Connecticut History Online

A digital library?

By Todd Vandenbark

CHO: Goals

“to create a digital resource center that is composed of a variety of research materials serving the needs of scholars, secondary school teachers and students, genealogists, and the general public.”

CHO: Goals

“Connecticut History Online will provide a comprehensive chronicle of events, people, and places documenting Connecticut, and American, social, business, political, educational, cultural, and civic life.”

But is it a digital library?

Selected on the basis of criteriaLocated in a logical place, though

they may be distributedOrganized, with most aspects of

authority control presentChanged in a standardized wayInformation resources (most of them)Limited to specific classes of users

But is it a digital library?

Disappearance of objects is controlled

The only services are those performed by computer software

Human specialists can be foundSome classes of objects have

associated user groups, and/or an intended audience.

Legal criteria

“Is the material restricted because of privacy, content, or donor concerns? Is it copyright protected? If so, do you have the right to create and disseminate digital reproductions?”

("Digital Imaging Tutorial," 2003)

Why the answer is “Yes”

Period: 1760 - 2000Categories:

DiversityLivelihoodsLifestylesEnvironment Infrastructure

Why the answer is “Yes”

Images of physical itemsDigital mediaHosted on a single web siteMetadata:Class of usersHuman specialists & control

Legal considerations

Own all copyrightsOK for personal or

educational use of content

Content Goals

2,000 broadsides 550 maps 450 artifacts 40 oral histories with

audio clips 3,800 manuscript

items 200 journals and

minute books 2,000 photographic

images

Formats

Images:Scanning: 300 dpi

TIFFs, 24-bit colorPresentation: JPEG

or JPEG 2000, width 700 px

Audio:Capture: WAVPresentation: Real

Audio

Navigation

Modes of Navigation

Search by key word and advanced keyword searches by subject, creator, date, place name, collection, institution, and title

GeoLocator Journeys Collection-level cataloging

records

Strengths & Weaknesses

Educational resource

Journeys is “designed to help you explore a specific theme from Connecticut history. A selected group of images from the database will provide a brief introduction to the topic and to the types of related material that you will find in CHO.”

Educational resource

Classroom provides “basic information, lessons, activities and other resources to help teachers and students use Connecticut History Online as a window to the past and tool for discovery and understanding.”

Additional strengths

Detailed documentation

Copyright issues page

Good site map

Design issues

Common practice

IBM and design principles: Interface must “positively support users’

endeavors and never intrude adversely.”Design should reflect simplicity, support,

familiarity, obviousness, encouragement, satisfaction, availability, safety, versatility, and affinity.

IBM. (1999). Web design guidelines. Retrieved 6/23/2008, 2008, from https://www-306.ibm.com/software/ucd/designconcepts/designbasics.html

Navigation

Browsing

Navigation

Results Navigation

Other shortcomings

Uses HTML but no CSS

Fails Section 508 accessibility test

No personalization

Unusable features

GeoLocator ??