1 / 19

Enhancing Research Potential through Digital Methods in Special Collections

In this presentation, Dr. Stella Butler, Deputy University Librarian at JRUL, reviews the impact of the digital environment on special collections over the past eight years. She explores various digital projects both at JRUL and beyond, discussing their implications for resource discovery and future trends. Key topics include the challenges of legacy collections, the role of digital surrogates, and the importance of collaboration among repositories. The presentation advocates for innovative approaches in accessing and preserving invaluable collections to engage researchers better.

stacia
Télécharger la présentation

Enhancing Research Potential through Digital Methods in Special Collections

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Exploiting Special Collections: using digital methods to enhance research and learning potential Dr Stella Butler Deputy University Librarian, JRUL

  2. Aims and Objectives • To review how the changing digital environment of the last 8 years has impacted on special collections • To explore some specific examples of digital projects both within JRUL and elsewhere • To consider what the future holds for special collections

  3. Resource discovery and the amazoogal generation: printed books • Legacy of the Follett report (1993) for JRUL • Valuable collections hidden from view • Collection level descriptions for un-catalogued material? • Changing standards- do we upgrade?

  4. Resource Discovery: Archive and manuscript catalogues • Access to Archives • The Archives Hub: JRUL Elgarhttp://archives.li.man.ac.uk/ead/ • Wellcome-funded medical archive project • Wellcome-funded archiving clinical radiology

  5. Resource enhancement • Providing researchers with gateways to collections through enhanced cataloguing data • For example, the Italian Academies Themed Collections Database, BL/Royal Holloway project • http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/ItalianAcademies/

  6. Surrogates • Print is sorted?-EBBO, ECCO and Google Books • Gutenberg project: working across institutions to add valuewww.humi.keio.ac.jp/en.index.html

  7. Surrogates www.darwinproject.ac.ukhttp://darwin-online.org.uk/manuscripts.html But is everything the answer?

  8. Surrogate Delivery: JRUL Image Collections JRUL Image Collection based on Luna Insight:

  9. JRUL Image Collections: Luna Insight • Provides access to high quality digital images with wide functionality • Potential for searching across collections and institutions • Results in collaboration between repositories sharing research information

  10. Rylands Genizah project • The Gaster Genizah Collection Collection • Originated in the bookstore of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo • Sold off in 1890s to collectors and there are now several important repositories in UK, US, Europe and Russia • Subjects covered by the collection include both secular and religious • They tell many human stories going back to biblical times

  11. Rylands Genizah project • Rylands collection contains 11,000 fragments • Several languages, Arabic, Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic • Several media- paper, parchment • Range of material including leaves from books, letters, official document, prayer books, and more

  12. Finding a way through the forests • Medical archives project • Clinical radiology project • Gissing project • Tasters- indicating research potential and tempting readers to come

  13. Special Collections Born Digital • Books?- UK launch of Sony e-book • Will format disappear? • Archives: institutional and personal papers eg scientific, literary

  14. Paradigm Project • JISC funded collaborative project with Bodleian Library lead partner in association with JRUL • Outcomes include Workbook published both electronically and in hard copy. • Worked with several politicians to explore issues associated with archiving born-digital private papers • Explored how Fedora and Dspace could be used as a repository for born-digital archive documents

  15. Paradigm Project • Recommended the OAIS model as workflow for digital archives • Consequence is the need to work closely with the owner/producer of the archive • This will increase the rate of survival of digital archives

  16. CAIRO Project • Paradigm team identified obstacle to born-digital archive preservation as lack of ingest tool • Cairo was born- collaboration between Bodleian, JRUL, Wellcome Library • Project outcomes include Tool Survey, survey of user scenarios and a content model • Tool to be released at the end of August will be pahse 1 allowing archivists to create some preservation metadata for collections and accessions.

  17. Conclusions: 1 • More exploition of power of the web- without it some Special Collections will become invisible • Greater use of the digital environment to innovate in resource discovery for both print and archive collections to break down the traditional boundaries between formats- researchers want the highest number of ‘hits’ fewest number of searches

  18. Conclusions: 2 • More collaborative working between repositories to ‘join up’ collections and themes • More collaborative working with academic colleagues- allow them into the ‘resource discovery’ world • Hand over digital monograph curation • Engage with digital preservation of archives and look at ways in which working practices need to change- we are quickly loosing the history of the twenty first century

  19. Thank you for listening Any Questions?

More Related