Crossing Institutional Boundaries to Create Permanent Public Access for Government Information
- 1. Crossing Institutional Boundaries to Create Permanent Public Access for Government Information Shari Laster (laster@uakron.edu) The University of Akron Catalina Oyler (caoyler@gmail.com) Five Colleges of Ohio Friday, 4 November 2011, 10:30 AM Academic Library Association of Ohio Annual Conference
- 2. Digitizing U.S. Government Publications An estimated 97% of new government publications are born digital. Legacy digitization projects have been ongoing since the dawn of the Internet. List of current projects: http://registry.fdlp.gov/ Value of distinct collections: Browsability Keyword Searching Context
- 4. The Collection: War Relocation Authority The WRA (1942-1946) was the federal entity responsible for the internment of Japanese-Americans and other individuals during WWII. Documents include reports, operational guides, publicity materials, and monograph research works published by the agency. Print collection union list developed by Carol Singer (BGSU, formerly Kenyon College) in late 1980s. Digitization initiated by Mary Prophet (Denison University) in mid-2000s following heavy course-related usage. CONTENTdm didn't work, so files were distributed first by CD-ROM, and later by flash drive.
- 5. The Plan: Ohio GODORT Ohio GODORT's mission: "...promote the effective use of government information which is issued, published, or distributed in any format by all levels of government..." Founded in 1981 to bring together government documents librarians from around the state. The "it sounds like a good idea..." moment.
- 6. The Tool: OhioLINK DRC The Digital Resource Commons: "OhioLINK recognizes the importance of increasing cooperation in the creation and sharing of digital collections" Maintained by OhioLINK and OARnet in cooperation with OhioLINK's Digital Resources Management Committee . An OhioLINK representative attended the Spring 2007 Ohio GODORT meeting to answer questions about collaboration. In 2010, DRC expanded from 15 to 30 institutional instances. Gwen Evans (BGSU), chair, worked with Coleen Parmer (retired, formerly BGSU), and agreed that Ohio GODORT would make a good test case.
- 7. Digital Collections Working Group Shari Laster (UA) volunteered to lead the project for Ohio GODORT. Mission and scope: bring together collections of digitized government documents to make them more accessible and useful. accept federal, state, local, international, and non-governmental organization (NGO) documents. all materials in this collection will be fully accessible to the public. Determined that at least one member of DCWG, preferably the OhioLINK Site Administrator, must be from an OhioLINK institution and act as the DRMC Liaison.
- 8. Digitizing the collection Files from DU's previous digitization project in 2003-05 High quality (huge) TIFFs of each page Various PDF versions and text transcripts Each scan was evaluated Quality varied across the collection Some originals were copies (mimeographs) Rescanned when necessary Touched up images in the PDF version
- 9. Files for our collection High quality TIFF images of each page as the archival copy Lower resolution PDFs of the entire document as access copy Text transcripts embedded in the PDFs for keyword searching Used OCR software on better quality documents Process to add text transcript to an image PDF is cumbersome, had to balance desire for a perfect product with limited resources
- 10. Describing the collection Most original cataloging already created in-house by Denison University catalogers Developed a qualified Dublin Core schema based on the DRC's metadata application profile Created a crosswalk for MARC to DC transformation based on the LC Crosswalk dc:identifier.govdoc --> 086
- 11. Transforming metadata Catalina Oyler (Ohio 5) brought technical expertise to the project for the metadata, branding, and batch load processes. Modified a XSLT stylesheet from OSU and used MarcEdit for the transformation Resulted in Dublin Core XML that could be used in the DRC batch upload process
- 12. Developing the DRC http://ohiogodort.uakron.edu/ DRC instances come with a generic interface Borrowed theme and simple modifications created a custom Ohio GODORT brand Minimized volunteer time spent on coding Created structure to allow for addition of more collections in the future
- 13. Creating the collection Added items in bulk using a process based on the DRC batch load process Tweaked process to fit this collection DRC batch loading uses Excel Macros We added steps to replace some of the macro process Trial and Error and troubleshooting to create a process that can be used for any future collections we add
- 14. Outcomes Documented our process and the files we used: https://sites.google.com/site/ohiogodortdcwg/ Created guide for a general MARC to DC process for other DRMC members to use: https://sites.google.com/a/ohiolink.edu/drmc/documentation/marc2dc.zip Listed in Registry: http://registry.fdlp.gov/listings/war-relocation-authority
- 15. Institutional support: key to project Denison University Kenyon College, Ohio State University University of Akron Five Colleges of Ohio Bowling Green State University Individual librarians supporting the project from an additional five institutions throughout the state
- 16. How did we get buy-in? Deputy/interim library director at Denison University. Value of project, including training aspects, to tenure-track faculty librarian at University of Akron. Meeting consortial priorities for Ohio 5. Support of Ohio GODORT as a recognized organization. Support from OhioLINK as example of cross-institutional cooperation. FDLP mandate. Opportunities for collaboration with GPO.
- 18. Challenges and Opportunities Keep everything moving forward! Learning about technical components. Difficult to involve everyone at one time. More opportunities than time and resources allow. Leadership development. Training provides value beyond the individual project. Find ways to divide and distribute responsibilities. Prioritize; find the gems.
- 19. What's next? Complete this collection and list in the Registry Find more documents for the WRA collection. Future collections? Partnership opportunities with GPO.
Editor's Notes
- #4: Image on left: "Relocation of Japanese-Americans," 1943, Frontispiece Image on right: "The wartime handling of evacuee property," 1946, Table of Contents