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27/08/09

DEVELOPING SERVICES FOR LOCAL HISTORY RESEARCH THROUGH A DIGITIZATION PROJECT: A PUBLIC LIBRARY CASE STUDY. Zupan family, Čačak 1934. Bogdan Trifunovi ć , M. A. Head of Digitization Center Public Library “Vladislav Petkovi ć Dis” Čačak , Serbia bogdan@cacak-dis.rs digital.cacak-dis.rs.

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27/08/09

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  1. DEVELOPING SERVICES FOR LOCAL HISTORY RESEARCH THROUGH A DIGITIZATION PROJECT: A PUBLIC LIBRARY CASE STUDY Zupan family, Čačak 1934 Bogdan Trifunović, M. A. Head of Digitization Center Public Library “Vladislav Petković Dis” Čačak, Serbia bogdan@cacak-dis.rs digital.cacak-dis.rs 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 1

  2. OVERVIEW • Introduction • Digitization in Public Library Čačak • Local History Collections • How digitization improves research • Oral history and audio-video preservation • Future plans 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 2

  3. INTRODUCTION • The Public Library Čačak (PLC) was founded in 1848 • Main library for the district of Morava • Serving population of 150.000 • More than 200.000 volumes in hold Administrative seat of PLC 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 3

  4. DIGITIZATION • Digitization began in 2006 (postcards and photos)‏ • In 2007 Digital Library concept was framed – an organized collection of digitized materials for preserving and presenting local history, culture and heritage • Digitization Center (January 2008), the first among public libraries in Serbia 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 4

  5. DIGITIZED RESOURCES • Books • Newspapers • Journals • Postcards • Photos • Audio-video resources 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 5

  6. ONLINE SURVEY • Created to collect more information about local history and digital collections coexistence in cultural institutions • The main purpose of the survey was to collect data on how local history practitioners utilize digital collections to develop their research 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 6

  7. SURVEY – general conclusions: • Libraries lead digitization activities among cultural institutions in Serbia • Local history is the most frequent historiography research • Dominant majority of participants believe that digitization will improve research • Digitization of paper materials is regarded as priority 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 7

  8. LOCAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS • Established in the 1970’s, now with tens of thousands items in hold • The most important source of printed materials for local history research • LHC holds old books, newspapers, journals, small library material about Čačak, published or printed in Čačak, or written by people born or living in Čačak • Audio-video resources 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 8

  9. DIGITIZATION OF LHC • Why: • preservation of paper materials threatened by extensive usage and paper deterioration; • greater access to collections (not only on-site)‏ • bringing in more users • promoting some parts of the collection over the Internet • preserving local history (memory) from oblivion • existence of strong community conscience 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 9

  10. DIGITIZATION OF LHC • How: • through collaboration of Local History Collections and digitization department (collaboration between historians, librarians and IT specialists)‏ • creation of the Digital Repository • end-user orientation (stress on usability)‏: providing understandable and logical information for researchers and general public 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 10

  11. Hotel “Kren” (1900), after 1945 renamed as “Belgrade” 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 11

  12. Čačak, Elementary School and Gimnazium, nowadays Municipality House and High school of Economics 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 12

  13. Čačak, main square between World Wars 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 13

  14. Čačak, main square 1970’s 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 14

  15. Knez Mihailova street in the 1920’s, nowadays a parking lot in the city centre 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 15

  16. DIGITIZATION OF LHC • What: • more than 4.500 items with 47.000 digital pages total (8.000 online)‏ • 2.000 digital photos and postcards of historical value • PLC’s edition “Local History Bibliography” • 7 newspaper titles in print between 1889 and 1937 (the most used collection!)‏ • books about the local history 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 16

  17. SERVICES • “Ask a Librarian” was introduced in 2006 • Until the end of 2007 this service dealt mostly with questions about books, programs held in PLC and working hours • The start of Digital Library created another type of questions, about population origin • Two types of questions: where particular information can be found (content of resources) and how to use DL 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 17

  18. Content? • Full-text search option provides particular information, otherwise hardly accessible to librarians (search result for Strahinjić's family origin oral tradition)‏ 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 18

  19. Using DL? • Help section in DL concentrates on topics about browsing collections, finding appropriate information, key words explanation, full text search, etc. 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 19

  20. SERVICES • “Ask a Librarian” provided a feedback on quality of our services considering digitization and online historical materials, but it also extracts information on what material users expect to see in DL, how they use it and how often, what are the main problems • We learned that too much “technology” and information confuse and repulse users 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 20

  21. 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 21

  22. AUDIO-VIDEO PRESERVATION • Only several of public libraries in Serbia preserve and digitize their audio & video collections (recordings of programs, etc)‏ • PLC has obtained digital copies of old video recordings regarding the history of Čačak (more than 20 hours of material), while our existing collection of old VHS tapes is prepared for digitization • Audio recordings – Oral History program 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 22

  23. AUDIO-VIDEO PRESERVATION 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 23

  24. ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM • LHC and Digitization Center joint project • The aim is to collect existing interviews from public figures and ordinary people from Čačak, in an effort to create oral history audio archive • The main task is to digitize and transcribe recordings 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 24

  25. ORAL HISTORY • The bulk of audio material considering oral history came from Radio Čačak archives (purchased by PLC in 2007/2008) and from the audio recordings made by outsourcing journalist • Professionally recorded oral history material, with adequate meta-data indexing and access, is usable in numerous research projects 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 25

  26. PLANS • More online material for local history research • More collaboration with other institutions • Digitization Center will provide tools for easier collections building: • Central Repository for digital documents (Digital Repository)‏ • Omeka software localization in Serbian 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 26

  27. Digital Collections – online thematic exhibits based on Omeka software (CHNM, GMU)‏ 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 27

  28. CHALLENGES • The main challenge is creating long-term sustainable digitization program, which will be recognized by the users (researchers) as trustworthy institutionalized resource (overcoming the discomfort of “digital documents”, “virtual reality”, concerns over reliability and quality, privacy intrusions, etc)‏ 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 28

  29. SPREADING THE WORD • Using blogs to comment about our digitization programs and about the accuracy and relevancy of online sources • After the Digital Library was established, we sent an announcement through local media and over the Internet about the whole program (the response from the patrons was extraordinary)‏ • Breaking through on genealogy websites 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 29

  30. SPREADING THE WORD • A blog Digitization and Digital Libraries digital.cacak-dis.rs • Facebook page • YouTube channel 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 30

  31. THANK YOU!QUESTIONS? Dragomirović family palace, Čačak Bogdan Trifunović, M. A. Head of Digitization Center Public Library “Vladislav Petković Dis” Čačak, Serbia bogdan@cacak-dis.rs digital.cacak-dis.rs 27/08/09 GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan 2009 31

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