The end user experience

Posted on July 16, 2012 by lauretta

I enjoyed our skype meeting with Bailey Smith and Anne Wooten (whom I found inspiring for their accomplishments especially melding the technical and the creative aspects of digital archiving). One take away from our discussion was the importance of the user experience. Their focus on both the producers (or archivists) as well as the consumers of the audio digital archives seemed important to me. The Pop Up Archive was developed for people with not too much technical expertise (like us or me anyway) and limited resources.

For the last 3 weeks, we have been immersed in metadata, scanning and learning new software. I can see how it’s easy to lose focus on the end user. Other issues, such as internal institutional concerns or technical limitations, can easily get in the way.

Posted in Lauretta, Week 3 | 1 Comment

Interesting theme

Posted on July 15, 2012 by miguel

I find it interesting that a number of the comments that have been posted revolve around the idea of 652 being one of the few hands-on classes.  I think that’s an issue that needs to be brought up for discussion.  I think I mentioned last week that department is having feedback sessions over the next couple of weeks.  I think it would be a good idea for as many of us as possible to participate in one of the sessions.  I know one of my issues is offering more on-ground classes which lends itself to more of a hands-on experience.  I also tend to think there are opportunities through Buley (possibly other libraries?) to arrange for opportunities for MLS students to put in some time in a library that isn’t as much as the practicum but does provide for some practical experience.

Posted in Miguel | 4 Comments

Hitting Your Stride

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Nancy

By the time I left class on Thursday, I definitely felt like everyone was beginning to hit their stride with archiving. I spent quite a bit of time over the past few days looking at the entries you all have contributed to the Archive and they are very moving. I am anxious to see the secondary collections and the exhibits you are currently working on to see your perspective on your individual’s life, working with the material you have, and integrating what additional information you are able to uncover through your research. I don’t know if it has hit you yet, but you have created a beautiful piece of work. I do hope in the midst of your effort to complete your entries, that you are able to step back, look at it with fresh eyes, and feel proud of your accomplishment.

On a separate note, I am including a link to the Euopeana Digital Archive. You will probably recognize some familiar Dublin Core elements when you look at individual items. It’s quite beautiful and amazing. Click on the text link to go to their portal. Click on the image for their exhibits, enjoy.

Posted in Class Notes | 1 Comment

Audio and Video Archiving

Posted on July 15, 2012 by christine

After reading about the challenges and successes with archiving this type of data, it convinces me (now more than ever) that there should be a 501 Intro to Science and Tech course AND a 502 Intro to Science and Tech II course.  For newbies to the technical side of libraries, like myself, the knowledge I gained in the intro course just skimmed the surface of information pertinent to archiving. Chapter 9 eloquently described it: there are the technical issues (obsolete formats, etc) and then there’s the different metadata knowledge and considerations that are required for archiving these materials.  I think there should be two jobs: one techie and one metadata expert for each project!

 

Posted in Christine | 1 Comment

Putting it all together

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Robert

 

This is the week that I catch up to get a real handle on our collection. With such a big folder of material, it is a shame that we didn’t have the time to do a preselection for inclusion in the archive. As the themes in the life of our subject emerge (I don’t like to use the word “victim”, because it reduces the person to a statistic), I find myself thinking that there are missing visual and even textual pieces.

I found myself a bit intimidated by all the discussion about customizing, plug-ins, and other highly technical topics this week, because it makes it clearer to me than ever that today’s librarians ought to have joint computer science/library  training. I am sure the programs will evolve to include this. I know enough to realize that I have huge gaps in my theoretical knowledge of computing, and it really is a disadvantage.

Posted in Robert | 2 Comments

Wouldn’t it be nice…

Posted on July 13, 2012 by annie

Wouldn’t it be nice if Omeka:

-Allowed you to view the photo/image of the item you are cataloging while you are imputing the metadata…

Posted in Annie | 3 Comments

Musings about audio archives

Posted on July 12, 2012 by joan

In preparation for tomorrow’s class I’ve been reading up about the Kitchen Sisters and the archive being created by the Pop Up Archive team.  Together with the Hughes reading for this week, my head is just swimming with all of the possible forms of media that are being lost because they can no longer be played – either because the recordings are degraded or the machines to play the media are no longer available.

In my first career as a corporate video producer (for Telcordia) we ran in to this problem all of the time.  People would come to my department with Betamax tapes and ask how can they watch this? (We kept an old Betamax machine and converted the tapes to VHS in those days!)  It is mind boggling to think about all of the forms of media that have come and gone — and, about the media we use RIGHT NOW that will be obsolete in just a few years.

With this in mind, I’d like to share a link with the class from Syracuse University’s Belfer Audio Archives.  I was very fortunate to visit the collection about six years ago, when my family looked at Syracuse as a possible college for my older son (he ended up going to another school).  The collection includes some of the earliest recordings on cylinders, dating back to the nineteenth century.  You can search on their collection and listen to recordings (fair warning — this can be addictive!):

http://library.syr.edu/belfer/index.php

 

Posted in Joan, Week 4 | Leave a comment

OCLC, the ALA, and PLA walk into a bar…

Posted on July 11, 2012 by jennifern

From the OCLC newsletter:

Public libraries to lead initiative to ensure public access to digital content

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has awarded a $99,957 grant to OCLC for a new initiative, “The Big Shift: Advancing Public Library Participation in Our Digital Future.” The purpose of the grant is to more fully understand the challenges that U.S. public libraries face in providing e-book content to borrowers, as they ensure that all Americans continue to have access to commercially produced content through their local public libraries, even as formats change.

OCLC will partner with the American Library Association (ALA) and the Public Library Association (PLA) to review the e-book landscape and jointly develop recommendations for managing the e-book environment, in order to ensure adequate public access to these emerging resources.

More at http://www.oclc.org/news/releases/2012/201243.htm

Posted in In the news, Jenn N | 2 Comments

Best class at SCSU hands down

Posted on July 10, 2012 by jennifern

I am overjoyed to finally be able to do hands-on work in my studies here; I am more of a do-er than a reader when it comes to librarianship. I remember my time in the Catalog department at Yale very vividly when I am entering metadata into Omeka; it is kind of relaxing 🙂

I cannot imagine how the people at VOICES do their work every day, I find myself thinking about our subject and feeling sadness on behalf of those who loved him. Their pain is very real and I just don’t know how people (like Cathy!) do it every day. I supposed the dignity and purpose of this project is enough to leap that hurdle.

Omeka is pretty neat; however I find its organization a tad unwieldy. I have already recommended it to my former boss at the small library I used to work at part-time; she has a room full of 19th and early 20th century books that once belonged to the patriarch of her organization, and it would be a great PR move as well as a fun project to digitize those books (almost all certainly out of copyright) and present them in a digital collection online. Coupled with the DIY book scanning web site http://diybookscanner.org/ I think I can definitely help her get that project started with no money at all.

Posted in Jenn N, Week 3 | 4 Comments

Patience Lauretta!

Posted on July 10, 2012 by cathy

Hi Lauretta:  I too was frustrated as it took SO long to input information.  I learned that this is common after speaking to the folks at Voices.  Frank, the Rockstar, told me that one victim took HIM 24 work hours to put in data.  Better to do it right the first time.

It is time-consuming and tedious at times, but worth it to the families!

Posted in Cathy | Leave a comment