The correspondence is part of the library’s Anti-slavery Collection, a “Collection of Distinction” at the library that has been well taken care of by the library’s staff. From the outset, this collection was “pretty meticulously cataloged on catalog cards”, according to Tom Blake, BPL’s content discovery manager, with some cards including abstracts of the letters.[i] Now, digitized versions of the letters, broadsides, newspapers, and other print material in the collection are available online via the library’s catalog, Flickr, and the Internet Archive.[ii] But because of the handwritten nature of the correspondence, the letters are not searchable by their content. With more than 12,000 such letters in the collection, it would be expensive and time-consuming to have library staff take on the process of transcribing them.[iii]

That’s where the public comes in. The library has partnered with Zooniverse, an established crowd-sourcing platform for science and humanities projects, to build a website to facilitate the transcription of these hand-written letters into machine-readable text. Users register for a Zooniverse account and then, after a brief tutorial of the transcription tools, are able to turn the handwritten letters into typed text one line at a time, saving their progress as they go. Multiple users will work on each line of text, and once three users agree on the exact wording of a line, that line is considered finished and is unable to be transcribed again.[iv] Users can interact with each other and get advice on transcribing difficult passages via a Talk page on the website.

The library launched the transcription site on January 23, 2018, and there are already more than 2,200 registered volunteers for the project. These volunteers comprise library staff and community as well as members of the Zooniverse community who span the globe.[v] The project isn’t only about the physical act of translating handwriting into typed text. One social studies teacher in St. Louis, Mo., gave her class assignments from the library’s transcription project and used it as a springboard for discussions on historical inquiry, preservation, and the abolitionist movement.[vi]

Blake is enjoying how quickly this project has moved from the simple transcription of letters into a connection between the library and its users. “Libraries these days have become more aware their main commodity isn’t necessarily their collections but the communities they build,” Blake said. “Putting our collection on a platform like this helps to make people understand this is their collection.”[vii]

References

[i] Tom Blake, Content Discovery Manager at Boston Public Library, in a phone interview with the author, February 15, 2018.

[ii] “Anti-slavery.” Boston Public Library. Accessed February 17, 2018. http://www.bpl.org/distinction/featured-collections/anti-slavery/

[iii] Tom Blake, Content Discovery Manager at Boston Public Library, in a phone interview with the author, February 15, 2018.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Ibid.

[vi] “8th graders in Missouri transcribe anti-slavery documents and learn about the abolitionist movement.” Boston Public Library. February 7, 2018. http://www.bpl.org/distinction/2018/02/07/6191/

[vii] Tom Blake, Content Discovery Manager at Boston Public Library, in a phone interview with the author, February 15, 2018.

The post Anti-Slavery Collection at Boston Public Library Gets a Digital Makeover first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

The memorabilia, which is now available at the click of a button, includes everything from Parks’ Congressional Gold Medal to her recipe for featherlite pancakes. Parks, who made history in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus, saved a large collection of handwritten letters from the time, as well as family photographs and greeting cards sent to thank her. According to the Washington Post, “There are little-known photos of her husband, who was also an activist and who quietly supported her and weathered death threats as she traveled the country.”[1]

The digitized collection can be easily viewed by scholars and students alike. The Library of Congress has made a Primary Source Gallery available, as well as Teachers Guides to the collection. Other interesting contributions by the Library of Congress include a timeline of Parks’ life, and a video titled, “The Rosa Parks Collection: Telling Her Story at the Library of Congress,” which touches on the highlights of the collection.

Students can also read about the conservation process and how even Parks’ collection of political buttons was given special consideration. Another story involves a Holman Bible that Parks owned. Staff discovered that the Bible was rather rare, and had a hard time determining the order for unnumbered pages. According to the Library of Congress, “The goal of the Library’s Conservation Division was—and continues to be—to preserve these items for generations to come through responsible collection stewardship.”[2]

Most of the collection is now available online, while some materials can only be through the Manuscripts and Prints and Photographs reading rooms. David Mao, acting librarian of Congress, told the Washington Post, “It’s a great privilege to open the Rosa Parks Collection and help people worldwide discover more about her active life and her deep commitment to civil rights.”[3]

References:

[1] Michael E. Ruane, “Digitized collection of Rosa Parks is online, thanks to Library of Congress,” Washington Post, February 24, 2015.

[2] “Conservation of the Rosa Parks Papers,” Library of Congress, accessed April 5, 2016.

[3] Michael E. Ruane, “Digitized collection of Rosa Parks is online, thanks to Library of Congress,” Washington Post, February 24, 2015.

Resources:

Rosa Parks Papers Collection

Rosa Parks Collection Video

Library of Congress Web Guides

Further Reading:

Price, Gary. “Just Announced: The Rosa Parks Collection Digitized and Now Available Online.” InfoDocket. February 25, 2016.

The post Library of Congress Shares Rosa Parks Collection first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

The Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education at the University of Southern Maine is a standalone library that provides access to thousands of vintage cartographic and geographic items that date back to 1475. The library’s collections contain 294 globes, the oldest of which are dated 1603 and 1607.

Because of the globes’ age and fragility, they are usually only observable behind glass. Digitizing the globes allows anyone online to virtually observe them in greater detail and to move them around—without physically touching the items. OML staff have been working for the last several years on digitizing the collection’s flat maps and atlases on the website. For this globe project, a different set of skills and equipment was needed. “There isn’t anyone else in the world digitizing globes the way we are now,” said Ian Fowler, Director of the Osher Map Library and Library Digital Initiatives.[1]

The common way to digitize a globe is by making a “video game” version using flat map and globe images applied to a globe base. Osher Map Library, on the other hand, is using a method most often seen on online retail websites like Zappos. To make their 3D globes, OML staff take up to seven hundred distinct photos of the globe covering nearly every visible angle. Visitors to the website can either view each of these photos separately or view the 3D model, allowing them to both rotate the globe and zoom in to see finer details. All of this effort pays off by vastly increasing access to globes.

OML secured a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to allow the library to conserve the globes, a process that involves removing the paper and varnish, cleaning up the globes, and putting them back together again. The library also received seed money from their Friends organization for the Ortery 3D imaging equipment and 36-megapixel camera used to take the photographs.

So far, thirteen of the library’s globes have been conserved, and three have been fully imaged and uploaded to the website. Along with the detailed globe renderings, the team is also uploading hundreds of pages of manuals that instruct globe users on points like measuring distances or understanding time zones. The NEH grant will help pay for the digitization of twenty-four globes, and the library’s goal is to eventually digitize all globes in the collection.

References:

[1] Ian Fowler and David Neikirk. Interview by author. January 13, 2015.

Resources:

Osher Map Library

Osher Map Library at University of Southern Maine digitizes its rare globe collection.

The post Osher Map Library Brings its Globes to the Public first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

The American Library Association recently published the 2013 Digital Inclusion Survey that supports this. The Digital Inclusion Survey—which was conducted by the American Library Association, the Information Policy & Access Center at the University of Maryland, and the International City/County Management Association, and funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services—aims to explain “how public libraries help build digitally inclusive communities.” In a national survey conducted between September and November 2013, public libraries reported whether or not they provide public access to computers and the Internet, digital services, instruction for digital literacy, and tools for “civic engagement, education, health and wellness, and workforce/employment.”

The website (http://digitalinclusion.umd.edu/content/2013-digital-inclusion-survey-results-published) allows you to view results on an interactive map that allows you to search by library name or geographic area. This is especially interesting when seeing how public libraries compare on a national and state level. For example, when I compared the northern half and southern part of Illinois, the responses were pretty comparable in terms of Color Printing, Laptops, Internet, Scanners, Internet Skills, Online Learning, and Computer Skills. Yet there is a significant difference in the amount of computers available. In northern Illinois, there are over 2,000 computers at public libraries compared to less than 1,000 in southern Illinois. However, you can also see geographic demographics, so if there are significantly less people living in southern Illinois this may account for fewer computers.

Another interesting feature is the “State Details” tab that lets you see how a state measures up to the national response. Illinois public libraries are on par with the national average for educational programs and exceed the national average for summer reading. However, Illinois falls short by nearly 10% of the national average of “general familiarity with new technologies” and almost 4% of “mobile apps to access library resources and services.”

Nevertheless, the report is a refreshing reminder of the valuable services libraries offer. 98% of public libraries provide “some form of technological training to patrons” and 95% of public libraries provide assistance with employment resources. As a business liaison, this is particularly encouraging to read.

The Digital Inclusion Survey is a significant way to see how public libraries are excelling and where they are falling short. In our ever-changing digital world, these types of figures are so important for us to be aware of. If we want to continue to be vital resources to our communities, we need to be cognizant of how we can improve the resources and tools that are available at our libraries.

All of the facts and information in this essay were taken from the Digital Inclusion Survey website (http://digitalinclusion.umd.edu/content/2013-digital-inclusion-survey-results-published). Check it out to see the results from your library and/or geographic area. The 2014 survey will begin collecting data this September.

The post Surveying the Digital Inclusion Survey first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Even though Connecticut’s situation is unique compared to most of the country, the concept of state e-book collections is not unusual. Reading Arizona is a program being developed that allow state residents, based on IP address, access to a standalone website to check out e-books. Somewhere down the line the program hopes to provide MARC records to local libraries to allow integration of titles to individual library systems. “What makes Reading Arizona unique is that all content will be specifically focused on Arizona topics and themes,” states Digital Content Coordinator Michelle Bickert of Arizona State Library. This could include popular fiction set in the state as well as academic material.

Evoke Colorado is in the early stages of a similar program for its state’s libraries. The goal is to have content for all types of libraries in the state. “Down the road, the platform is envisioned to simply be…a place where thousands of publishers can directly sell their content to libraries, where collection development librarians can select and manage e-books and other e-content, and where end users can discover e-content,” states Jim Duncan, executive director of the Colorado Library Consortium.  At some point, there might even be a variety of content that includes e-books, e-audiobooks, movies, videos, and more.

Such an undertaking does take time, funds, and patience to cover new technological ground. Challenges have included convincing stakeholders at all levels that these projects are good for their patrons. Finding the right collaborators to not only create a central location for the e-material to be stored but also to maintain that location over a period of time can be a daunting task. But leaders within both programs seem focused on the outcome of providing rich and diverse e-content for their state’s patrons. “We want to carefully manage development so that it meets the needs of Colorado libraries first,” says Duncan.

Both programs are still working on preliminary steps and may have some testing available this fall. Check both websites for the latest info.

The post Two States Creating State-Wide Library E-book Collections first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

The small, 4,800-square-foot space boasts 20,000 e-book titles (with a plan in place to increase that number by 10,000 every year over the next five years), 600 e-readers, 200 child-enhanced e-readers, 48 computer stations, 45 iPads, ten laptops, four interactive surface tables, two study rooms, and a small café. What you will not find is one single hardcover or paperback book.

The Big Idea

So how did Bexar County move past other counties and municipalities, many with greater resources, to construct and finance a contemporary version of the public library—all in less than fifteen months? Envisioned by Bexar County Judge Nelson W. Wolff, supported by the other county commissioners, and developed by county staff, this is an account of how county leaders used today’s technology to build tomorrow’s public library.

When most people think of a judge they think of a person in a long, black robe who sentences criminal offenders. In Texas, the county judge plays a different role, one similar to a city mayor. The position traditionally oversees the county’s main departments and services including flood control, roads, emergency management, parks, and the jail. Wolff presides over Commissioners Court, which includes him and four commissioners. Each commissioner is elected from a precinct that represents a quarter of the county’s population. Essentially they are the policy decision-makers on a variety of subjects that affect county residents.

The City of San Antonio and the San Antonio Public Library Foundation are both responsible for funding the public library system. The county, along with other charitable foundations and corporations, also contributes fiscally to the library’s operations.

A Digital Lifeline

After reading the 2011 biography Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, Wolff was inspired. “Steve Jobs was not a technician; he was more of an artist. Jobs made sure all his equipment, even the back end of it, was designed just right. That in itself was a real key part of what I learned by reading his book,” said Wolff.¹ He was motivated by Jobs’ sense of design and his complete immersion into projects. Wolff’s brainchild was not to replace the city’s library configuration, but to enhance it with a digital-only format. BiblioTech has brightly colored reading rooms resembling an Apple Store with several computer stations and a circulation desk. It is a place where patrons are able to check out e-readers and download ebooks from a cloud library. While this state-of-the-art digital facility offers its library services via the Internet, it also includes rooms for community activities and study groups.

Wolff was determined that Bexar County’s first digital library would first and foremost assist those who had the most challenges accessing digital information. The proposed location was an existing county building that was compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and was on major bus routes. BiblioTech is located on the south side of San Antonio, an underserved, mostly Hispanic area that is considered one of the most economically disadvantaged parts of the county.

A 2012 survey indicated that 18 percent of responding San Antonio households do not have a computer in the home and 45 percent do not have access to the Internet through a broadband connection. On a national level, a 2013 Pew Internet & American Life Project survey confirmed that smartphone penetration has gone beyond 50 percent of all adult Americans for the first time. It places the figure at 56 percent, up from just 35 percent in 2011.² Moreover, the number of adults without a mobile phone has dropped to just 9 percent.³ When it comes to mobile technology and books, numbers show Amazon now sells more e-books than hardback books.⁴

Yet despite these figures, surveys still show that Americans believe libraries remain critical. More than three-quarters of Americans participating in a Pew Research Center poll said that borrowing books, reference librarian services, and free access to computers and the Internet were all “very important” to them.⁵ By building the library on the south side, the county would be able to provide services to those citizens who were the least likely to have access to this type of technology. BiblioTech’s services would still be available countywide and beyond to residents with Internet access.

Implementation

To get the ball rolling, Wolff first reached out to Krisellen Maloney, dean of libraries at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Maloney oversees libraries on the UTSA campuses. One of which, the Applied Engineering and Technology (AET) Library, was recognized by the New York Times and USA Today as the nation’s first academic bookless library on a university campus.⁶ The AET Library opened in 2010 and was an inspiration to Wolff, who wanted to bring the same kind of digital experience to all county residents.

Wolff was impressed by Maloney’s emphasis on the connection between technology and providing library services, as more than 75 percent of her budget that year was allocated to technology. She became an integral part of BiblioTech’s implementation, from participating in the staff interviewing process to helping choose the e-book provider. She also provided a wealth of information and expertise on a further variety of subjects and now chairs BiblioTech’s advisory board.

After conferring with Maloney, Wolff pitched the concept to Bexar County’s top management and what happened next is a true testament to what government can do when inclusive collaboration takes place. “What is unique about Bexar County is the system of power that was created by hiring a county manager. This position only exists in maybe one other county in the whole state of Texas. This leadership allowed the library project to consolidate power,” said Wolff.⁷ According to Wolff, having the county manager oversee all the different departments collectively was a defining element of BiblioTech’s timeline. With no focus on individual agendas, the team was highly organized and quick to respond. The time saved by not being required to get approval from multiple levels of management and filtering information where it was most needed was immeasurable.

Another part of the project that allowed it to get off the ground so quickly was the county’s decision to make an exception to the Request for Proposal (RFP) process, which is a county standard. The RFP bidding process systematically allows the county to obtain the best available pricing for commodities and professional services. The county ensures a competitive procurement process, while also encouraging small, minority, and women-owned businesses to participate. From advertising the proposal to awarding the selected vendor, the RFP process at a minimum takes sixty to ninety days to complete. The county’s decision to act as the construction manager and use internal professional staff enabled them to forgo the RFP process.

Fundraising

Funding this type of project in today’s economy, with escalating government cutbacks, was a challenge. The Hidalgo Foundation of Bexar County played a key role in that arena. The Hidalgo Foundation is a nonprofit organization created in 2001 to assist with projects that solely benefit the county and its residents.

The $2.4-million BiblioTech was much less expensive to build than a traditional public library since the usual space was not required. In comparison, the City of McAllen (Tex.) spent $24 million in 2012 transforming an abandoned Walmart into the city’s public library. It was an upgrade from the city’s old 40,000-square-foot main library. BiblioTech had a much different cost estimate. The space required for shelves, books, and physical storage was simply not needed. The county also had startup money from savings acquired from other capital projects. But when additional capital was needed, Wolff asked the BiblioTech team and the Hidalgo Foundation to raise some private funds. More than $500,000 in private donations came in. Some of the generous donors included Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas, The Greehey Family Foundation, and Spurs Sports & Entertainment.

Building

The project’s timeline again was a motivating factor when it came to the county’s decision to act as its own contractor; an undertaking never before attempted in its 100-year-plus history. The timeline was essential because Bexar County not only wanted to be the first digital public library, but also wanted to be operating by the start of the 2013-14 school year.

One of the most important duties of a general contractor is to direct the sequence of construction, which, if done correctly, can guarantee shorter timelines. Serving as its own contractor, the county was also able to select subcontractors from the Texas Multiple Award Schedule (TXMAS). This program compiles a list of existing competitively awarded government contractors that cater to the procurement needs of the state of Texas.

Betty Bueche, Bexar County director of facilities & parks, led the construction teams as the general contractor and Dan Curry, the county capital projects manager, acted as the jobsite supervisor. While this construction management team had extensive experience and expertise, it had little foresight into how a project like this should work. “I think with BiblioTech there was unlimited potential. This was the first time it had been done and the future impact had yet to be determined. It truly was a ‘transformation project’ for the community. It redefined the kind of service counties are willing to provide to their constituents,” said Bueche.⁸

BiblioTech’s interior design also played a major role in creating the kind of experience the county wanted to offer to patrons. The relationship between Bexar County and Muñoz & Company was a key component of BiblioTech’s design. “We were able to get Muñoz [& Company] to go in for free and develop the artistic design that we wanted. We told them what we were looking for . . . something that was different . . . something that represented the artistic design for this kind of space. They also came up with the name,” said Wolff.⁹ The space’s design included clean lines and bright colors. Laura Cole, special projects coordinator for the county, agreed that BiblioTech’s surroundings needed to correspond with its technology. “Not only does the space need to be aesthetically pleasing, and one in which patrons would want to spend time, the design needed to be functional for the technology,” said Cole.¹⁰

A Twenty-First Century Library

Without question, libraries in the twenty-first century will continue to focus on creating community meeting spaces and
being identified as learning centers versus being that place that houses large book collections. With today’s technology and social media demands, the days of card catalogs and bookshelves to the ceiling are most likely behind us. Today’s library patrons want interactive technology, enhanced power connections, and modern spaces to match their leading-edge technology. That’s all in the event they even want to leave the house. Now more than ever, people have 24/7 access to the Internet. E-readers allow owners to check out books whenever they want—any time, day or night. In today’s world with the amount of mobile technology available, hours of operation literally do not exist for some. And people are definitely using the technology that’s out there. Despite only being launched within the last ten years, iPad in 2010 and iTunes in 2003, both are part of many people’s regular daily routines. Technology also brings with it an excitement of what is possible and what has the potential to improve lives. This kind of enthusiasm can turn a simple project into something that has the potential to go beyond anyone’s expectations.

“BiblioTech energized a lot of county employees. It was a highly visible undertaking that lifted up our employees and gave them something new and different to do, not the everyday stuff they’re used to. When you give people the chance to do new things, many of them will step up and completely surprise you with how hard they work,” said Wolff.¹¹

Every new visitor to BiblioTech is welcomed and offered a personal tour. If the visitor is a county resident they are offered
a library card at the end of the tour and additional one-on-one time with staff until they become familiar with the technology. Out-of-town visitors are offered a guest pass so they can utilize the software and see how everything works. Everyone is shown how to download e-books to their own readers/devices or onto one of e-readers you can check out. The bilingual staff also offer individualized technology assistance to seniors and anyone with special needs. The BiblioTech staff says that for all that the library has given to its patrons, they have also been given some unforgettable memories in return.

Cole relayed a story about a young family’s recent visit, during which a twentysomething father revealed that the e-readers were of no use to him, because he could not read. “One of our staff offered him a children’s reader, which is enhanced with activities that help with learning how to read,” Cole said. “He started shaking, and his wife couldn’t stop crying. It was a really profound experience for him and the staff.”¹² BiblioTech’s current project is the mailing of 8,000 personal letters to the men and women serving in the armed forces who are from Bexar County. In each envelope, a library card with their login information will be included so they can download their own e-books. Bexar County also offered residents help signing up for coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) at BiblioTech. The free assistance was available through the end of March 2014. Former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius visited BiblioTech in February, 2014, to promote the program.

Another partnership includes Mothers and Their Children (MATCH) which began in 1984 to give incarcerated mothers more opportunities to interact with their children. BiblioTech is now providing e-readers and tablets for these mothers to use during visits with their children to read to them, and additional time to study parenting books.¹³ BiblioTech has already expanded since opening in September 2013. The first satellite location opened in March 2014 in the County Courthouse Central Jury Room. This is interesting in and of itself, as this new library technology can now be found within the oldest continuously operating historic courthouse in Texas.

Library services have expanded with the addition of Hoopla Digital, which allows patrons to access television shows, movies, music, and audiobooks for free with BiblioTech registration. Patrons can choose from more than 7,000 digital comics and graphic novels. Mango Languages offers 61 different foreign languages and 16 English courses to learn in your spare time. You can utilize Atomic Training and brush up on your computer skills with 85 different tech tutorials. Or you can browse more than 70 popular magazine subscriptions.

Since its opening, BiblioTech has averaged 300 walk-ins per day, which will equal more than 100,000 visitors in its first year. During the same time period 25,743 e-book titles have been c/hecked out, along with 3,069 e-readers.¹⁴

BiblioTech currently has seventeen employees, six of whom are full-time. BiblioTech’s core staff includes the head librarian, branch manager, assistant branch manager, IT manager, special projects coordinator, and a community relations liaison. The head librarian is Ashley Eklof. Eklof was hired several months before the library opened. She was an integral part of the implementation because she had the traditional librarian’s point of view, but in a completely non-traditional environment. “I do not miss having to hunt the stacks for a book that was misplaced, or finding a returned book that has been damaged. In a digital library, the entire collection is available at my fingertips, at all times, and will stay in mint condition for years to come,” said Eklof.¹⁵

As the first head librarian of a digital public library, Eklof had an opportunity that few librarians, if any, ever have: she was able to assemble the library’s entire book collection. “It is not often that librarians are presented with the opportunity to build an entire collection of books and resources from scratch,” she said. “In addition to developing a collection of core materials, I pay special attention to the needs of the community and the materials that are requested.”¹⁶

What is also unique about the digital library environment is that when staff members are not required to maintain large spaces and book collections it allows for more patron interaction. “I appreciate the fact that our staff spends more time face-to-face with visitors than processing physical materials. It allows for more opportunity to build relationships and acquaint first-time visitors with our collection, resources, and technology,” Eklof said. “In addition to providing reference services and technology assistance, we place a high level of importance on our customer service.”¹⁷

Either way, the technology is forcing public libraries to redefine their scope of services. Other attempts to develop fully digital public libraries in Arizona (in 2002) and California (in 2011) ultimately failed when patrons demanded to keep access to physical books. Maybe the key is not to replace the infrastructure, but instead utilize the technology by creating a whole new model like Bexar County did with the digital format. BiblioTech will undoubtedly be part of the history we read about when it comes to the establishment of digital libraries. We will have to see what happens, but this is for certain, the institution of the public library is transforming. People will have to either adapt with changing technology or the public library, as we know it, may not survive.

To learn more about the BiblioTech model or to take tour of the facility, contact Laura Jesse, Bexar County Public nformation Officer, at (210) 335-0073 or ljesse@bexar.org, or visit http://bexarbibliotech.org.

References

1. Nelson W. Wolff, Bexar County Judge, personal interview with the author, July 28, 2013.
2. Mark Rogowsky, “More Than Half of Us Have Smartphones, Giving Apple and Google Much to Smile About,” Forbes.com, June 6, 2013, accessed Apr. 8, 2014, .
3. Ibid.
4. David Vinjamuri, “Why Public Libraries Matter: And How They Can Do More,” Forbes.com, Jan. 16, 2013, accessed Apr. 8, 2014.
5. Ibid.
6. University of Texas at San Antonio, “About the UTSA Libraries,” accessed Apr. 8, 2014.
7. Wolff, personal interview with the author, July 28, 2013.
8. Betty Bueche, Bexar County director of facilities and parks, phone interview with the author, Aug. 2, 2013.
9. Wolff, personal interview with the author, July 28, 2013.
10. Laura Cole, BiblioTech special projects coordinator, personal interview with the author, Aug. 3, 2013.
11. Wolff, personal interview with the author, July 28, 2013.
12. Cole, personal interview with the author, Aug. 3, 2013.
13. Mark D. Wilson, “BiblioTech Brings Tech to Incarcerated Mothers,” San Antonio Express-News, Mar. 20, 2014, accessed Apr. 15, 2014, .
14. Laura Cole, BiblioTech, Bexar County Digital Library, PowerPoint presentation, TLA Netherlands, March 2014.
15. Ashley Eklof, BiblioTech head librarian, personal interview with the author, Apr. 4, 2014.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.

The post The Nation’s First Fully Digital Public Library: How a Texas County Made it Happen first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Building a digital collection is more than a preservation tool. It creates an accessible database of information linked to historic newspapers or digitized newspaper pages, as well as digitized photographs or images. Local initiatives such as Long Island Memories, regional projects, and New York State Archives Digital Project bring local history alive to communities.

In the fall of 2004, the Freeport (New York) Memorial Library joined the Long Island regional digitization initiative, and partnered with the Freeport Historical Society. Together they developed one of the largest digital collections on Long Island. Today, it has a digital collection of over 5,000 photographs and seven newspapers. The goal of Freeport’s collection, as librarian Regina Feeney puts it, has always been “to get material out of the basement, and attic, and from behind locked doors and let the public use it.” Feeney understands the “Archivist’s Dilemma”—allowing access without worrying about loss. That old “look but don’t touch” library policy of the past doesn’t exist today.

Digitization gives the public access to the materials without compromising the integrity of the items. Digitization also brings order from chaos. And digitization welcomes exploration. Feeney stresses that technology is the biggest impediment to starting a digital project. She admits that the foundation of the initiative is only a basic scanner—“nothing fancy.” She started with an all-in-one and eventually moved to a Microtek 1800 and Epson Expression XL 10000.

Her advice is to spend the money on storage devices. When Feeney scans, she always saves a high resolution .TIF (tagged image file) as an archival copy and prescribes a fail-safe method—redundancy (backup!). The library uses terabyte drives that meet military drop test standards like LeCie and Transcend.  Feeney emphasizes the need for technology training, often offered online through the LCC Office of Digital Preservation Education and Outreach. The American Library Association also includes a Fundamentals of Preservation course.

The New York state sponsored-initiatives—which digitized newspapers dating from 1690 to the present and which led to the digital collection at Freeport—the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities initiated Chronicling America, a long-term effort to develop an Internet-based, searchable database of U.S. newspapers. Their hope is to develop a long-term permanent digital record, regularly maintained by the Library of Congress, of US newspapers from 1836-1922. Many states are working with the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities through this program. On a one institution per state recipient basis, selected newspapers are presently processed into the larger collection.

However, libraries such as the Freeport Memorial Library and archivists such as Feeney can participate on a smaller scale through NEH’s Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions. These grants, up to $6000, can be used for preservation after devastating events such as Hurricane Sandy, which affected Freeport, or in small communities that would like to begin the process of preserving their county newspapers. Today, a diverse cross-section of the Freeport community and larger Long Island community accesses the Freeport Memorial Library’s digital collection.  Feeney observes that “we get students from grade 4 to graduate school. We also get many genealogists and people researching their houses.”

And as for that costume designer? She or he would only have to go to the present Freeport digital collection database and link to the current digital exhibit, Ladies at Leisure to see actual dresses from the Edwardian Era. And for Ken Burn’s documentary? The evening edition of The World, Tuesday, October 6, 1903, accessed through Chronicling America, displays the headlines for the Boston/Pirates first ever World Series game and gives you an inning by inning score.

Digitizing permits the preservation of history while maintaining access. Local digital collections connect communities to their past. The growing, ever-expanding national initiative, Chronicling America connects the events once captured in the enormous expanse of daily newspapers to a searchable digital database.

Technology proves a friend to the library once again.

The post Chronicling America: Building a Digital Collection first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Spun on the surface as harmless ,the promotional announcement is delicately peppered with subtly positive adjectival poetics like “empower,” “crafted,” “unique,” “opportunity.” What first reads like a pat-on-the-back concession made by Amazon (“you won little guys – we can’t compete with your local touch”) sub-textually can’t help but suggest a more sinister scheme to assert its foot into the door of previously impenetrable outposts. Not least of which is to reach a niche (but loyal) audience who has typically avoided the proprietary megalith in favor of supporting local stores (the “little guy”). The proposal’s eventual goal seems to be to angle that partnership to incrementally steal the customer base and potentially sound the death knell for the store.

Stripped of this subtext, the arrangement sounds simple, and even innocuous, enough. “Amazon’s program offers U.S. retailers two options. As “Booksellers,” an option available to retailers in twenty-four states, they receive Kindles from Amazon at a six-per-cent discount off the suggested retail price and earn a commission of ten per cent on e-book sales in the two years following the sale of a Kindle. As “General Retailers,” available to stores in any state, they profit only from the sale of the device, but obtain it from Amazon at a discount of nine per cent.”

But the thousand sins of Fortunado must not be forgotten. Remember Amazon offering a 5% discount to shoppers who served as price-shopping moles by visiting brick-and-mortar competitors, sending the price to Amazon, then bought it from them instead? Or their cloak-and-dagger supposed attempt at online/offline symbiosis with Borders? Or even the Amazonification of OverDrive—and how it allowed them to get a piece of the library-money pie they might otherwise miss out? Or better yet, maybe OverDrive builds themselves up, Amazon buys them, and inherits their nationwide client base. Stanger hyperboles have come true, and with Amazon there’s a laundry list to be sure. The point is not to confuse simpatico opportunity with aggressively angled risk vs. reward cut-throat business tactics.

Amazon is simply reevaluating the landscape and the food-chain ecosystem minus some of its more recently demised large chain and big box competitors. The bee in their bonnet has always been the independent book stores—those privately owned coffee and curiosity shops that comingle neighborhood niche and artisanal fare with books and electronics. Here, by removing their biggest threat, Amazon realizes they’ve done the little guys a favor. And now that the bigger fish have been fried, they’ve cross haired the indy’s.

Don’t get me wrong, Amazon doesn’t view them as a sling-shot wielding David, or even portend they fear an Indy store invoked “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died” rise-of-the-little-guy scenario.But the effort behind Amazon Source does indicate a humbling admittance (and jealousy) of sorts. Firstly, independents—and community focused organizations in general—offer something that Amazon cannot; a truly personalized and individualized voice, product, and service—reflecting that, in cinematic melodrama parlance, the “rebel alliance” resistance is working. Secondly, the unique, made-from-scratch services translate to Amazon as a financial threat. For a company centered on growth and influence, this serves as a glaring constituency that has proved difficult to obtain. So, in a way, Amazon Source IS a concession or an olive branch, but they stand far more to gain (in terms of ear-bending influence, marketing opportunities, and eventual customer segment severance and acquisition) than indy’s could ever hope.

But if I’ve learned anything from a seeming lifetime of Lifetime movies and definite lifespan of rom-com jiltings, it’s that your best friend was there all the time. (Meet cute take one: enter the Library as Mr. Darcy to independent bookstores’ Bridget Jones—Wait! No he’s dead. Meet cute take two: enter the Library as any role played by Colin Firth, previously played by Bill Pullman. . . ) In this case, a further extrapolation of this subtext spins Amazon’s admission of what they aren’t and why they care so much about sticking their nose into library or local business’ affairs into the real empowerment effected by Amazon Source—the inverse revelation of what we are and WHY it’s so valuable and important. And it should serve, if libraries haven’t already, as an opportunity for libraries and local indy stores to partner and stop looking at each other as competition. Our patrons and customers see us as coexisting and so should we. Book borrowers also tend to be book buyers and vice versa. Accepting this nourishes a true symbiotic relationship where ideas/instances to collaborate—such as providing book sales at a library author event—are mutually beneficial opportunities to strengthen and support community institutions and businesses at the same time.

(Photo by MorBCN on Flickr, Creative Commons license).

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In recent years, the library’s digitization efforts have taken on a new, if unexpected, dimension: community building. A trio of examples of how digital projects have served to build community includes:

• Social media. Boston Public Library began uploading images to its Flickr photostream in March 2008, and today, there are 80,000 images on view. Not all of the items are well described, however. By posting these images to Flickr, the BPL has made it possible for its collections to get in front of a broad range of users where they already are spending time on the web. Some of these users have been able to identify specific people, events, places, dates, and other aspects that are helping to make the collections more searchable and usable. The Society of American Baseball Research (SABR) enhanced over 2,500 records for historic baseball images. More recently, a group of retired military pilots have offered to identify the names, makes, and models of WWII era planes and ships from the same collection. Even as the BPL actively builds its own digital repository, the library plans to continue posting to Flickr in the future to make it possible for more serendipitous relationship-building (and collection describing) via the web.

• Structured grants. Through a Library Services and Technology Act grant administered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, Boston Public Library has begun to serve as a hub for community digitization for organizations throughout the state of Massachusetts. Since 2011, the BPL has been able to open up its state-of-the-art digitization facilities to any organization that will agree to make their digital collections available in an aggregated portal known as Digital Commonwealth. Since the launch of the project, more than 100 different communities have been served. Members of the BPL’s digital services team travel to a wide range of sites – usually via Zipcar – to offer consultations and material transport. The collections brought in for digitization are almost exclusively of local relevance and include things like high school yearbooks, town reports, architectural renderings, and historic photos. The project has greatly contributed to the statewide portal and has forged new relationships between the BPL and other institutions.

• Hyper-local projects. Earlier this year, an individual branch of the Boston Public Library, the Grove Hall Branch, launched a local memory project and digital preservation initiative. It focused on the history and stories of the Grove Hall and Roxbury neighborhoods of Boston through digital photo scanning and oral history collection. Neighborhood residents were invited to come into the branch with their old photographs, and project staff scanned the photos and took brief oral histories that tell the neighborhoods’ history through the eyes of the people who live there. The material gathered during this project will be included in the Boston Public Library’s local, statewide, and national online initiatives.

Each of these projects serve to advance Boston Public Library’s digital strategy and enhance community building and outreach efforts across the city, state, and beyond.

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