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Exploiting Special Collections: using digital methods to enhance research and learning potential

Exploiting Special Collections: using digital methods to enhance research and learning potential. Dr Stella Butler Deputy University Librarian, JRUL. Aims and Objectives. To review how the changing digital environment of the last 8 years has impacted on special collections

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Exploiting Special Collections: using digital methods to enhance research and learning potential

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  1. Exploiting Special Collections: using digital methods to enhance research and learning potential Dr Stella Butler Deputy University Librarian, JRUL

  2. Aims and Objectives • To review how the changing digital environment of the last 8 years has impacted on special collections • To explore some specific examples of digital projects both within JRUL and elsewhere • To consider what the future holds for special collections

  3. Resource discovery and the amazoogal generation: printed books • Legacy of the Follett report (1993) for JRUL • Valuable collections hidden from view • Collection level descriptions for un-catalogued material? • Changing standards- do we upgrade?

  4. Resource Discovery: Archive and manuscript catalogues • Access to Archives • The Archives Hub: JRUL Elgarhttp://archives.li.man.ac.uk/ead/ • Wellcome-funded medical archive project • Wellcome-funded archiving clinical radiology

  5. Resource enhancement • Providing researchers with gateways to collections through enhanced cataloguing data • For example, the Italian Academies Themed Collections Database, BL/Royal Holloway project • http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/ItalianAcademies/

  6. Surrogates • Print is sorted?-EBBO, ECCO and Google Books • Gutenberg project: working across institutions to add valuewww.humi.keio.ac.jp/en.index.html

  7. Surrogates www.darwinproject.ac.ukhttp://darwin-online.org.uk/manuscripts.html But is everything the answer?

  8. Surrogate Delivery: JRUL Image Collections JRUL Image Collection based on Luna Insight:

  9. JRUL Image Collections: Luna Insight • Provides access to high quality digital images with wide functionality • Potential for searching across collections and institutions • Results in collaboration between repositories sharing research information

  10. Rylands Genizah project • The Gaster Genizah Collection Collection • Originated in the bookstore of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo • Sold off in 1890s to collectors and there are now several important repositories in UK, US, Europe and Russia • Subjects covered by the collection include both secular and religious • They tell many human stories going back to biblical times

  11. Rylands Genizah project • Rylands collection contains 11,000 fragments • Several languages, Arabic, Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic • Several media- paper, parchment • Range of material including leaves from books, letters, official document, prayer books, and more

  12. Finding a way through the forests • Medical archives project • Clinical radiology project • Gissing project • Tasters- indicating research potential and tempting readers to come

  13. Special Collections Born Digital • Books?- UK launch of Sony e-book • Will format disappear? • Archives: institutional and personal papers eg scientific, literary

  14. Paradigm Project • JISC funded collaborative project with Bodleian Library lead partner in association with JRUL • Outcomes include Workbook published both electronically and in hard copy. • Worked with several politicians to explore issues associated with archiving born-digital private papers • Explored how Fedora and Dspace could be used as a repository for born-digital archive documents

  15. Paradigm Project • Recommended the OAIS model as workflow for digital archives • Consequence is the need to work closely with the owner/producer of the archive • This will increase the rate of survival of digital archives

  16. CAIRO Project • Paradigm team identified obstacle to born-digital archive preservation as lack of ingest tool • Cairo was born- collaboration between Bodleian, JRUL, Wellcome Library • Project outcomes include Tool Survey, survey of user scenarios and a content model • Tool to be released at the end of August will be pahse 1 allowing archivists to create some preservation metadata for collections and accessions.

  17. Conclusions: 1 • More exploition of power of the web- without it some Special Collections will become invisible • Greater use of the digital environment to innovate in resource discovery for both print and archive collections to break down the traditional boundaries between formats- researchers want the highest number of ‘hits’ fewest number of searches

  18. Conclusions: 2 • More collaborative working between repositories to ‘join up’ collections and themes • More collaborative working with academic colleagues- allow them into the ‘resource discovery’ world • Hand over digital monograph curation • Engage with digital preservation of archives and look at ways in which working practices need to change- we are quickly loosing the history of the twenty first century

  19. Thank you for listening Any Questions?

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