Enduring Access to Special Collections: Challenges and Opportunities

1. Enduring Access to Special Collections: Challenges and Opportunities Oya Y. Rieger Cornell University Library June 2009

2. Digitization 2.0 • Vision is framed by enhanced discovery & access: • networked information landscape • long-tail principle • Quantity may trump quality • quality parameters for digitization and metadata

3. Digitization 2.0 • Substantial investments • Pressure to move from a project to program mode • Collaborations with commercial entities and NDAs • Preservation in the age of large-scale digitization

4. Examples of RMC Large-Scale Initiatives

5. Why digitize? There's an illusion being created that all the world's knowledge is on the Web, butwe haven't begun to glimpse what is out there in local archives and libraries. Edward L. Ayers, President, University of Richmond

6. Why digitize? Material that is not digitized risks being neglected as it would not have been in the past, virtually lost to the great majority of potential users.

7. Why Digitize? Social and national identities had traditionally been studied bounded by categories of nation, race, ethnicity and class. Maybe this was partially due the physicality of archives. Transnationalism now focuses attention on movements and connections among people and ideas, not bound to national boundaries or specific historical periods. Faculty, Asian Studies

8. Value Proposition for Digitization • Transform the ways in which users discover, search, and use special collections • Make the institutional collections visible worldwide

9. Large-Scale Digitization: Implications for Rare and Special Collections Digitization specifications Organizational & technical infrastructure Users & usability

10. Digitization Specifications, I • Selection for digitization • Collection level selection • Digitization requirements • Balance speed, completeness, & quality

11. Digitization Specifications, II • Metadata for rare & special collections • Role of finding aids • Relying on collective intelligence • Security & special handling of materials • IPR & donor requirements

12. Organizational Infrastructure, I • Moving from projects to programs • Mandate, culture, staff skills, funds, IT • New forms of collaboration • Rely on our collective bargaining power with commercial entities • Negotiation check-list for special collections

13. Organizational Infrastructure, II • Preservation mandate and stewardship • Bitsteam archiving • Enduring access • Preserving archival experience

14. Organizational Infrastructure, II Retain all qualities of authenticity, accuracy, and functionality • Preservation mandate and stewardship • Bitsteam archiving • Enduring access • Preserving archival experience

15. Users & Usability • Context and nature of use • New media as a new genre • Role of print and physicality

16. When I write, everything needs to be spread out so that I can I’ll remember “oh yeah there was a chapter in this book. And when I open the chapter, I see my notes and underlines. It is tactile. Faculty, History

17. When I browse through my bookshelf, I can remember by seeing the spines and titles which one I am looking for. It is a visual and spatial experience for me. Seeing the color, thickness of materials. Doctoral Student, Comparative Literature

18. Materiality of Special Collections • Physical context is an important cognitive element in the research process • Content, context, structure

19. Concluding Remarks • Situate large-scale digitization within broad strategic priorities of your institution • Set an ecological vision and understand implications of your decisions • Understand evolving scholarly needs and practices • Recognize our mission in supporting enduring access & preserving archival experience

20. Essence of Research Libraries Special collections will increasingly define the uniqueness and character of research libraries