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Digitising Rare Irish Collections: The JSTOR Project at Queen's University Belfast

The JSTOR Project at Queen’s University Belfast aims to digitise and preserve rare materials in Irish Studies, addressing challenges such as fragile originals and poor text quality. With over 600,000 pages to digitise, the project integrates interdisciplinary journals and monographs into a core resource accessible through JSTOR. The future promises enhanced research capabilities and international collaboration, ensuring that diverse materials improve resource discovery for researchers. This initiative is vital for the continued advancement of Irish cultural scholarship.

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Digitising Rare Irish Collections: The JSTOR Project at Queen's University Belfast

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  1. Digitising Special Collections @ Queen’s- the JSTOR Project • Preservation • Teaching • Research

  2. The usual challenges • Rare material • Fragility • Range of titles • Cataloguing/metadata • Poor quality of text • Finance

  3. The core resource • Irish Studies Collection in JSTOR • Digital Library of core e-resources on Ireland • Journals - full-text, interdisciplinary • Monographs - full-text, interdisciplinary • Manuscript images – music, travel writing

  4. Library Imperatives • Preservation • Access – enhanced, wider and remote • Collaboration • Integration of related materials elsewhere • Exploiting IT Insert image

  5. Scholarly Imperatives • Access to rare resources • Resource discovery • New, complex searching • Serendipity • Collaboration • Enhanced research potential Insert image

  6. Project Background Initial plans included • Creating an index • Digitisation of Hayes bibliographies Manuscript sources for the history of Irish civilisation and Sources for the history of Irish civilisation: articles in Irish periodicals Hayes presented some problems – limited range of titles, complex structure, outdated, quality of print • Improved technology and user expectations – full-text archive now necessary

  7. Audience Analysis • Consultation patterns • Statistical evidence • Academic recommendation • International researchers

  8. Content Selection - JSTOR • JSTOR selection criteria • Peer reviewed and others by academic recommendation • Licence agreements signed

  9. Pressure Points Delays – licence preparation Delays – licence signing Delays - staffing Review

  10. Collaboration model

  11. JSTOR Project challenges • In excess of 600,000 pages to be digitised • High image quality required - post-printing annotations removed • Detailed indexing & metadata requirements e.g. Journals require issue, article, editorial, book reviews, notices and announcements to be tagged, plus details relating to front and back matter

  12. Digitisation Challenges • Quantity of research material available and research range in Humanities • Future proofing (scan once) to create archival & working sets • Old & rare materials, variable physical condition • Faithful replica of originals – JSTOR strength

  13. Reliable, Successful, Sustainable • Diaspora of Irish Studies • Good business model with JSTOR • Sustainable technical solution in place with JSTOR • Significant body of material continuously updated • Content chosen by academics

  14. The future • Linking Queen’s Digital Collections and other e-resources • Ireland Collection is infinitely extensible, Ireland Collection 2? • Advancement of an Irish Studies research agenda through international collaborations, providing access to research resources and resource discovery tools • Only our imaginations limit the possibilities for future development – collaboration is our strength

  15. Projects – a few considerations • IPR • Administration • Staffing • Content • Finance • Experience • Flexibility • Synergy • TRUST

  16. Ireland Collection in JSTOR JSTOR Ireland Collection • Developed in collaboration with Queen's University Belfast • Interdisciplinary collection of journals and other materials • 75 journal titles, with previous titles included Includes • Journals with moving walls between 1 and 5 years • Ceased journals from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries • Over 200 monographs • 2,500 manuscript pages

  17. Contact details for further information: Deirdre Wildy Head of Special Collections & Archives Queen’s University Belfast Emaild.wildy@qub.ac.uk Tel 00 44 - 28 9097 6218

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