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Paul S Ell Centre for Data Digitisation and Analysis Queen’s University Belfast paul.ell@qub.ac.uk

Sustaining and enhancing, not (just) archiving: The Digital Library of Core Materials on Ireland and other models. Paul S Ell Centre for Data Digitisation and Analysis Queen’s University Belfast paul.ell@qub.ac.uk. Summary. Introduction – who we are and what we do

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Paul S Ell Centre for Data Digitisation and Analysis Queen’s University Belfast paul.ell@qub.ac.uk

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  1. Sustaining and enhancing, not (just) archiving: The Digital Library of Core Materials on Ireland and other models Paul S Ell Centre for Data Digitisation and Analysis Queen’s University Belfast paul.ell@qub.ac.uk

  2. Summary • Introduction – who we are and what we do • Sustainability Model 1: The Database of Irish Historical Statistics • Sustainability Model 2: The Act of Union Virtual Library Project • Sustainability Model 3: The Stormont Hansard Project • Sustainability Model 4: Virtual Library of Core Materials on Ireland • Which models work • The future…

  3. CDDA’s objectives • To develop strategic humanities e-resources • To develop methodologies that assist in the management and interrogation of the source materials to produce new perspectives and scholarship • To use these resources in its own research and publish scholarly books and journal articles

  4. What has been digitised by CDDA • Historical census data for Britain • Welsh historical statistics • Mortality statistics • Hearth Tax Data • Statistics on Religion • Scottish National Dictionary • Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue • British Parliamentary Papers with BOPCRIS • Database of Irish Historical Statistics • Irish texts • Key holdings from QUB Library Special collections • British Parliamentary Papers referring to Ireland • Act of Union Virtual Library including images and some OCR work • Image scans of Latin texts for Ireland • Stormont papers • Historical diaries relating to China • Convict database for Down County Museum, Living Linen • Irish Studies e-Library • Total funded work = £7,000,000

  5. Model 1: The Database of Irish Historical Statistics - Project Aims • To construct a census-based relational database for the period 1821 - 1971 • To facilitate regional, national and comparative research on Ireland • Opportunity to further the quantitative study of Irish history • Restricted availability of published census returns • Technological advances make possible large scale database projects

  6. The Database of Irish Historical Statistics • 32,934,018 data values from 1821 to 1971, and then linked to contemporary digital sources • Mostly census data but also annual agricultural statistics, civil registration information, crime statistics . . . • Topics include population statistics, crop and stock data, language, literacy, religion, occupations, employment, housing, emigration, industry and industrial structure, trade and commerce, wages, pauperism etc • Outputs include a book mapping the Famine

  7. DBIHS ‘Sustainability’ • Give digital objects to someone to archive • All data deposited with the History Data Service • Simple data format – ASCII, comma delimited • Detailed documentation • Early project so no website, limited data complexity • RDMS functionality lost – but the software is long out of date anyway • Sun workstation on which much of the data resides has gone once the project lead retired and took the machine! • Project staff have left, retired or died • Low usage levels – too focused a resources?

  8. Sustainability Model 2: The Act of Union Virtual Library • Imperatives – 200th anniversary of the Act of Union, increased interest in the Act, access difficulties • Range of disparate and rare materials • 60,000 digital objects 1798 - 1803 • Parliamentary Papers, pamphlets, newspapers, manuscripts • E-content better than the analogue materials – enhanced searching, one stop shop • www.actofunion.ac.uk

  9. Act of Union Sustainability • The ‘in-house solution’ to cut costs – from data capture, to the development of a database driven website • IS will ‘maintain’ website • No new content added • No changes to the website • Many projects funded under NOF-Digitisation have disappeared • Project too focussed to have mass appeal?

  10. Sustainability Model 3: Stormont debates • £303,330 Arts and Humanities Research Council Resource Enhancement Grant • 90,000 pages of ‘Hansard’ from the House of Commons from 1921 to 1973 • Web-based full text and page image searchable by MP, place, date, subject and free text • Will link to texts of contemporary debate www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie and www.niassemby.gov.uk • In the past material difficult access, difficult to use with no integrated index, failed to impact on the study of Northern Ireland, and did not address an interest in devolved government

  11. Full-text search – the results • IRA • Ian Paisley • Drunkenness • Emigration • Army • Civil Service • Irish language • Budgets

  12. Historical Hansard Sustainability • The get someone else to maintain the resource in the long term approach • Around £75k given to the AHDS Executive to develop and maintain the site • Doubt over AHDS future • No funding model to develop additional content • Complex resource with bespoke functionality • Although AHRC questioned the ‘high-level’ of funding given to AHDS it probably was not enough

  13. Sustainability model 4: Digital Library of Core Materials on Ireland exemplar • £620,000 grant from JISC to digitise journals, monographs and manuscripts relating to Irish Studies and create the foundations of a digital library resource • Up to 100 journals covering 200 year period and about 400,000 pages • 2,500 pages of manuscript • 205 key monographs • Machine-readable text for all journals and monographs and some manuscripts • Detailed ‘object’ level metadata

  14. Strong Project Partners • Centre for Data Digitisation and Analysis at Queen’s University Belfast has a long track record of key e-resource development • Analogue Content Partners – Queen’s University Library, Linen Hall Library, Robinson Library, journal publishers, Royal Irish Academy • e-Content Partners – AHDS (Centre for e-Research), CDDA, University College Dublin, Digital Humanities Observatory • Dissemination Partner – JSTOR • Preservation Partners – AHDS – now replaced by Expert Centre Network, JSTOR

  15. Project Imperatives • Access to rare resources without visiting Belfast • Resource discovery – use of less common journals • New, complex searching using detailed metadata and semantic searching • Serendipity • A one stop shop for journals – and more • Enhanced research developing from better access Insert image

  16. Sustainability: Why the DLCMI project works • Diaspora of Irish Studies • Content chosen by academics for academics • Provides basic research materials - humanities scholars not required to change the way they work - a model suggested by the British Academy • Critical mass: Significant body of material which will continue to be augmented – it won’t be a dead archive with new journal issues added, and new journal titles • A fully working technical solution in place with CDDA and JSTOR • Sustainable business model with JSTOR with subscriptions outside Britain and Ireland and free access within

  17. Key role of JSTOR • JSTOR is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping the scholarly community discover, use, and build upon a wide range of intellectual content • Today, there are 779 full back runs of journals online (1100 total signed), 16 collections, 553 publishers in 26 countries and 50 disciplines represented – so critical mass • Subscription model, and carefully selected collections, allows for a good income stream • Moving wall concept so that recent journal issues are available • Recurrent funding for journals in the archive • Funding to revise the dissemination system and associated hardware to enhance the resources • But even so would other e-resources match the ‘market’ for Irish Studies content?

  18. Sustainability challenges 1 • Critical mass is probably important: so should emphasis be placed on e-Science and particularly the Data Grid to integrate materials – ECAI and JSTOR examples • Key, core, strategic resources needed – not material focussed on a small group of scholars. Medieval crop yield project example • Such better guides/tools be developed to assist access to e-resources? • Can the Expert Centre concept initially funded by JISC replace AHDS with CDDA, HRI, CHC, HATII, and old AHDS subject centres as members or will vital skillset be lost?

  19. Reference linking Reference links in the JSTOR Archive are indicated by an arrow allowing the user to click directly through to the cited article.

  20. Sustainability challenges 2 • Are the funders being fair? Neither AHRC or ESRC will provide funds for sustaining e-resource and the latest JISC call insists on free content worldwide • There is a need to demonstrate that e-resources are making a contribution to scholarship and teaching. Was AHDS funding withdrawn because of limited used? • Is, as AHRC suggested, necessary experience in UK Universities to maintain and develop complex e-resources as AHRC suggest. Are Institutional Repositories an answer? • Is a three year sustainability model acceptable?

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