The “Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections”: A Case Study in Digitization Michael Unsworth Humanities Librarian MSU Libraries

GENESIS: Library Instruction Session

WHY SHOULD WE CARE "The content of this forty volume history series, though uneven in quality, includes valuable material. Every teacher of Michigan history will testify to its usefulness. Even the less scholarly contributions constitute important evidence of what a generation of pioneers regarded as significant in their history." Lewis G. Vander Velde, "The Michigan Historical Commission: ," Michigan History Vol. 48, no. 2 (June 1964): 98.

EXAMPLE: J.A. Giradin, “Slavery in Detroit,” Pioneer Collections Vol. 1 (1877): 415: “In ancient times the city of Detroit and vicinity had slaves among its inhabitants. The old citizens generally purchased them from marauding bands of Indians, who had captured the negro slaves in their war depredations on plantations… “Everyone lived in arcadian simplicity and contentment. The negro was satisfied with his position, and rendered valuable service to his master…”

ANOTHER EXAMPLE: F.M. Holloway, “Hillsdale County from 1829 to 1836 Inclusive,” Pioneer Collections Vol. 1 (1877): : “…and Mr. Stevens went with it [the proposed name of Litchfield] to Detroit, and by the free use of liquid, and other arrangements, prevailed on the Legislature to adopt that name.”

WHY DIGITIZE? Scattered runs 54 repositories: OCLC; 20+ with full runs Publishing inconsistencies Poor quality paper Loss of other materials

WHY DIGITIZE? FROM THE MSUL CIRCULATION DEPT.: “This item is sufficiently overdue that it is not likely to be returned in a timely fashion. (The borrower who has it has been billed for its replacement) You may request this material via interlibrary loan (ILL): Pioneer collections : report of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan, together with reports of county, town, and district pioneer societies Lansing? Mich. : The Society], MSU MAIN LIBRARY F561.M47 v ” Also checked out at MSUL: Vols. 1, 10-12; 15-18, 40 & Index for Vols 1-15

DIGITIZERS American Memory (Library of Congress; digitized for the “Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca ”)Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca Google Book Search Internet Archive Texts Collection is a "collection is open to the community for the contribution of any type of text," many were scanned by Microsoft's "Live Search Books" during University of Michigan Digital Library

PUBLICATION HISTORY (Vols. 1- 9): Pioneer Collections. Lansing : Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan & Pioneer and Historical Society of the State of Michigan (PHSSM) (Vols ): Historical Collections. Lansing : PHSSM & Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society (Vols ): Michigan Historical Collections. Lansing : Michigan Historical Commission. Reprints/2 nd ed. for Vols published

Michigan Historical Collections CAREFULL!!!

VARIANT TITLES Historical Collections And Researches [1 ST ed.] Vol. 37 (1909,1910) Collections of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan… [2nd ed. or Reprint] Vol. 06 (1907) - Vol. 08 (1907). Collections: Report Of The Pioneer Society Of The State Of Michigan… [2nd ed. or Reprint] Vol. 09 (1908)

CAUTION!!! It never had the title of Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, but it’s been commonly used to describe the entire collection.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC TREATMENT FOR 1 st EDITION Successive Entry Pioneer collections (1877). Vol ( ) OCLC # Historical collections (Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society : 1888). Vol ( ) OCLC # Michigan Historical Collections. Vol ( ) OCLC #

Bibliographic Treatment for 1 st Ed. Latest Entry; OCLC #

ANALYSIS

Analysis 1.The set’s numerous titles and issuing bodies complicate any system of bibliographic control. It is inherently messy.

Analysis 2. Not all volumes digitized: 1 st. Ed.: 39 of 40 vol. were done Vol. 9 was not digitized by any project 2 nd. Ed.: just 13 of 21 vol. were done

Analysis 3. Indexing: Each volume has its own index Society-created cumulative indexes were digitized Most indexes created by outside groups have not been digitized

Analysis 4. No project treated it as a serial or collection: No “one stop” listing Can’t search authors or subjects across all volumes, as in: ERGO

Analysis 5. Digitization has: Increased “distribution” of individual volumes Provided access to content with: –Volume & cumulated indexes –Keyword searching only within each volume

SOLUTIONS/ COPING MECHANISMS

Digitizer Compilation JSTOR

Contributor Compilation: U. of Toronto

Contributor Compilation: 856 fields in MARC records

Outsider Compilation #1 page.phtml?page_id=2159

Outside Compilation #1

Outside Compilation #3

Selective Indexing

COMPREHENSIVE INDEXING PROJECT Requires $$$$

CONCLUSIONS

1. Three of the mass digitization projects took no or minimum effort to study bibliographic records to insure that all access points were available. Only the Internet Archive provided all author and title permutations.

2. “Genus Librarianus” is still needed, but needs time & resources to stay abreast of developments. Then can s/he react to techno projects and make sense of them using knowledge of the print and online worlds.

END

DETAILED ANALYSIS OF EACH PROJECT

DIGITIZER: American Memory (LC)

9 vols digitized: all 2 nd Ed. Formats: Scanned and html Retrievability: –Title: Historical collections ONLY – Author: Michigan state historical society ONLY Collection: LC

DIGITIZER: Google Book Search

31 vols digitized: ; 1 st Ed.: 20 ; 2 nd Ed.: 11 Formats: “Page images” (scanned?) and “Plain text” (html) Retrieveability – all Author & title permutations plus Michigan state historical society WITH GREAT DIFFICULTY & PERSISTENCE Text Searching: Yes Print/Save: via PDF Collections: Harvard U. & U of Virginia

DIGITIZER: Internet Archive

36 vols digitized: ; 1 st Ed.: 31; 2 nd Ed.: 5 Multiple formats Text Searching: Yes Retrieveability: All permutations Print/Save: via PDF Reader reviews Collections: U. of Toronto & Allen County (Indiana) Public Library

DIGITIZER: U. of Michigan

DIGITIZER: University of Michigan 40 vols digitized: ; 1 st Ed.: 39 ; 2 nd Ed.: 1 Formats: scanned & OCR Retrieveability: Author: Michigan Historical Commission & Michigan State Historical Society Title: Michigan historical collections. Text Searching: Yes Print only: small image Source Collection: University of Michigan

CURRENT BIBLIOGRAPHIC TREATMENT FOR 2nd Ed./REPRINTS Successive Entry Pioneer Collections (1900). Vol ( ) OCLC # Historical collections made by the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan. Vol (1908) OCLC # Historical collections (Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society : 1908). Vol ( ??) OCLC #

PAST BIBLIOGRAPHIC TREATMENT FOR 2nd Ed. Latest Entry

RETRIEVABILITY American Memory: Site Title: Historical collections; Author: Michigan state historical society Actual Titles: –Collections of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan (2nd Editions) –Collections: Report Of The Pioneer Society Of The State Of Michigan (2nd Editions) –Pioneer Collections (2nd Editions) –Historical Collections (2nd Editions & Reprints) Actual Authors: –Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan –Michigan Pioneer And Historical Society