Lux et Lex, Volume 12 Issue 1

It is not an understatement that the World Wide Web has revolutionized the means by which archive repositories offer access to and publicize their holdings and materials. In the past, archives primarily relied on the distribution of printed guides, which provided very brief introductions to manuscript collections, often no more than several paragraphs. Archives also relied on word of mouth recommendations between users, footnoted citations in scholarly publications, and public outreach presentations.

Today, the Web allows archives to disseminate much more detailed collection information than was previously possible. The Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections has been placing the finding aids and inventories to its archival collections on the Web since 1999 and continues to add to the 540 presently available, including the extensive inventories to the papers of three North Dakota U.S. Senators. This access allows researchers from across the globe to view the contents of a given collection, although it does not permit the examination of the materials themselves. The Department also has created several Oracle databases which allow for easy access to detailed and complex information.

The next logical step in this progression of ever greater access to original sources is the placement of archival materials themselves on the Web. The Chester Fritz Library certainly has not been immune to this movement and has eagerly joined it. In 2005, the Library recognized the need and opportunity to begin digitizing its collections. Before undertaking such an ambitious project, it was understood as it was in 1999, that a great deal of planning would be required to launch a new initiative, and that to be successful, the project would be a truly collaborative one, requiring several library departments to share responsibilities.

The Department of Special Collections identified two collections that were ideal first projects. Both were free of copyright concerns, and both projects were visual in nature. The first project involved scanning and describing the political cartoons of Stuart McDonald, a Sunday editorial cartoonist for the Grand Forks Herald from 1961 to 1967. During that time, McDonald was the only regularly published cartoonist from the Dakotas, and his drawings examined a myriad of local, state, national, and international issues. In 1976, he donated to UND Special Collections approximately 270 of his original cartoons. When McDonald heard about the project, he gifted to the Department six three ring binders containing newspaper clippings of all of his published cartoons, including clippings for those original cartoons he had given to various family and friends. Thus the project was able to depict every single McDonald cartoon, even if the library did not have access to the original.

The second project involved the early history of UND, its first twenty-five years. It was thought that as the University approached its 125th Anniversary in 2008, having a wide array of historical materials searchable and retrievable on-line would be valuable. Over 220 photographs of university buildings, presidents, faculty, students, classrooms, and athletic teams were scanned, as were a variety of documents. The text of the first UND catalog, the first issue of The Student, and selections from the first issue of the Dacotah annual will be available as full-text searchable documents.

After selecting these two projects, the planning process began. Responsibilities were delineated, library personnel attended several digitization workshops and seminars, and the merits of various hardware components and software digitization programs were analyzed. Special Collections would provide and scan the materials, and create metadata for each image. The Library's Cataloging Department would expand upon The metadata created by Special Collections, adding Library of Congress subject headings, while Library Systems and Services would provide the required server side administration. Library Administration fully supported the project, including hardware and software, and professional graphic design to create an attractive “front end” for the database.

Following two separate trials, the Library chose CONTENTdm software. This particular program is affiliated with OCLC, a computer library consortium and research organization with which the Library has been involved for decades. The software trials revealed this program to be both exceptionally easy to learn and customizable. The software was ready to go “out of the box,” which allowed the Library to hit the ground running. Hardware included a state of the art flat bed scanner and one server. UND Information Technology Systems and Services agreed to house and maintain this server, adding further to the collaborative aspect of the project.

Early in the planning process, Library staff in the Cataloging Department offered advice regarding the choice of metadata standards, which would be followed in describing each scanned image or document. The Library chose the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set, an internationally recognized scheme. Dublin Core provides a standardized set of conventions for describing images and documents for retrieval on-line. The title of each image or document, a detailed but succinct description, and a keyword listing of the significant items depicted were created. Other information about the original document was also noted, such as size and date. Metadata about the digital image itself, the most important of which was the date of scanning, was also recorded. The latter will allow for ease of future migration and refreshment of all the digital images.

The experiences provided by these first two projects have laid the groundwork for other digitization projects. Special Collections has scanned almost 1,000 photographs which depict the entire 125 year history of the University. Metadata entry for these photographs will begin soon. In addition, the first three bound volumes of the minutes of meetings of the University Board of Regents have been scanned and will be made available, although because of their hand-written nature, they will not be full-text searchable.. Dating from 1883 to 1893, these volumes present a detailed picture of the struggles and successes of the early University.

Another project involves the columns of Grand Forks Herald editor and columnist W.P. Davies. From 1930 until his death in 1944, Davies wrote a daily column for the newspaper entitled “That Reminds Me.” He would often reflect on the early history of Grand Forks and the Red River Valley, but also offered his views on current events. The text of each of his columns, which were snipped from the newspaper and pasted onto small notebook pages, is being scanned and will be full-text searchable. While this project is approximately fifty percent complete, when finished it will allow researchers a unique view of the history of Grand Forks from its founding to the height of World War II.

Everyone involved in this highly collaborative project is enthusiastic and eager to utilize these digitization tools to expand the role of the Library in preserving and making available historic documents and images housed in Special Collections. With digitization, the Library expands its mission beyond preservation and local access to the materials. Researchers can view digital collections anywhere there is access to the Internet. They can use computer search engines to identify relevant texts and images within the collections. In a real sense, the Library has become a publisher producing digital resources for researchers throughout the world. These digital projects are exciting additions to the Library's mission in support of teaching and research: http://www.library.und.edu/digital/index.htm

Table of Contents

DIGITIZATION PROJECTS IN SPECIAL COLLECTIONS