Organization, Clarity, and Sanity: Digitization for the Future On a Shoestring Organization, Clarity, and Sanity: Digitization for the Future On a Shoestring University of Alabama Libraries Jody L. DeRidder Image courtesy of Life Magazine Or Digital Library Development From the Bottom Up
Libraries organize information… primarily books. Trinity College Library, Dublin, as captured by Candida H ö fer in her book Libraries (Thames and Hudson,UK: 2005).
Photo credit: Flickr user "Libby", used with permission (creative commons) If libraries organize books… Why not digital files?? It’s all information!
A digital object may belong in MANY potential virtual collections… … but it originated from ONE SINGLE ANALOG collection. Provenance trumps all! Slavery African Americans Sheet Music Tombigbee River Southern History … and more “Gum Tree Canoe,” Published by G.P. Reed (Boston: 1847). Wade Hall collection of Southern History and Culture, Hoole Special Collections, University of Alabama Libraries.
Bringing Order to Chaos University of Alabama Libraries Holder ID: u0003 Collection ID: Item ID: Sequence ID: 0005 Archival File: u0003_ _ _0005.tif 1) Clarity 2) Low cost 3) Simple 4) Extensible
u0003_ _ is the first digitized item in the MSS 1980 collection HOLDER ID COLLECTION ID
The Digitization Working Area… Collection folders are named for the collection identifier. Allowed subfolders include: Admin Metadata Scans Transcripts Compound objects have their own subfolders for pages, named for the item. And a Collection Folder in the Working Area
An Example of the Lowest- Cost Model: The Alabama Digital Preservation Network Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe!!
storage area Simple, Clear Hierarchical Organization: Holder ID Collection ID Item ID Sequence ID
u0003 slide Identification, Organization and Consistency Each segment of numbers: Holder ID Collection ID Item ID Sequence ID is used in the directory structure. The directory for u0003_ _0002_001.tif Is simply: u0003/ / 0002/ 001/
Dropping the Technical Metadata in… where it belongs Makes METS creation a Piece of Cake! (and redundant!) Using FITS, the File Information Tool Set developed by Harvard which encapsulates JHOVE, DROID, ExifTool and other tools:
Bringing Content Up to the Level Of the WEB!!! Greater Usability and Access == Longer Life Images … ImageMagick: (it’s free!) Protected archive area u u0003_ _ _0005.tif Thumb, mid-, and large-size derivatives Web accessible area Audio … LAME: OCR … TESSERACT:
ACCESS! Via Acumen (also free!) XML agnostic No ingest No metadata modifications All content easily accessible Open to search engines
Bringing Order to Chaos 1) Clarity 2) Low cost 3) Simple 4) Extensible University of Alabama Libraries Holder ID: u0003 Collection ID: Item ID: Sequence ID: 0005 Archival File: u0003_ _ _0005.tif Jody L. DeRidder UA Digital Services wiki: