Archival Media Preservation » Students

Digitizing from an Archival Student’s Perspective

Anne Johns — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:37:22 +0000

Digital preservation is a wonderful thing…as long as I do not have to do it. As I work in an archive/library at my university, digitizing a collection for online use, I have lots of time to think about digital preservation, its benefits and disadvantages, how the nature of libraries and archives is changing and what it means for us all.

As a newly graduated student, I dream of processing unique materials, rummaging through boxes and loosely organized files to find the rhythm of a collection. Documents and artifacts that tell someone’s story, that make me chuckle or make me sad, that surprise me and some that bore me. These materials get my hands dirty, make me feel gritty, make my skin break out, but make me feel real. But the scanner? It makes me feel definitely like something other than an archivist or a librarian. I must work quickly and without thinking – I am there to scan only, not to make judgment calls, or to find order in chaos, nor to find that collection rhythm.

At the scanner, my job is to scan everything. Everything? Aren’t all these clippings accessible somewhere else? And in the process of scanning I feel like I am doing some damage, folding and refolding to make the materials fit and to scan so the image appears appropriately on the screen. Saving everything seems redundant. Many of the materials are certainly not unique but the goal is to get it all digitized as quickly as possible. Someone will go back later to pick and choose what is relevant for online access – but will they do that or will they decide it is just as easy to put everything online since it has already been digitized? Will a glut of repetitive and non-unique information soon be preserved digitally and available to scroll through? And is taking all this time to provide access without the clear intent of preservation a wasteful endeavor? A few more, pricey moments now at a higher resolution for a better quality image capture could save time and money down the road.

There is no escaping digital preservation. It is here to stay; and how cool is it to go to a site like the Online Archive of California and browse the holdings at over 150 institutions while sitting on my couch in Michigan? That is a big savings in airfare and a whole lot of eye candy and information that I would not normally be exposed to. And these extraordinary documents and photographs will become more numerous and available to me in Michigan as time goes on if institutions continue to be able to afford to digitize them. While I cannot feel the materials online, they appear very lifelike – the crinkled edges, the soft yellowing, the texture is visible, almost real. And I can zoom in for closer inspection. There is always a little nagging question in my mind though – I assume they have not been enhanced in any way, that they all presented in their real form. Can I trust this authenticity? I will have to unless I really know my p’s and q’s about every subject and holding out there. The reputation of the institution that owns and has digitized these materials and then the reputation of the company that is maintaining the web site, will all have to come into play. Will everyone viewing the site intuitively question authenticity and thus automatically build in a system of checks and balances? Hope so.

There are other aspects about digital preservation that must be considered and many must be admired. If the materials live through the physical scanning process, handling of them in the future by patrons and researchers in archives will certainly be cut down. This will reduce damage to the materials as well as theft; they will live longer. If the materials are stolen or if they are destroyed by disaster, the content will have been preserved and at least some idea of the artifactual structure and texture.

At the Conservation Lab in the Buhr Facility at the University of Michigan, one can tour the facility and admire the work of conservators who are restoring ancient papyri and hand engraved and colored maps with passionate patience and artistic skill but it is really in the digital lab where things are happening. Here technicians sit in front of computer screens and very large, expensive scanners all day and endure the tediousness of digitizing the artifacts that Google cannot digitize safely for University of Michigan through the Google Books Program. Here content and visuals are being digitized for access and preservation, where even the complete papyrii library will be digitally preserved and made accessible for the whole world to see.

The act of preservation digitization is certainly not as stimulating as holding or viewing the real thing but it will certainly affect the most people and all over the world at that. It has changed the nature of libraries and archives and it is here to stay. I just don’t want to be the one doing it!

Skills Librarians Need

Anita Merriweather Williams — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:51:19 +0000

Call a spade a spade or if it’s not a spade, don’t be afraid to call it a dud.
Take your space in cyberspace.
Go to the head of the class.
Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Read, write, speak and share.
Techno tools of the trade.
Learn fast, keep up and smile.

Skills Librarians Need Checklist

The librarian of today has come a long way from the bun-wearing matron with thick glasses and sensible shoes who spent a large part of day checking out books, assessing fines and admonishing those who were less than perfectly quiet. Librarians come in all shapes and sizes, all ages and genders. There are those who come into the profession straight from college and library school as well as many who discover that librarianship is the next logical step after spending part of a career lifetime working in other areas. Books remain a major part of a library’s function, but technology has risen in the ranks and has become so pervasive, no librarian worth his or her salt can enter or exist in the profession without at least cursory knowledge of major innovations in technology and a keen interest in what lies ahead.

Of major importance to librarians, particularly those entering the profession and/or those who weren’t “born digital” is to know how to keep up with technology and how to make good, informed decisions about implementation and use. These “big picture” topics are described by Meredith Farkas in her 2006 blog post Skills for the 21st Century Librarian. Farkas worries that library schools may not be adequately preparing students for the continuing education required in this technological age. Because change comes hard and fast, Farkas advises that library schools teach students how to “develop skills for learning new technologies” in addition to a strategy for troubleshooting them.

Following is a working list of skills and competencies librarians need to have, but just like the myriad technological innovations available for use in the field, this list is by no means comprehensive or static. Many thanks to Farkas and also Roy Tennant, whose What’s in my Librarian Toolbox? weblog includes some very helpful information regarding specific technologies it would behoove a librarian to have in his or her bag of tricks:

Call a spade a spade or if it’s not a spade, don’t be afraid to call it a dud
Before a new technology is co-opted for use in the library, records office or repository, it is important to know if it has “legs”, i.e. Will it actually be useful for the needs of the institution or is it and will it be useful 10 minutes hence? Know those you serve and how and when to serve them. Library patrons are changing every day and are no longer limited to students and book borrowers. Some require technology guidance, reference service or knowing the location of the rest rooms. Others just want to be left alone. So that patrons are given optimum service, it is important to know the patron base and carefully evaluate its needs.

Take your space in cyberspace
Librarians need to be comfortable in an online environment. Knowing one’s way around search engines, social networks and the blogosphere is key to providing the service expected by patrons, particularly those of the tech savvy set.

Go to the head of the class
In order to implement new ideas into the institution, it is important to have a plan. But since no one is an island, the plan can’t be realized without the contributions of other staff members. Librarians need the ability to visualize, research, gather the troops, strategize, review, finish and follow up on ideas designed to improve library service.

Don’t sweat the small stuff
The ability to prioritize is crucial. Those tasks which help an organization reach its goals are at the top of the list. The rest may be expendable and are secondary at best.

Read, write, speak and share
In order to stay in the game, librarians need to read and assess the information contained in professional literature, texts and weblogs. Writing is also essential, and can range from carefully-crafted peer-reviewed academic articles to posted comments on the blogs of others. Membership in professional organizations and attendance at forums and conventions provide plenty of opportunities to network, present and keep abreast of innovations, improvements and ideas.

Techno tools of the trade
Tools with which librarians should have at least moderate familiarity include scripting languages, XHTML, CSS plus text indexing and database software.

Learn fast, keep up and smile
It is not enough to just keep up the pace, librarians must also demonstrate an enthusiasm for the constant change in this technological age.

Finally, there’s a mental component that should also be included in a librarian’s cache of skills. It is important to use every experience and personal connection to discover new ways to disseminate information. Librarians as information professionals need to develop a proficiency for filing away for future use even the tiniest bit of information that may come in handy as they endeavor to provide service to humanity, the greater good and last but not least, the patrons for without them, there is no us.

Sources:
Meredith Farkas: Skills for the 21st Century Librarian
Roy Tennant: What’s in my Librarian Toolbox?