1. Laurie N. Taylor, PhD Laurien@ufl.edu University of Florida Libraries
Practical Steps Towards Your Local and/or Regional Digitalisation Project 
Laurie N. Taylor, PhD
University of Florida Libraries

2. Reasons
For Digital Libraries: full, open access materials online within organised, described collections
For Preservation: physical library services online, may include Digital Libraries as a service.
For New Creative Projects: exhibits, websites…
For Commercial Uses
Many reasons, normally to build digital libraries, but all of these tie together

3. General Steps Towards Building a Digital Library
Defining Infrastructure: tools for digitalisation, digital library online space
Defining Projects: selecting manageable & contextualized projects
Digitizing Materials: Copyright, creating metadata, digitizing, loading online, and organizing
Building Context: Exhibits, themes, and more
Collaboration: Building additional context and scope for development & promotion
Planning: For continued growth and more connections
Promotion: Promoting each collection and each project and explaining how they develop the Library as each phase is finished
Assessment/Feedback
General Steps in building a digital library
Unpacking these further

4. Infrastructure Considerations
Display / Usability: for internal development and patrons
Access: open or restricted
Sustainability / Preservation
Reputation and capability of service providers, number and size of install base (for sustainability and shared improvements)
Equipment and training
Ability to migrate, add collaborators, move content
Unpacking of last slides, first considerations

5. Defining Infrastructure, from Part to Whole
Define long term project goals
Define immediate project for development
Define stakeholders
Part building to whole

6. Points to Remember
Synergy: digital collections are the sum of their parts and their connections
Discreteness: each item in a digital collection exists on its own
Modularity: and each item exists in combination / reconfiguration with the others
Digital Libraries are like LEGOs. Each piece exists on its own, but each intrinsically explains how the system works, and each piece can be combined with any of the others, in an unlimited number of ways to generate new forms from the combination. In building, select pieces that are best for what they are and for what they can be combined into based on the overall design goals.
Sharing always makes sense in this context—you still get the benefits of your work, and more when you work with others

7. Collaboration Considerations
Higher costs if independent
Rights and ownership; any limitations?
Attribution / Recognition of Contribution
Benefits of Collaboration: preservation, sustainability, recognition, enhancement of materials through the collaborative

8. Digitalisation

9. Beginning Digitalisation
Select tools/equipment
Select relevant standards and ways to support
Select equipment for housing the Digital Library
Hire or train personnel

10. Digitalisation Processing
Project scale and initial material type will determine many choices.
Equipment
Photos: flatbed scanners, relatively smaller server space
Maps and newspapers: larger scanners, need zoom technology and more server space
Books: specialized scanners, specialized presentation technology
Processing:
Copyright research, level of metadata creation, file types, organizing, usability, findability

11. Infrastructure Considerations
Digital Library Equipment

12. Digital Library System Infrastructure

13. DigiTool by ExLibris http://kong.lib.usf.edu:8881/
Size of install base is large, but smaller than contentDM, made by exlibris, common comments

14. DigiTool by ExLibris Limited customization
Difficult interface for users and developers
Difficult URLs for search engines
Size of install base is large, but smaller than contentDM, made by exlibris, common comments

15. ContentDM (offered by OCLC)
Materials added to WorldCat, which is crawled by Google and other Search Engines, thereby increasing visibility everywhere

19. http://www.fedora-commons.org http://www.fedora-commons.org
Cornell (originally)
Large, growing, and active user group
New grant with supporting funds, so will continue to grow
Innovative projects, customizable display
Requires internal infrastructure support

20. Looks like a regular CMS, very customizable

21. DSpace

23. Greenstone

26. Technology in Service of Collections & Connections
Modular development:
What three items would you most like to have digital?
What three themes/concepts? (authors, historical period, city, idea, event)
How do those themes and materials connect with other libraries here?
How do those connect with your audiences? (local, researchers, world)
with the world as your audience, many people will make many connections, so the important part is to give them enough to play with and to make enough connections that your materials and ideas can take root, even if to grow in wonderfully unplanned directions in the digital commons, the tragedy of the commons no longer needs to be true. The digital commons grows by reputation within a gift culture, the more you share, the richer you are, like researchers--the more you know, the more you publish Sharing wisely takes advantage of the digital commons. Sharing wisely means sharing what matters to you and what can be explained and connected. Share what you care about because the digital commons returns reputation, but it grows on its own through materials shared or by the depth of the connections, which you must work to shape or it grows wild.

27. Opening the Digital Library
Goals for digitalisation
Goals for individual collections
Defining and creating collections
Showcasing the collections
Making every step count more than once
Discreteness and Modularity: Emphasizing digitized items and their significance while building context through finding aids, exhibits, collaboration, and promoting each project in connection to the project goals as each phase is finished.

28. Questions www.uflib.ufl.edu/ufdc www.dloc.com