relationships with tribal nations, the same approach can be employed in working with all community …

Amplifying Unheard Voices: A Community-Based Approach To Preserving Black History In The Inland Empire, Eric L. Milenkiewicz

Library Faculty Publications & Presentations

This presentation discusses the "Bridges That Carried Us Over Project: Documenting Black History in the Inland Empire," a community-based, collaborative initiative between three local area universities designed to capture the accounts, experiences, and personal narratives from members of the Black community in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

Neon In Nevada: A Case Study In Statewide Collaboration, Amy J. Hunsaker, Cory Lampert, Teresa Auch Schultz

Journal of Western Archives

Neon signs in Nevada capture the spirit of glitzy gambling meccas, boom and bust towns, and frontier settlements that dot the vast geography of this unique state. However, many iconic and hidden signs are in constant danger of disappearing as populations shift and the elements naturally break down the physical aspects of the signs. In addition, neon signs in Reno and remote, Northern Nevada locales have remained relatively undiscovered. UNLV has had a long history of documenting the art of neon and has partnered with the Neon Museum in Las Vegas to preserve this rapidly disappearing cultural heritage. Digital Humanities …

Michigan Supreme Court Records And Briefs: New Access To A Historical Resource, Virginia Thomas

Library Scholarly Publications

The author describes a successful 3-year collaboration among publishers, academic law libraries and, of course, the Michigan Supreme Court, that resulted in digitizing Michigan Supreme Court records and briefs from 1850 through 2011 and making these items accessible online.

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.

Securing Digital Collections: Cyber Security Best Practices For Academic Libraries In Developing Countries, Ayooluwa Aregbesola, Ekene Lawrence Nwaolise

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

In today's digital era, there have been an ever increase in academic libraries embracing digital collections to provide access to a wealth of information to their users. However, the demerit of this digitization brings about the need to ensure the security of these valuable digital collections, especially in developing countries where cyber threats are rampant. This paper aims to address the challenges faced by academic libraries in developing countries with regards to best cybersecurity practices for securing digital collections. The paper also highlights the long-term benefits of prioritizing cyber security in academic libraries. Besides protecting valuable digital collections, robust cyber …

Using Student Researchers To Assess The Digital Collections User Experience, Rebecca A. Wiederhold, Lindsey Memory, Jonathan Jarvis, Greg Seppi, Madeleine Meldrum, Hannah Bozue

Faculty Publications

Following the closure of the Harold B. Lee Library’s special collections during the pandemic, the presenters designed a study to assess the usability of our CONTENTdm system. The library collaborated with a sociology professor to have students from his qualitative research methods class administer the study, observing other undergraduates using the system to perform tasks, and interviewing them about their experiences. In this presentation, the librarians, the sociology professor, and two students will share lessons learned from this experience, including small disappointments and unexpected benefits. We’ll also share the study methodology and suggestions for optimizing this type of professional collaboration …

Assessing Our Digital Asset Management System (Contentdm) From The Undergraduate Patron Perspective, Lindsey Memory, Abby Beazer, Rebecca A. Wiederhold, Brent Ellingson

Faculty Publications

COVID underscored the desire of the student population to access library and special collections materials online. After two decades of hosting BYU’s digitized content in the digital asset management system CONTENTdm, we decided in summer 2021 to evaluate its interface for ease of use and reliability. We wanted to determine how our system was performing for an undergraduate population specifically, and to understand the typical undergraduate students’ experience searching for and accessing digitized materials. Our study involved the use of Gen-Z student researchers, who observed undergraduate patrons via a Zoom screenshare. These patrons performed a variety of user tasks and …

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.

Keynote Address: Curating The History Of Covid-19, Jeremy Myntti

Faculty Publications

Many libraries and archives have a mission to document local or regional history and current events. Rapid response collecting during a crisis has become increasingly necessary in recent years in order to curate content during an event rather than after the event has concluded. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, libraries across the world recognized the importance of documenting contemporary history for the current and future study of the pandemic. Many projects were created to document different aspects of the pandemic, each with a slightly different focus based on types of content, populations, or regions. This talk will …

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 …

Digitize Your Yearbooks: Creating Digital Access While Considering Student Privacy And Other Legal Issues, April K. Anderson-Zorn, Dallas Long

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

Student yearbooks are distinctive cultural records. For the schools and universities that produced them, yearbooks promoted a shared sense of identity and experience among students and helped create enduring loyalty to the institutions long after the students graduated. For scholars and other users, yearbooks are unique primary sources that provide insight into past eras of local student life and culture. In regards to user engagement and preserving local histories, student yearbooks should be ideal candidates for digitization by libraries and archives. However, yearbooks are challenging digitization projects because they are likely to contain privacy-sensitive photographs and other information as well …

The Archives At The Tip Of Their Fingers: Exploring User Reactions To Large-Scale Digitization, Emily Lapworth, Su Kim Chung

Library Faculty Publications

Advances in digital image capture technology and the adoption of More Product, Less Process methods have resulted in special collections and archives large- scale digitization that creates a new kind of digital surrogate. Mirroring and reusing aggregate archival arrangement and description, these digital surrogates represent multiple items and are minimally described as a whole. The authors conducted interviews to explore user reactions to this digitization method at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. This study found that large-scale digitization does have a positive impact for users, although additional strategies may be required to maximize the usefulness of the resulting digital …

Teaching Them How To Fish: Supporting Digital Collection Building Through Regional Partnerships, Marianne Swierenga, Sharon Carlson, Amy Bocko

University Libraries Faculty & Staff Presentations

When asked what the barriers were to digitizing and sharing their unique collections online, many smaller cultural heritage institutions say a lack equipment, systems, and expertise. Our answer to that: mobile digitization lab, training, and digital collections hosting. Western Michigan University Libraries, in partnership with the Gilmore Car Museum and Richland Community Library, has been developing a model that aims to make digitization, metadata creation, and digital collection building possible for smaller-scale regional libraries and cultural heritage institutions. Supported by a LSTA grant though the Library of Michigan, and leveraging digital collection building expertise at WMU, this pilot project will …

Native Performance And Agency In The Wild West Show, Mariah Wahl, Angela Yon

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

"The Wild West" has been romanticized and criticized as historical American trope. Much of this idea is based on the Wild West shows of Buffalo Bill, Pawnee Bill, and other traveling circus shows throughout the late 19th and early 20th century. Often these shows functioned as propaganda for American imperialism, condoning and perpetuating cultural genocide against Native American populations.

The presentation will use autobiographical information to explore how many Native American Wild West performances and exhibits worked subversively to critique racist American institutions. Exhibits like the 1904 World's Fair placed Native performers of the Wild West show in stark contrast …

Sideshow Sounds: Black Bandleaders Respond To Exoticism, Elizabeth C. Hartman, Angela Yon

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

Everyone knows P. G. Lowery, broadcaster of African-American music. Less known are those whose sideshow leadership predates that of Lowery. The pioneering entrepreneurial-entertainment legacy of bandleaders like Solomon P. White, J. 0. McNutt, and James Wolfscale set the stage for Lowery's phenomenal success. This presentation investigates their personal histories in the context of mainstream and circus cultures; their indispensable contribution to the success of the circus and the popularization of African-American music; and their role as the sinew of African-American communities through newspaper distribution and correspondence.

Black sideshow bands-first documented in 1881 within Milner Library's Circus Route Books Digital Collection, …

Facing Truths: Facial Recognition Software In Digital Archives, Rebecca Bakker, Kelley Flannery Rowan

Works of the FIU Libraries

This presentation discusses research conducted on various facial recognition software and was funded by a LYRASIS Catalyst Fund grant. The goal of the research was to determine whether facial recognition software could be adapted to work with older, often faded or discolored historical photos and still accurately identify faces in photographs. Such software capabilities would be highly beneficial for librarians and archivists in creating quality metadata by identifying unknown people in photos. It would also assist archivists in finding the photos patrons and partners are seeking. The research brought to light the many ethical controversies associated with facial recognition technology, …

Honoring Access And Privacy In Digital Collections, Rebecca Bakker, Virginia Dressler, Kelley Flannery Rowan

Works of the FIU Libraries

This session explores the often unforeseen challenges and issues that can arise with the creation and management of digital collections in regards to access and privacy. We will address incorporating a privacy review into production workflows that can embed privacy considerations into practice and offer possible solutions and creative ways in which two academic institutions have helped it’s students, faculty and researchers maintain their privacy. We will share examples of subpoenas, plagiarized content, take-down notices, awkward responses from contacted alumni, and the challenge of dealing with victims of violence. This session will share some lessons learned along with recommendations of …

The Utah Covid-19 Digital Collection: Best Practices For Born-Digital, Crowdsourced Collections, Jeremy Myntti, Anna Neatrour, Rachel Wittmann

Faculty Publications

“Traditionally archivists collected material years following an event. This is no longer the case. Digital content and documenting current events both require information specialists to act quickly and be involved in the initial development of potential collections to ensure they are identified, described, and preserved for future retrieval.”

Documenting University Life During Covid-19, Eric L. Milenkiewicz

Library Faculty Publications & Presentations

This presentation focuses on my efforts to launch and administer a community-centered documentation project to capture and collect first-hand accounts, personal narratives, and reflections from members of the CSUSB campus community detailing the direct impact of COVID-19 on their daily lives. Attention is also given to the resulting digital collection that was created from the content submitted as part of this project.

Managing Digital Collections: Case Studies In The Ethics Of Privacy, Kelley Rowan, Rebecca Bakker

Works of the FIU Libraries

This session explores the often unforeseen challenges and issues associated with the creation and management of digital collections and the privacy concerns that can arise. We will explore how to handle the need for digital anonymity on the part of content creators facing issues such as stalking, harassment, and violence. We will also discuss how to deal with the need for privacy when it stems from issues such as plagiarism and false claims of ownership that are almost always unexpected. We will offer possible solutions and creative ways in which FIU has helped its students, faculty, and researchers maintain their …

Got Metadata In Your Future? Lessons Learned From Describing A Unique Image Collection, Scott M. Dutkiewicz, Jessica Serrao, Charlotte Grubbs

South Carolina Libraries

This practical session covers how Clemson University Libraries’ metadata team describes their largest digital collection of historical images. It focuses on what the team has learned from the project, including developing workflows and strategies for describing images, creating a local heading controlled vocabulary, and leveraging expertise to streamline metadata creation. The team explains the metadata management tool CollectiveAccess, shares examples from the collection, and discusses benefits of documentation. The session concludes with continued metadata challenges.

Privacy, Ethics, And Access In Digital Libraries, Kelley Rowan, Rebecca Bakker

Works of the FIU Libraries

This presentation shares privacy challenges that librarians in the Digital Collections Center at FIU have encountered when working with the creators of content in the institutional repository and digital collections. The presenters share a brief history of privacy laws and the ethical concerns inherent in the juxtaposition between access and privacy. This presentation suggests possible solutions for other digital librarians concerned about privacy and take down requests.

Utah State University - University Libraries Metadata Application Profile For Contentdm Digital Collections, Version 2.0, Andrea Payant, Melanie Shaw, Anna-Maria Arnljots, Liz Woolcott

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

The Utah State University Libraries Digital Collections Application Profile outlines the metadata fields, mappings, definitions, and resources used to assign metadata for digital collections in the USU CONTENTdm repository. Utah State University is a collection partner of the Mountain West Digital Library (MWDL). Therefore, this profile pulls substantially from the MWDL application profile 3.0, which is available at this URL: https://github.com/mountainwestdl/mwdl-map/wiki/MWDL-Metadata-Application-Profile

The Cade Report, Vol.1, Issue 1, June 2020, Maya Banks

The Cade Report

No abstract provided.