Organic Digital Library Aboriginal Studies Internet Librarian International March 18, 2002 Darlene Fichter, Data Librarian University of Saskatchewan library.usask.ca/~fichter/

The Need Growing demand for material about First Nations to support: – undergraduate, graduate and professional colleges –other users external to the U of S Two major problems 1. Preservation (material goes out-of-print) 2. Access - many people at the same time from many locations & many collections

The Solution Digital collections One place to look Tools to promote research, analysis, use, collaboration and community of scholars

Pilot Phase: Digital Content 1993 – Asked to put native law cases on the campus network – grant for a pilot project to proof and clean up cases and digitize other content

The Web Site library.usask.ca/native/

New Partners Native Law Centre University of Saskatchewan Archives Saskatchewan Archives Board Poundmaker First Nation Saskatoon Public Library Local History Room

Results Better access to photos, full text searching Digital content is used / wanted July 2000 – June 2001 –84,641 native law cases –25,392 archival photographs Everywhere different computers or hosts per month - University of Saskatchewan is #1 for usage

Directory of First Nations, Métis and Inuit Collections Beyond the Pilot library.usask.ca/native/directory/

New Partners Dept. of Indian and Northern Affairs Library Library and Information Needs of Native People's Interest Group of the Canadian Library Association

Results July 2000-June ,133 uses of the directory

Northwest Resistance Photos Journals Broad sheets library.usask.ca/northwest/

Results Protected rare materials in Archives & Special Collections Improved access to actual item vs. collection Very high usage - 780,507 pages in one year with University of Saskatchewan as #1 site accessing the material

Our Approach Partnerships –very successful, could not do it alone Testing –useful - shows what is needed and is not needed, develop best practices

Next Stage: New Demands Digital content was not enough. Strong desire to have “one place” to look on campus for everything aboriginal Major undertaking –Beyond the bounds of “traditional library” –Similar to demand for “one catalogue” in 1990’s Fall 2000

Proposed Solution Multi-phase project “Portal”

Next Stage: Aboriginal Portal What is a portal? 1. Information and Content 2. Community 3. Tools

Information/Content Search Topical directory organization of content, usually hierarchical Daily (hourly) news and updates Full text repositories Finding aids

Community Community of interests, in our case focused on scholarly work and teaching Discussion, chat, expertise finders, collaboration opportunities, critiques, announcements, events

Tools For scholars to personalize communication & information seeking tools For publishing and editorial review. For course creation and supporting teaching/learning environments for students

Research & Analysis There is a definite need for this type of portal and none exists Can only be built with partnerships and through collaboration Know from past experience it would be used and used locally

Partnerships Libraries Scholars Publishers Users

What do we have to offer? Tools, technology, expertise and keen interest What we’d like to find? Partners Champions Support and funding