Forward through our past. Images from Shawano City-County Library, McMillan Memorial Library, UW-La Crosse

What is WHO? A statewide collaborative of public libraries, academic libraries, archives, museums and historical societies. A shared set of guidelines and standards for digitization. A resource network providing training and support to cultural heritage institutions engaged in digital projects. A public research portal providing access to digital collections of Wisconsin history and culture. South Wood County Historical Corporation

WHO Partners

WHO Members: Academic Libraries Alverno College Beloit College Cardinal Stritch University Carroll University Carthage College College of Menominee Nation Concordia University Edgewood College Lawrence University Marian University Marquette University Medical College of Wisconsin Nashota House Nicolet Area Technical College Ripon College Sacred Heart School of Theology Silver Lake College St. Norbert College UW-Green Bay UW-Madison UW-Milwaukee UW-Oshkosh UW-Parkside UW-Platteville UW-River Falls UW-Whitewater Viterbo University

WHO Members: Public Libraries & Regional Systems Brown County Library Central Wisconsin Digitization Project (incl. Marathon County Public Library, T. B. Scott Free Library, and Tomahawk Public Library) L. E. Phillips Memorial Public Library La Crosse Public Library McMillan Memorial Library Milwaukee Public Library Nicolet Federated Library System Oshkosh Public Library Outagamie Waupaca Library System South Central Library System Whitefish Bay Public Library Wisconsin Valley Library Service WHO Members: Historical Societies & Museums Blanchardville Historical Society Buffalo County Historical Society Charles Allis & Villa Terrace Museums Fort Winnebago Surgeons’ Quarters Hales Corners Historical Society Iowa County Historical Society La Crosse County Historical Society Langlade County Historical Society Milwaukee Public Museum Mineral Point Historical Society Neville Public Museum New Berlin Historical Society Old Main Historic Center Portage Historical Society Preservation Racine, Inc. Richland County History Room South Wood County Historical Corp. Stone Lake Area Historical Society Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center

WHO’s Genesis Wisconsin Digital Library: Bringing the Pieces Together Begin discussion on coordinating access to Wisconsin’s digitized historical resources. Identify options for linking of various digital library collections within the state. Discuss methods for promoting broad public awareness of digital resources and for attracting future funding.

Discussion Questions What is the best way to facilitate collaboration across the state – within the library community and within the wider community of cultural institutions? How do we avoid duplication in digital projects? How can we assure best practices in capturing content and creating metadata? How do we make sure that digitized content is readily available and easy to find for the typical information seeker?

Digital Exploratory Committee Joshua Ranger, UW Oshkosh Ken Frazier, UW Madison Michael Edmonds, Wisconsin Historical Society Phyllis Christensen, Central Wisconsin Digitization Project Janice Dibble, Oshkosh Public Library Paula Kiely, Milwaukee Public Library Cynthia Lynch, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design Peter Gilbert, Lawrence University Sally Drew, DLTCL Linda Gruber, Milwaukee Public Museum Kathy Schneider, WiLS

Information gathering areas Establishing contact with potential partners; drafting vision and mission statements. Identifying options for structure of a statewide digital initiative Identifying technology options Identifying existing digital projects in Wisconsin

Digital Summit 2005 Exploratory Committee morphed into the Planning Committee Working Groups determined and volunteers signed up Well over 100 people attended this meeting

WHO Planning Committee Early Committee Kathy Schneider, WiLS Peter Gilbert, Lawrence University Josh Ranger, UW-Oshkosh Michael Edmonds, WHS Janice Dibble, Oshkosh Public Library Sally Drew, DLTCL Ken Frazier, UW-Madison Libraries Paula Kiely, Milwaukee Public Library Linda Gruber, Milwaukee Public Museum Rita Magno, Viterbo University James Lowery, Marquette University Ewa Barczyk, UW-Milwaukee Cathy Markwiese, Milwaukee Public Library Nolan Pope, UW-Madison Libraries Pat Wilkinson, UW-Oshkosh Paul Hedges, WHS Current Board Josh Ranger, UW- Oshkosh Matt Blessing, Marquette University Cathy Markwiese, Milwaukee Public Library Peter Gilbert, Lawrence University Linda Gruber. Milwaukee Public Museum Ewa Barczyk, UW-Milwaukee Louise Pfotenhauer, Neville Public Museum Jonathan Hinck, Viterbo University Mary Rieder, Wisconsin State Genealogical Society Philip Brown, South Wood County Historical Society Kelly Herold, Buffalo County Historical Society Sally Drew, DLTCL Lee Konrad, UW-Madison Libraries Debbie Cardinal, WiLS

Working Groups Preservation Metadata Scanning Collection Development Outreach Future Directions Technology Museum Josh Ranger Steve Miller Krystyna Matusiak Julie Schneider Janice Dibble Cathy Markwiese Linda Gruber Abbie Norderhaug

Early Projects Shawano City-County Library Central Wisconsin Digitization Project

Why digitize? Go where your audience is--the web is the first place students, genealogists, and other researchers look for information. Improve access to “invisible” materials. Protect fragile or heavily used materials. Learn more about your collections. Contribute to our collective knowledge. UW-Milwaukee

Bringing digital collections together In order to be harvested into the WHO portal, content must be stored on an OAI-PMH compliant server Collection in local CMS, i.e. CONTENTdm Public libraries have worked with UWDCC via LSTA grants; materials added to State of Wisconsin Collection Collection hosted in Milwaukee Public Library’s CONTENTdm server Portal content is always growing. New collections and updates to existing collections are harvested monthly. Waterford Public Library/University of Wisconsin Digital Collections

System Collaboration InfoSoup Memory Project Outagamie Waupaca Library System staff provide centralized training for member libraries (OWLS and Nicolet Federated Library System) Collections are hosted in CONTENTdm by OWLS Materials are digitized and cataloged to WHO standards and harvested into the WHO portal Participants so far include Clintonville, Door County and Kaukauna public libraries

Multitype Collaboration Central Wisconsin Digitization Project Partners include UW-Marathon County, Marathon County Historical Society, Marathon County Public Library, T. B. Scott Free Library, Merrill Historical Society, Wisconsin Valley Library Service Volunteer railroad buffs provided detailed metadata Library staff loads data and images to CONTENTdm collection hosted by WHS Next project: history of tourism in Rib Lake cwdp cwdp

Community/Academic Collaboration A. J. Kingsbury Photograph Collection Postcards and photographs of Menominee and Ojibwe Indians by A. J. Kingsbury, from Langlade County Historical Society LCHS volunteer did scanning and basic metadata Students in TLAM course at UW- Madison SLIS researched approaches and improved metadata Tribal Historic Preservation Officers provided information on people and places in the photos

Thank you! Debbie Cardinal Program Manager Emily Pfotenhauer Outreach Specialist