Beyond the Shelf : Providing Access to Historic Microfilmed Materials

transcript

Beyond the Shelf: Providing Access to Historic Microfilmed Materials

A presentation for EDUCAUSE

Mary MolinaroUniversity of Kentucky Libraries

Mary Molinaro University of Kentucky Libraries molinaro@email.uky.edu

Beyond the Shelf Unplugged

• What we did

• Why we did it

• How we did it

• Lessons learned

• Why we think this is a viable model for others

• Our next steps

Kentucky and the South

•Gateway•Local context for national issues

Microfilm = Preservation

soliNET and Microfilming

• Cooperative Preservation Microfilming Project (CPMP1-7)

• 1990-present

• Kentucky participation 1992-2004

Bibliography of Kentucky History – J Winston Coleman

• 3,571 items

• 76 categories

• 18th century to mid-20th century coverage

• Published 1949

Kentucky History on Microfilm

• Over 5,000 titles filmed as a part of the CPMP

• 1,500 titles from the Coleman bibliography

• 30,000 reels of historic newspapers and manuscripts

Digitization = Better Access

• Users really prefer access from the desktop

• Expands access

“Okay”, we said, “You want it, we’ll make it!

First question: Do we create files from –

• Source documents (which are likely brittle, bound and guarded by that ogre librarian with the nasty cattle prod)

or….

• Microfilm (leaving the master negative in the vault where it’s safe while using the service negative, or print master)?

The choice was obvious

Our pilot proved that microfilm is the fastest and safest method to provide access while preserving the source documents.

Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)

What we proposed…

A 2 year project to create a fully searchable digital page image archive of 950 rare historic Kentuckiana books using a microfilm to digital methodology.

The case we made …

• Digital images ensure easy access and wide distribution

• This hybrid, standards based non-proprietary approach can serve as a model for cost effective access and preservation for published materials

The case we made …

• Students, teachers and scholars will use this material to support their research and teaching.

• Our collection has national significance and will be of interest to scholars and students outside Kentucky

Collaboration

• Kentucky Virtual Library – Kentuckiana Digital Library

• UK Libraries– Electronic Information Access and

Management Center– Preservation Department

• soliNET• Kentucky Assn of Teachers of History

(KATH)

Grant approved!

• IMLS awarded $210,237

• 2 year project October 2002-Sept 2004

Ramp up

• Hired 2 Image Management Specialists

• Trained staff

• Ordered supplies

So, how do we make these things?

• First we scan!

• Mekel M525 scanner

• Using the service master negative

• Manual scans instead of automatic

• Scanner splits images into their respective pages

Challenge #1

• Mekel scanner’s “turnkey system” operated exclusively with Windows NT

• Windows NT was a real drag!– Slow as molasses– Crashed frequently– The blue screen of death lurked about when

scanning grayscale images

• Windows 2000 greatly improved productivity – installed July 2003 and it hasn’t crashed yet!

Lessons Learned #1

• Quality matters!

• Quality costs!

Original source document (grayscale)

Source document as bitonal image, 600dpi (scanned as a grayscale image then converted to bitonal)

Microfilm bitonal image, 400dpi(scanned as a bitonal image, no conversion necessary)

Post QC(from microfilm)

Post QC image

Source document image

Microfilm image

Discovery and Access

Cataloging Thin Air

• All of the Beyond the Shelf digital books were cataloged before they were actually created.

• Derive electronic records using constant data from the microfilm bibs

• Create purls using the OCLC number of the microfilm bib as the unique identifier.

Discovery: UK Library Catalog

Discovery: KY Virtual Library

Discovery: Kentuckiana Digital Library

Discovery: BTS Website

Challenge #2

• Migration from Dynaweb to DLXS– Loss of functionality that we had come to

know and love– No longer had to create derivative images

(DLXS creates on the fly)

• End of year one 22% only complete– Not really utilizing student employees

Costs – cheaper than we had estimated!

Estimate• 200,000 pages• 950 volumes• $1.60-$2.25 per page• $342 per volume

Actual• 226,386 pages• 1,069 volumes• $ .47 per page• $91.50 per volume

How did this happen?

• We got better at the process

• We used students when we could

• DLXS streamlined the process

Outcomes Based Evaluation

• Are Kentucky students learning better as a result of our project?

What did we learn?

• Scanning from film is a viable option

• We could migrate platforms successfully

We believe

In short, we’re making good stuff for the right reason, the right way.

Next steps

• Digitizing the Coleman bibliography

• Moving from a project to a program

• Digitizing historic newspapers

Beyond the Shelf : Providing Access to Historic Microfilmed Materials

Documents