Keeping the Faith and Sharing it too

1. Keeping the Faith and Sharing it too The Biblical Recorder Digitization Project Vicki Johnson & Rebecca Petersen

2. A River Runs Through It- 1992 "They were Methodists, a denomination my father referred to as Baptists who could read."

3. History of The Biblical Recorder • Started in 1833 • Founded by Thomas Meredith, a pastor in New Bern, NC • The Biblical Recorder documents many themes and trends including: • the preoccupations, ideals and controversies that characterized NC Baptist life over a century and a half • prominent attitudes and opinions expressed through editorial columns and letters to the editor • the development of churches throughout NC • the development of Baptist schools and colleges throughout the South • examples of advertising and products that were available during the Civil War • changes in attitudes and the political views of Baptists in NC and the United States over the decades • the history of Baptist benevolence work • the experiences of missionaries in China, Africa and Southeast Asia

4. History of the Baptist Collection at Wake Forest • Wake Forest College founded in 1834 • ZSR Library's NC Baptist Historical Collection is the official repository for NC Baptist churches and institutions • We hold one of the most complete runs of The Biblical Recorder, and it is the most highly used collection in the archives • Other Baptist Archives: Mercer University, GA Richmond University, VA Furman University, SC

5. Permission from the Publishers • Editor and Board members of The Biblical Recorder voted on permission • They granted permission for digitization • The editor wrote a letter to include with the grant proposal

6. Grant Funding, Outsourcing, and Hosting • Dream of keyword search-ability and online access • Demand for online access of high use collection • Not enough people, money or time to do it on our own • Applied for IMLS Grant • Outsourced digitization to Olive from existing microfilm reels • Digitized 1834-1970 • Olive worked to digitize materials and get online at their hosted site

7. Unexpected Challenges • Quality, availability, and access to microfilm • Unbinding of originals

8. Mad Rush to Get BRs to Montreal Unbinding

9. Challenges

10. Challenges • Planning and execution of grant was not fluid • The distance and locations that the microfilm and paper copies had to travel • Time-the grant had to be completed by a certain time • Turnover in personnel as well as varied work flows and styles

11. Olive to host the materials on Remote Server • Olive will host • Frees up server space for ZSR • Limits our control • Any changes have to be made through Olive • Analytics unavailable • Ongoing maintenance (for a fee) http://recorder.zsr.wfu.edu

17. Benefits!! • Users benefit • Do not have to search paper copies or microfilm • Online patron access • Keyword searching • Frees up space • Sending paper copies (up to 1970) to off-site

18. Paper Copies to Off-Site

19. Questions? Please email Vicki Johnson johnsokv@wfu.edu or Rebecca Petersen petersrb@wfu.edu AND, check out The Biblical Recorder site http://recorder.zsr.wfu.edu