27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan DEVELOPING SERVICES FOR LOCAL HISTORY RESEARCH THROUGH A DIGITIZATION PROJECT: A PUBLIC LIBRARY CASE STUDY Bogdan Trifunović, M. A. Head of Digitization Center Public Library “Vladislav Petković Dis” Čačak, Serbia digital.cacak-dis.rs Zupan family, Čačak 1934

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan OVERVIEW Introduction Digitization in Public Library Čačak Local History Collections How digitization improves research Oral history and audio-video preservation Future plans

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan INTRODUCTION The Public Library Čačak (PLC) was founded in 1848 Main library for the district of Morava Serving population of More than volumes in hold Administrative seat of PLC

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan DIGITIZATION Digitization began in 2006 (postcards and photos)‏ In 2007 Digital Library concept was framed – an organized collection of digitized materials for preserving and presenting local history, culture and heritage Digitization Center (January 2008), the first among public libraries in Serbia

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan DIGITIZED RESOURCES Books Newspapers Journals Postcards Photos Audio-video resources

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan ONLINE SURVEY Created to collect more information about local history and digital collections coexistence in cultural institutions The main purpose of the survey was to collect data on how local history practitioners utilize digital collections to develop their research

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan SURVEY – general conclusions: SURVEY – general conclusions: Libraries lead digitization activities among cultural institutions in Serbia Local history is the most frequent historiography research Dominant majority of participants believe that digitization will improve research Digitization of paper materials is regarded as priority

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan LOCAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS LOCAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS Established in the 1970’s, now with tens of thousands items in hold The most important source of printed materials for local history research LHC holds old books, newspapers, journals, small library material about Čačak, published or printed in Čačak, or written by people born or living in Čačak Audio-video resources

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan DIGITIZATION OF LHC Why: –preservation of paper materials threatened by extensive usage and paper deterioration; –greater access to collections (not only on-site)‏ –bringing in more users –promoting some parts of the collection over the Internet –preserving local history (memory) from oblivion –existence of strong community conscience

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan DIGITIZATION OF LHC How: –through collaboration of Local History Collections and digitization department (collaboration between historians, librarians and IT specialists)‏ –creation of the Digital Repository –end-user orientation (stress on usability)‏: providing understandable and logical information for researchers and general public

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan Hotel “Kren” (1900), after 1945 renamed as “Belgrade”

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan Čačak, Elementary School and Gimnazium, nowadays Municipality House and High school of Economics

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan Čačak, main square between World Wars

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan Čačak, main square 1970’s

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan Knez Mihailova street in the 1920’s, nowadays a parking lot in the city centre

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan DIGITIZATION OF LHC What: –more than items with digital pages total (8.000 online)‏ –2.000 digital photos and postcards of historical value –PLC’s edition “Local History Bibliography” –7 newspaper titles in print between 1889 and 1937 (the most used collection!)‏ –books about the local history

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan SERVICES “Ask a Librarian” was introduced in 2006 Until the end of 2007 this service dealt mostly with questions about books, programs held in PLC and working hours The start of Digital Library created another type of questions, about population origin Two types of questions: where particular information can be found (content of resources) and how to use DL

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan Content? Full-text search option provides particular information, otherwise hardly accessible to librarians (search result for Strahinjić's family origin oral tradition)‏

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan Using DL? Help section in DL concentrates on topics about browsing collections, finding appropriate information, key words explanation, full text search, etc.

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan SERVICES “Ask a Librarian” provided a feedback on quality of our services considering digitization and online historical materials, but it also extracts information on what material users expect to see in DL, how they use it and how often, what are the main problems We learned that too much “technology” and information confuse and repulse users

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan AUDIO-VIDEO PRESERVATION Only several of public libraries in Serbia preserve and digitize their audio & video collections (recordings of programs, etc)‏ PLC has obtained digital copies of old video recordings regarding the history of Čačak (more than 20 hours of material), while our existing collection of old VHS tapes is prepared for digitization Audio recordings – Oral History program

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan AUDIO-VIDEO PRESERVATION

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM LHC and Digitization Center joint project The aim is to collect existing interviews from public figures and ordinary people from Čačak, in an effort to create oral history audio archive The main task is to digitize and transcribe recordings

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan ORAL HISTORY The bulk of audio material considering oral history came from Radio Čačak archives (purchased by PLC in 2007/2008) and from the audio recordings made by outsourcing journalist Professionally recorded oral history material, with adequate meta-data indexing and access, is usable in numerous research projects

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan PLANS More online material for local history research More collaboration with other institutions Digitization Center will provide tools for easier collections building: –Central Repository for digital documents (Digital Repository)‏ –Omeka software localization in Serbian

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan Digital Collections – online thematic exhibits based on Omeka software (CHNM, GMU)‏

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan CHALLENGES The main challenge is creating long-term sustainable digitization program, which will be recognized by the users (researchers) as trustworthy institutionalized resource (overcoming the discomfort of “digital documents”, “virtual reality”, concerns over reliability and quality, privacy intrusions, etc)‏

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan SPREADING THE WORD Using blogs to comment about our digitization programs and about the accuracy and relevancy of online sources After the Digital Library was established, we sent an announcement through local media and over the Internet about the whole program (the response from the patrons was extraordinary)‏ Breaking through on genealogy websites

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan SPREADING THE WORD A blog Digitization and Digital Libraries digital.cacak-dis.rs Facebook page YouTube channel

27/08/09GENLOC open session, WLIC IFLA, Milan THANK YOU! QUESTIONS? Bogdan Trifunović, M. A. Head of Digitization Center Public Library “Vladislav Petković Dis” Čačak, Serbia digital.cacak-dis.rs Dragomirović family palace, Čačak Dragomirović family palace, Čačak