Digitized metropolitan's heritagediverse roles of Zagreb City Libraries' digital collections

Jagoda IlleIsmena Meić

about Digitized Zagreb Heritage library collections roles of Digitized Zagreb Heritage collection realization of digital collection’s roles conclusion

Zagreb City Libraries’ collections public library enables use of diverse materials through

collecting, expert processing and storing distinguished special collections: Local History

Collection Zagrabiensia, Croatian Centre for Children's Books, Rare books and manuscripts collection - RARA, Periodicals collection, Music Department of the City Library of Zagreb

a variety of valuable and unique documents and publications about Zagreb's and Croatia's past, available for loan only at the library's premises

Digitized Zagreb Heritage project in 2008, Zagreb City Libraries started to develop a digital

collection entitled Digitized Zagreb Heritage through the thematic projects

first project: Illuminating a Part of Our Heritage: Zagreb at the Threshold of Modern Age

current results by 15 library experts and two cooperative companies: web site with free access to more than 1.700 pages of books, printed music and ephemera, as well as some 30 photographs and postcards and one Zagreb city plan

near future: more than 2,000 pages of books, serials and graphics along with several gramophone records are digitized and will be available through the new digitization project Editions of 17th and 18th century printers in Zagreb

Digitized Zagreb Heritage web site access data 11/2008 – 5/2010

10.578 unique users 92.883 hits

web site linked and presented through national project Croatian Cultural Heritage

Web site access

other 12,93%

Serbia and Montenegro

1,10%

Bosnia and Herzegovina

1,25%

Germany 2,19%

USA 10,54%

Croatia 69,32%

Japan 2,17%

Library Collections library collection – way of organizing diverse and extensive

library material

criteria:

publication frequency (monographs, periodicals)

material type (manuscripts, rare books, graphics, cartographic material, music, photography...)

subject (local history, ecology...)

...

reference collections

textbook collections

personal donations

Library Collections’ roles : general collections connected to library’s mission and

role fulfiling library collections’ roles (Buckland, 1992):

preservation role dispensing role bibliographic role symbolic role

changing roles in digital collections

Digitized Zagreb Heritage collection’s roles specific roles were defined from the begining of digitization project’s design

groups of roles according to the following criteria:

user: remote access, multiple access, entertainment; establishing trust, validity and authority for our resources on the otherwise value-neutral internet (Saracevic, 2001)

service: new service, faster service, advertising other library services

economy: reduction of digitization on demand, minimizing storage space

information: supporting scientific and personal research, providing additional information for tourists, contribution to common cultural space, virtual reunification of material that has been dislocated or virtual aggregation of dispersed material pertaining to a specific subject

education: educating the patrons/librarians about new technologies, supporting lifelong education

priorities to be set through further studies

Realization of digital collection’s roles

realization of roles depends on steps taken before and during the collection’s development and throughout it’s lifespan

material selection aplication of digital collection development standards securing the service sustainability quality interface design

Realization of digital collection’s roles, cont.

expert material selection preservation; frequent loans; local, regional and global

information value; audio-visual attractiveness; intellectual rights digital collection development standards

accessibility, sustainability and interoperability through universal bibliographic control, classification and subject indexing, colophon, ISBN/ISMN, guidelines by national project “Croatian Cultural Heritage”

service sustainability present projects are fundation of the future Digital Library, a

new branch of Zagreb City Libraries: securing the financial resources, digitization material, continual preservation of digital masters, quality metadata production, educated staff

Realization of digital collection’s roles, cont.

Interface design presentation

digital collection design depends on collection’s objectives and target “audience”

general objectives: online access, wider usage, preservation

target users: traditional public library users – local citizens + remote users of all age groups and education levels

interface developed in cooperation with ArhivPRO company

browsing:

pages of downloadable JPG format reproductions through Microsoft Silverlight plugin (used by the British Library

in "Turning the Pages” program) - the Silverlight interface makes user capable of distinguishing between details

Realization of digital collection’s roles, cont.

Interface design

our electronic editions are in fact idealized:

some of them had been created by scanning more copies of the original

the pages have been cleared from traces of wear and tear, all in good measure and with due respect for the age of the original

the use of this virtual copy in fact imitates the “physical handling” of a real antiquated book

images can easily be zoomed in or out, rotated, viewed in their tiniest details – additional information in comparison with original

material "object" impression preserved through detailed reproduction of book covers and binding

Realization of digital collection’s roles, cont.

Interface design interactive indexes and simple search have been created in

order to improve the user's orientation in larger digital publications

virtual objects in digital collections thus in many ways more informative than their originals

Realization of digital collection’s roles, cont.

Digitized Zagreb Heritage collections as the narratives supporting the lifelong learning in a cultural setting (Mulholland, Collins, 2002):

pilot project Illuminating a Part of Our Heritage: Zagreb at the Threshold of Modern Age

story about croatian capital city, it’s prominent associations, known locations, parks, institutions and famous citizens of Zagreb: 1860’s-1900’s

production of chronological presentation of narrative “Zagreb at the threshold of modern age” and virtual exhibition containing a timeline with all digitized documents are in progress (example)

Conclusion valuable project - recognized within the Croatian cultural and

information spheres

digital collection's organization, prezentation and use of resources - accepted by our users

new: approach to collection building, principles of learning and perception, standards, "broadening the field of struggle"

ahead of us:

ongoing process – testing, user research, evaluation and improvement

collaboration with regional and global projects (for example thematic network Europeana.eu)

future digitization projects: preservation of valuable heritage, new services, new user groups, promotion and image building of public librarianship...

Thank you for your time and attention!Thank you for your time and attention!