Museums for America Grant Proposal - Drexel University

THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE SCIENCE MUSEUM

Museums for America Grant Proposal

Collection Stewardship

Jessica M. Lydon

Info 520: Social Context of

Information Professions

The Franklin Institute Science Museum Museums for America Grant Proposal

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I. Executive Summary

The Franklin Institute Science Museum is proposing an initiative to digitize and make available a

searchable online catalog of its Rare Book Collection. This project will be produced and completed

through a partnership with Access Pennsylvania (Access PA), a consortium of school, public, academic,

and special libraries in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The activities Access PA will be responsible

for are briefly itemized in the section Proposed Initiative and described in detail in Appendix A. The

digitization of rare book texts will act as a compendium to this online catalog of books already in place

and will be accessible through the Access PA Digital Repository which is home to over twenty specialized

digital collections from libraries throughout Pennsylvania.

It is also meant to serve as a compliment to the Resources for Science Learning website

accessible via The Franklin Institute’s website with intention of attracting a more diverse group of

visitors. The inclusion of a web page about The Franklin Institute Library, its’ holdings, and the eventual

digitized texts will be constructed as part of this project. Creating an increased awareness of the

museum’s collections overall and the potential it has as a learning resource is integral to the museum’s

mission and the outcome of the proposed initiative. The digitization project will not only serve to

maintain the museum’s collection of rare books, but also improve the amount of educational resources

related to the history of science available to students, teachers, scholars and the general public at large.

In order to complete the proposed initiative, The Franklin Institute is requesting funds in the amount of

$5,500.00 from the Institute of Museums and Library Services.


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II. Background

The Franklin Institute was founded in 1824 by Samuel Vaughan Merrick and William H. Keating

and was created to honor Benjamin Franklin and advance the usefulness of his inventions (The Franklin

Institute, n.d., Mission and History). In the more than 185 years since its inception, The Franklin Institute

has showcased and honored men and women for their scientific innovations, and paved the way for the

“hands-on” approach to science and technology education in museums.

In the spirit of inquiry and discovery embodied by Benjamin Franklin, the mission of The Franklin

Institute is to inspire an understanding of and passion for science and technology learning. The Institute

has become a dynamic agent of change through its rich array of internationally recognized exhibitions

and programs, lectures and discussions themed to illuminate issues in contemporary science,

community outreach initiatives and its series of innovative partnerships in public education. The Franklin

Institute's universal appeal is reflected in the diversity of its audience ranging from world famous

working scientists to involved citizens of every age (The Franklin Institute, n.d., Mission and History).

The Institute holds a number of historically significant collections that document America’s

scientific inquiry, technological inventiveness, and entrepreneurial acumen. In addition to the rare

Book Collection, these holdings include the organizational records of The Franklin Institute, the

collection of industrial machinery drawings from the William Sellers Company, the Frederick E. Ives

Photographic Collection, and the Wright Brothers’ Aeronautical Engineering Collection (PACHS, 2010,

The Franklin Institute). In recent years, parts of the Institute Collections, the Library in particular has

diminished in size due to a revised Collection Development Policy. In 2006, the Library holdings were

reduced to 30,000 monographs and journal titles. A large portion of the Library has been

deaccessioned in keeping with the new policy. More than 50% of the Library’s pre-1900 holdings where

offered to other institutions, sold at auction or to specialized dealers (The Franklin Institute, 2006, p.21).


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Since the mid-1990s The Franklin Institute has been able to make some of the unique primary

source artifacts and documents in the museum collections accessible to the K-12 educational

community through its Resources for Science Learning website created by the museum’s Center for

Innovation in Science Learning (CISL) (The Franklin, n.d., CISL: History of Science). The CISL, founded in

1995 is a premier center for science learning research, program development, and educational services

with programming in four specific areas of national focus in science education: teacher development,

educational technology, gender and family learning, and youth leadership (The Franklin Institute, n.d.,

CISL: About).

The CISL is also dedicated to partnering with other organizations as a key strategy for the

advancement of the CISL and The Franklin Institute as a whole. Among a broad range of partners, the

CISL has maintained longstanding relationships with the National Science Foundation, Unisys

Corporation, the School District of Philadelphia, Girl Scouts of the USA, the American Association for the

Advancement of Science, and Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park Commission (The Franklin Institute, n.d.,

CISL: About). It is through the same spirit of collaboration that The Franklin Institute is partnering with

Access PA for the proposed digitization project.

Access PA is the largest database of its kind in North America and contains over 15 million titles

and 67 million holdings (McGaw, 2008, p.4). AccesPA Digital Repository is just one component of this

statewide planning effort to create a unified approach to digitization throughout the Commonwealth. It

includes the Health Sciences Library Consortium (HSLC)/Access PA, the Commonwealth Libraries, Lyrasis

(formerly PALINET) and Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium Inc. (PACLI) as primary participants

with many other organizations and libraries contributing to the effort (AccessPA, 2010, About Us). Its

focus in recent years has shifted to focus on digital resources and has expanded to include more special

and academic libraries and their archive collections (McGaw, 2008, p.7).


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Staffing for the project will consist of following individuals:

John Alviti, Senior Curator

Project Director: will oversee project schedule; act as main contact to Access Pennsylvania; will

collaborate with Director of Integrated Learning on new content for Institute website.

Cheryl Desmond, Museum Registrar

Project Manager: responsible for tracking day to day progress of project; will train interns on

proper handling of fragile materials and scanning practices.

Virginia Ward, Assistant Librarian

Information Specialist: create metadata for digitized books and coordinate with Access

Pennsylvania about integration of metadata and uploading of images to online repository.

Karen Elinich, Director of Integrated Learning

Webmaster: will implement new webpage dedicated to the Institute’s Library holdings; create

links to Access PA from Institute site; integrate a link tracker/counter and survey generator to

track visitors to rare book catalog and analyze their experience.

Volunteer staff

Graduate level interns with a background in Library Science, Archives, History or Conservation

will be responsible for scanning each of the books in the collection.

III. Statement of Need

The purpose of digitizing the Ben Franklin Rare Books Collection is threefold:

1. making digital copies available to students, researchers and interested parties negates any risk

created by handling those materials due to their age and fragile nature


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2. provide new access points to portions of the collection to individuals from the community and

also to those who are not geographically tied to the physical locale of The Franklin Institute

3. ensure the preservation of the books and the history of science through its content

Digitization offers benefits like preserving fragile materials by providing an alternative format

that reduces their handling and exposure to harmful environments, improving management of special

collections because it requires describing, cataloging, and classifying collections with great detail and

more accuracy, enhancing access to material through interactive features and hyperlinked indexes and

creating new users (Chepesiuk, 2001, p.56). Collections that are unique to a location or library,

particularly special collections and archival materials, now have tremendous potential to become as

accessible and retrievable as our print collections, not only to our local patrons, but to the entire world

(Eden, 2001, p.53).

The Cornerstone Project is positive example that demonstrates collaboration by a group of

institutions and the desire to expand the availability of digital information for instruction and research

(Downer et al., 2005, p.236). The project is part of an initiative to create a statewide virtual library in

Alabama with intention of fostering new partnerships among public school systems, colleges, and public

libraries to use technology to strengthen information resources available for all Alabamians (Downer et

al., 2005, p.234). It is meant to encourage libraries and other repositories to integrate digitization and

to effect systemic change in the way libraries and other repositories develop their collections and make

resources available (Downer et al., 2005, p.237). Since the project began in 2000, the Alabama Virtual

Library has emerged as an essential portal for access to information for K-12, the higher education

community, and the public (Downer et al., 2005, p.234).

Alabamians are now able to explore images, diaries, letters, and other special artifacts that

document their history – all from the convenience of a desktop computer. Further, the collection


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contributes to scholarly research while also making historical collections accessible to new audiences

outside of Alabama. These digital representations of unique items eliminate barriers to use while

protecting the integrity of the original materials (Downer et al., 2005, p.235-36). The initial results of

the Cornerstone Project show the effectiveness of digital collections as an educational resource and how

important it is to preserve our unique materials in way that fosters access and protects our historical

treasures.

The creation of an online catalog of digitized books is only one of a series of steps to diversify

the types of educational resources related to the collections of the Institute. Other programs such as

hands on interaction with artifacts or “white glove” tours in the archives and the creation of a digital

image catalog of the Institute’s history are being explored as new educational programming. The

aforementioned programs are not intended to be part of the current project and therefore not related

to this specific funding proposal, but rather part of a larger organizational goal that will be continued in

the future once the initial digital conversion of rare books is complete.

IV. Proposed Initiative

Project goals:

1. Procure equipment and software for scanning book collection; train staff on best practices of

handling books and scanning procedures. In order to maintain a high level of consistency,

security and prevention of damage to materials, the Project Manager will supervise and will spot

check scanning results to ensure quality control of materials.

2. Scan all rare books in collection (approx. 75 items). At an estimated rate of 1-3 books per day in

a five day work week, the entire rare book collection could be scanned in less than three


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months. Since publication dates of books range from 1721 – 1897 all are considered part of the

public domain and therefore not protected by copyright. Also none of the books within the

collection have restrictions on access, use or reproduction of the material requested by original

donor.

3. Create any necessary metadata for books in collection according to the Dublin Core Metadata

standard as required by Access PA and compatible with CONTENTdm software. Import all data

into Access PA Digital Repository.

4. Design and seamlessly integrate webpage on the Institute’s Resources for Learning website

dedicated to making available information about The Franklin Institute Library holdings. It will

include general overview of significant collections with a focus on Institute History, links to the

already established library catalog accessible through Access PA and the digital Rare Book

Collection through AccessPA’s Digital Repository once it is complete.

5. Implement link tracking/counter and online survey software in order to evaluate number of

visitors and their experience with the digital Rare Book Collection.

Materials needed to complete project:

Atiz BookDrive Mini book scanner

Digital SLR Cameras

Optical character recognition (OCR) Software

Through the partnership with Access Pennsylvania the following services will be provided at no

cost to The Franklin Institute:

1. CONTENTdm license in perpetuity, 2. Archives of images 3. Backup of data


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4. Copies of the data for the institution 5. 24/7 availability of data 6. Customizable/designable splash page 7. Searching by single or all collections (AccessPA, 2006, Guidelines)

Project Plan Schedule

Method of evaluation

A pop up online survey will be implemented for a designated period of time near the end of the

project plan schedule. The survey is intended to evaluate the motivation of an individual’s visit to the

online digital catalog of rare books. A simple 10-12 question survey of multiple choice, yes/no, or

true/false questions will give a general overview of how, why and for what purpose a visitor accesses

Proposed Rare Book Digitization Schedule

Project Tasks October –

December 2011 January – March

2012 April – June

2012 July –

September 2012

Procure materials for digitization; train staff

Create digital copies of all rare books in

collection

Create necessary metadata & upload

information

Design & integrate webpage about TFI Library holdings on

the Institute’s website

Run test to ensure proper functioning of catalog launch

Compile data from online survey and

link tracking


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the collection online. Also, link tracker software will be integrated in to the Institute website to

ascertain the manner in which visitors navigate through the Franklin Institute’s website and eventually

to the digital collection. Both of these tools will be used to evaluate the success and overall usefulness

of the Rare Book Collection. These methods are the most suitable because they allow for quick

information gathering at little cost.

V. Proposed Budget

Summary Budget

IMLS Franklin Institute

1.Salaries & Wages $6,000.00

2.Consultant Fees

3.Supplies & Materials $5,500.00

4.Services

5.Miscellaneous Costs $1,500.00

Total $5,500.00 $7,500.00

Wages are associated with the four staff members employed by the Franklin Institute who will be

responsible for the project. Miscellaneous costs are related to link tracking and survey software and

advertising/promotion of the project.

Program Funding for Entire Grant Period

1.Grant Funds Requested from IMLS $5,500.00

2.Cost Sharing

In-Kind Contribution $7,500.00

3.Total Project Funding $13,000.00

% of Total Costs Requested by IMLS 42%


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VI. Conclusion

By providing funding support in the amount of $5,500.00, the IMLS will enable The Franklin

Institute to further its goal of inspiring a passion for and educating the public on matters of science and

technology. Digitizing the Rare Book Collection is a means to that goal. Accessibility and an inclusive

approach to education are imperative in the digital world. Without digitization of our historically

significant resources, we run the risk of inadvertently denying the information seeker access to

information. By funding our initiative, the Institute can continue to preserve the history of science and

perpetuate the spirit of inquiry and discovery characterized by its namesake.

VII. References

Access Pennsylvania Digital Repository. (2010). About us. Retrieved from

http://www.accesspadigital.org/about_us.htm Access Pennsylvania Digital Repository. (2006). Guidelines. Retrieved from

http://www.accesspadigital.org/pdf/access_pa_dig_rep_guidelines.pdf Chepesiuk, R. (2001). Digitizing rare materials: special collections go global. American

Libraries, 32(5), 54-6. Downer, S., Medina, S., Nicol, B., Trehub, A. (2005). Alabamamosaic: sharing Alabama history online.

Library Hi Tech, 23(2), 233-251.

Eden, B. (2001). Getting started with library digitization projects: funding your first

(and subsequent) digital projects. The Bottom Line, 14(2), 53-5. McGaw, Mardy. (2008). Access PA database project: 22 years of innovation. Learning & Media, 36(2),

5-7.

http://www.accesspadigital.org/about_us.htm

http://www.accesspadigital.org/pdf/access_pa_dig_rep_guidelines.pdf


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Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science. (2010). The Franklin Institute. Retrieved from

http://www.pachs.net/members/archive/franklin_institute/

The Franklin Institute. (n.d.) Center for Innovation and Science Learning: About. Retrieved from

http://www.fi.edu/cisl/about.html

The Franklin Institute. (n.d.). Center for Innovation and Science Learning: History of science. Retrieved

from http://www.fi.edu/cisl/history_science.html

The Franklin Institute. (n.d.). Mission and history. Retrieved from

http://www2.fi.edu/shared/history.php The Franklin Institute. (2007). Transforming: The Franklin Institute 2006 Annual Report. Philadelphia, PA:

Author.

VIII. Appendix Materials

A. Access Pennsylvania and Franklin Institute Partnership Statement

B. Digitization Plan

C. The Franklin Institute 2008 Annual Report: Reaching out

D. Staff resumes

http://www.pachs.net/members/archive/franklin_institute/

http://www.fi.edu/cisl/about.html

http://www.fi.edu/cisl/history_science.html

http://www2.fi.edu/shared/history.php

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