Session Descriptions

 

DAY 1: Northern CONTENTdm Users Group Meeting
August 18, 2014

8:30 – 9:15        Registration  and continental breakfast
Schulze Atrium

9:15 – 9:30        Welcome
Ann Kenne, University of St. Thomas Libraries
Schulze Auditorium

9:30 – 10:45      CONTENTdm Update
Christian Sarason, CONTENTdm Product Manager, OCLC Digital Collection Services
Schulze Auditorium

Christian will provide the latest details on CONTENTdm and present an updated roadmap for digital collection management at OCLC. Among the features recently released are the integration with Google Analytics, search engine optimization (automatic sitemapping), streamlined website configuration, and improved performance for video. A major goal for enhancements this year will be to improve the end-user presentation for mobile and tablet users. Christian will also put CONTENTdm in the context of OCLC WorldCat, including WorldCat’s daily application of linked open data to your records after sharing them with WorldCat. A portion of the update will be reserved for discussion and user questions.
Presentation slides (pdf).

10:45 – 11:00      Break (with refreshments)
Schulze Atrium

11:00 – 12:00     Keynote: Matthew Butler, University of Iowa Libraries and DIY History
Schulze Auditorium

Matthew Butler, from the University of Iowa’s Digital Research & Publishing department, serves as technical lead for the successful DIY History crowdsourcing transcription project. DIY History is a platform which leverages several open source tools to allow users to transcribe rare cookbooks, manuscripts, diaries, and letters to make them more searchable and useful in the Iowa Digital Library built with CONTENTdm.

Matthew will talk about the journey of making 400 year-old recipes searchable and available to chefs worldwide, creating online tools for scholars to study early pioneer lives, engaging staff and users with archival content, and transforming a small digital library staff into a publisher of open source software. He’ll discuss some of the challenges, goals, and future directions for DIY History as well as valuable lessons learned.
Presentation slides (pdf).

12:00 – 1:00       Lunch (vouchers provided for Food For Thought cafeteria)
Terrence Murphy Hall, 2nd floor

1:00 – 2:00         Concurrent Sessions

Digitizing Maps at the Wisconsin Historical Society
Laura Farley and Shannon Wilsey, Wisconsin Historical Society
Room 315, Schulze Hall

This session will offer lessons learned when using CONTENTdm to create a digital collection of 4,000 historical maps. Laura Farley and Shannon Wilsey of the Wisconsin Historical Society will discuss planning, executing, and managing a digital project staffed largely by students; the technology required to digitize large format maps; and the challenges and opportunities presented in promoting the collection to a specific audience within the larger institution on Facebook.
Presentation slides (ppt).

Metadata Crosswalking: Repurposing a Legacy Database for Use in CONTENTdm
Wayne Torborg, Hill Museum & Manuscript Library
Schulze Auditorium

People working on digital library projects often have to deal with vital information stored in legacy database systems that aren’t directly compatible with CONTENTdm. This session describes how the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library created a custom application to convert multi-level relational manuscript metadata into flattened Dublin Core metadata suitable for CONTENTdm. Among the topics covered: developing a plan for data crosswalking; working with software developers on testing and refining the application results; and creating tab-delimited upload files for CONTENTdm.
Presentation slides (ppt).

2:00 – 2:15      Break (with light snack & refreshments)
Schulze Atrium

2:15 – 3:15        Concurrent Sessions

Tab-delimited Spreadsheets Made Easy
Kathleen McElhinney, The University of South Dakota
Room 315, Schulze Hall

By far the easiest way to enter metadata into CONTENTdm is to point the program at the image folder and upload, entering the metadata in the Project Client after the image is uploaded. But what if the images aren’t ready? Or you don’t have the Project Client software on every machine? There is another option – tab-delimited spreadsheets. Learn how to create tab-delimited spreadsheets for both simple and compound objects, and the common pitfalls with using them.
Presentation slides (ppt).

Lessons Learned in Customizing Hosted CONTENTdm 6
M Ryan Hess, DePaul University
Schulze Auditorium

DePaul University Library will share its lessons learned and recommendations for hosted CONTENTdm 6 administrators wishing to customize CONTENTdm in a way that strikes the right balance between default CONTENTdm sites and sites that stand out and better serve our unique audiences. The DePaul University Library has learned many lessons from customizing its hosted instance of CONTENTdm 6, including the use of jQuery to add interface enhancements and remove some native CONTENTdm features. Unfortunately, this did not prove a long-term solution due to some limitations of CONTENTdm’s built-in customization tools, leading to content management issues and bugs that were hard to pin down. We retreated from that earlier effort and tackled the problem anew in 2013, launching new customizations using a different strategy that is much more flexible and, importantly, much more stable.
Presentation slides (link).

3:15 – 3:30      Break (with light snack & refreshments)
Schulze Atrium

3:30 – 4:30      Concurrent Sessions

Backs Matter: Reformatting Postcards in CONTENTdm
Greta Bahnemann, Minitex
Room 315, Schulze Hall

Hear about the Minnesota Digital Library’s (MDL) recent project to more fully display postcards in Minnesota Reflections, a statewide database that runs on CONTENTdm. Learn how MDL staff conceived of and implemented a way to simultaneously view both the front and the back of the postcards, without any additional clicking. This session will outline the thinking behind the project, provide an overview of the step-by-step process, and discuss audience expectations. In addition, the session will include a discussion of applying this method to formats beyond postcards.
Presentation slides (pdf).

Automated Enhancement of Legacy Metadata in the CONTENTdm Project Client
Andrew Weidner, University of Houston
Schulze Auditorium

Authority control is essential for creating high quality, interoperable metadata. Reworking legacy data to bring it in line with recognized vocabularies is a time consuming process that presents many challenges. The Metadata Unit at the University of Houston (UH) Libraries has developed custom AutoHotkey applications that automate name and subject authority control workflows in the CONTENTdm Project Client for improved speed and accuracy during data entry. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the metadata upgrade process at UH and an in-depth look at the tools that automate the metadata enhancement process.
Presentation slides (pdf).
Handout (pdf).

DAY 2: “All Things Digital”
August 19, 2014

8:30 – 9:15        Registration and continental breakfast
Schulze Atrium

9:15 – 9:30        Welcome
Valerie Horton, Director, Minitex and Stef Morrill, Director, WiLS
Schulze Auditorium

9:30 – 10:30      Keynote: Matt Miller, New York Public Library Labs
Sponsored by The MediaPreserve
Schulze Auditorium

Matthew Miller from New York Public Library Labs will speak about some of the innovative work NYPL Labs has done to engage the public with their digital holdings. As applications developer, Miller will also discuss the Library Archives & Manuscripts project. This project is a platform for discovery of the library’s archives and manuscripts collection (over 9,000 collections) and it introduces new approaches to presenting finding aids on the web.

Miller will also discuss the Linked Jazz project. “Linked Jazz is an ongoing project investigating the potential of the application of Linked Open Data (LOD) technology to enhance the discovery and visibility of digital cultural heritage materials. The goal of this project is to help uncover meaningful connections between documents and data related to the personal and professional lives of musicians who often practice in rich and diverse social networks.”
Presentation slides (pdf).

10:30 – 10:45       Break (with refreshments)
Schulze Atrium

10:45 – 11:45        Concurrent Sessions

What flavor of linked data is best for your collection?
Debra Shapiro, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Schulze Auditorium

In the last few years, cultural heritage institutions, libraries, archives, and museums have been hearing a lot of talk about how we need to be converting our metadata to linked data, and getting it out on the web. But how? RDF (Resource Description Framework) and XML are one way to go, but many professionals find screens and screens of pointy brackets and RDF triples impenetrable. A lighter weight type of linked data can be encoded in HTML, and put directly on webpages that describe collection items. OCLC is doing this, using schema.org, a microdata format developed for e-commerce, to enhance the web displays of WorldCat records. Europe seems to be ahead of the US in linked data – what does Europeana linked data look like? Starting with a basic introduction to linked data structures and terminology, this primarily non-technical overview will help you untangle the acronyms, and pick your favorite flavor of linked data.
Presentation slides (link).

Marketing the IR: Strategies from the Marquette Survey
Rose Fortier, Marquette University Library
Room 315, Schulze Hall

Marquette University’s institutional repository, e-Publications@Marquette, was established in 2008 for the deposit of faculty publications and research. Despite active participation by some faculty, universal participation remains an elusive goal. During the spring of 2013, faculty participation and needs were assessed via survey and compared to the IR’s capabilities in addressing those needs. Based upon the assessment survey and the IR’s available resources, a marketing plan and promotional strategies were created. The presentation will include analysis of the survey results and how they informed the creation of a marketing plan. Details of the marketing plan will be discussed as well as its current implementation and which strategies have been successful, and which less so.
Presentation slides (link).

Lessons from Yahara Music Library
Tana Elias and Guy Hankel, Madison Public Library
Room 316, Schulze Hall

Learn about the Yahara Music Library, a new online collection of local music developed by Madison Public Library and Murfie Music. Music is licensed for five years and available for library card holders to stream and download across a variety of platforms. Staff from Madison Public Library will share lessons learned from launching the new collection, including: planning for digital collections, licensing and copyright issues surrounding digital music, partnerships with local business, and marketing new collections.

11:45 – 12:45      Lunch (sandwich and wrap buffet)
Terrence Murphy Hall, 2nd floor

12:45 – 1:45       Concurrent Sessions

The Linked Jazz Project
Matt Miller, New York Public Library Labs
Room 315, Schulze Hall

The Linked Jazz breakout session will be an in-depth look at the tools and processes used to develop the project: Bootstrapping with linked open data, entity extraction of digital transcripts, name disambiguation and reconciliation, and how it is all tied together with RDF.
Presentation slides (pdf).

Metadata, Maps, MHAPO, and More: A tour of the John R. Borchert Map Library’s digital initiatives
Kevin Dyke and Ryan Mattke, University of Minnesota
Room 316, Schulze Hall

As map making has become increasingly digitized and map use continues to spread, map libraries have worked to match their collections and services to the needs and interests of an evolving user base. In this session, we will describe the multitude of ways the John R. Borchert Map Library at the University of Minnesota is working to engage audiences. These initiatives include on-going digitization efforts, a discovery portal for spatial data built in collaboration with universities across the country called OpenGeoportal, focused web map applications highlighting different portions of the library’s holdings, including aerial photographs and campus history, and the library’s collaboration with U-Spatial, a university-wide initiative supporting spatial research. We’ll discuss the technologies used, as well as the rationale behind this wide array of efforts.

“ScanDays”: A D.I.Y. Local History Project
John Sarnowski, ResCarta
Schulze Auditorium

ScanDays are do-it-yourself local history collection events for cultural heritage institutions. In this “how-to” session, the ResCarta Foundation will demonstrate how to gather, digitize, describe, collect, index, and present local history on a fully searchable community website. Free and open source software highlighted will include tools from ResCarta, the Apache Foundation, Carnegie Mellon University, Digital Library for Earth System Education, University of Wisconsin, Oracle, and Zotero.
Presentation slides (pdf).

1:45 – 2:00      Break (with light snack & refreshments)
Schulze Atrium

2:00 – 3:00     Concurrent Sessions

Fugitive Bits: Taking Born Digital Records From Up in the Clouds Down to Earth
Lara Friedman-Shedlov and Arvid Nelsen, University of Minnesota
Thornton Auditorium, Terrence Murphy Hall

Increasingly, historical records traditionally collected, preserved, and made accessible by the Archives and Special Collections (ASC) department exist only in digital form. Archivists are working to increase capacity to manage this material and make it available for research. New tools and technologies are required as well as the development of new workflows. Best practices and theoretical frameworks abound in the literature in training courses currently being offered to archivists. But what happens when theory meets reality? How do you transform high-level guidelines into practical procedures within your institution’s capacity? What kinds of collections are we actually encountering, and what are the real-life equipment and workflows that repositories are using? What are the choices being made? In this session, two archivists from the University of Minnesota Libraries Department of Archives and Special Collection will share their struggles, their solutions, and lessons learned.
Presentation slides (pdf).

Collaborative Outreach and Education for Research Data Management and Use
Jason Paul, St. Olaf College; Kristin Partlo and Heather Tompkins, Carleton College
Room 315, Schulze Hall

Making digital content usable and sharable requires not only technical infrastructure but also a culture that encourages students and faculty across all disciplines to actively manage their digital content. Librarians at Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges have recently begun exploring ways to foster such a culture by collaboratively providing services and educational resources in support of research data management and use. In this session, we will discuss our joint strategies for teaching our faculty and students the basics of data management and use (for example, file naming, storage, documenting for reuse) and for understanding the data management needs of our communities. We will explain how we are exploring resources to address these needs, from data consultation services to a consortial data repository (such as a Dataverse node). We will also consider how we are working together to adapt our instruction to account for the challenges of not just big, but also ubiquitous, data across disciplines, including disciplines that have not considered themselves data-driven. In particular, we will draw examples from ongoing digital humanities projects at both colleges.
Presentation slides (pdf).

Digital Public Library of America: One Year Report
John Butler, University of Minnesota
Schulze Auditorium

The Minnesota Digital Library (MDL) has been collaborating with the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) for over a year. In that time, many of the goals and aspirations of this relationship have been firmed up and the projects have begun to take shape. This session will seek to acquaint attendees with the two major project initiatives. Data Aggregation: MDL currently provides the DPLA with access to the collections of over 160 cultural organizations. Over the past year, we have worked to bring additional Minnesota institutions into DPLA. This effort has necessitated both the building of new organizational relationships as well as the creation of a new metadata brokering tool. Immigrant Stories Initiative: MDL is also collaborating with cultural organizations to capture and expose the myriad stories of the immigrants who call Minnesota home by digitizing existing oral histories and commissioning the capture of new stories.
Presentation slides (pdf).

3:00 – 3:15      Break (with light snack & refreshments)
Schulze Atrium

3:15 – 4:15       Concurrent Sessions

Engage Community and Exhibit Digital Collections using Interactive Timelines
Kent Gerber, Bethel University and Johan Oberg, Macalester College
253 Computer Lab, Terrence Murphy Hall

Please Note: This session is hands-on and will last 15 minutes longer than the other concurrent sessions, ending at 4:30. Lab space is limited to 30 seats.

With easy-to-use open source timeline tools, it is possible to quickly create digital exhibits and present them on a website or a blog. In this workshop, two open source timeline resources, the SIMILE project and Timeline JS, will be presented as ways to engage the community with your collections with a minimum of technical expertise needed. In a computer lab environment, participants will be able to work with each of these tools and generate their own version of a timeline.
Workshop materials (link).

Migrating to Islandora: the next phase in Digital Asset Management for Minnesota State University, Mankato
Alex Kent and Linda Richter, PALS
Schulze Auditorium

During the Spring of 2014, Minnesota State University, Mankato selected Islandora to store and manage their University Archives digital collections. Islandora, hosted by PALS, was selected to replace a locally hosted CONTENTdm system. Islandora uses common open source components such as Drupal, Fedora, and SOLR to build a dynamic, robust, and customizable digital repository. The implementation project included migrating over 7,000 photographs from CONTENTdm to Islandora. Islandora services provided by PALS include hosting the Islandora server and applications, planning and metadata assistance, creating customized ingest forms, training, and support. These services allow libraries to focus on creating content and providing access to their digital collections. This session will include a demonstration of Islandora and a discussion of the project, challenges, lessons learned, and successes.
Presentation slides (pdf).

We Did it Our Way: L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library’s Digitization Experience
Renee Ponzio, L. E. Phillips Memorial Public Library
Thornton Auditorium, Terrence Murphy Hall

Eight years ago, the L. E. Phillips Memorial Public Library in Eau Claire, Wisconsin began looking at ways to give the public better access to their historical materials and the Leader-Telegram, the local newspaper. This session will provide an overview of how they did it using in-house and regional resources, including selecting materials for digitization, obtaining permissions from copyright holders, choosing a software platform, and working with scanning vendors. The library’s successful partnerships with the Chippewa Valley Museum and the Indianhead Federated Library System to provide access to more local content will also be highlighted.
Presentation slides (pdf).