1. Angie Soto & Margarita Vargas-Betancourt
Dismantling Colonial Library Practices of Accessibility through Bilingual Metadata
Angie Soto & Margarita Vargas-Betancourt
University of Florida
Introduction
Methods
Results
Significance
The purpose of this poster is to present the project The Cuban American Dream as a pilot for the creation of bilingual English-Spanish metadata.
This digital exhibit uses the immigration of Cubans to Florida in the twentieth century as a case study to counteract the negative stereotypes that are currently used in the depiction of immigrants and, second, to democratize the historical record by providing not only access to digital content but also bilingual metadata.
The Cuban American Dream Timeline showcases documents from UF’s special collections such as Spanish colonial land grants, a 19th-century novel, photographs, US corporations records, and political papers.
Timeline JS
This digital tool is based on a Google spreadsheet, which made collaboration possible. The tool also transferred easily to UF Libraries’ website.
Collaboration
Collaboration among students, faculty, librarians, and staff ensured the success of the project.
Bilingual Metadata
Metadata specialist enhanced curator’s metadata in spreadsheet form to ingest into UFDC, including Spanish metadata. Never ingested such a complex spreadsheet.
lcsh-es.org
Simply insert a Library of Congress Subject Heading and database provides results from various Spanish Subject Heading thesauri:
Sources (thesauri) utilized in lcsh-es.org
qlsp Queens Borough Public Library
Bidex Bilindex
embne Encabezamientos de Materia de la Biblioteca Nacional de España
abne Biblioteca Nacional de España
Problems with lcsh-es.org
“The data is not completely current and much of it has not been checked thoroughly.” This is a grant funded project (by National Endowment Humanities grant).
When creating metadata solely for UFDC, FAST headings are typically used. Lcsh-es.org translates LCSH which has slight variations from FAST in format and terminology. Ex: Description and travel (LCSH) = Travel (FAST)
Through the Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC), the University of Florida (UF) and its partners contribute open access digital content to the entire world. However, its English-only metadata makes content inaccessible to non-English speakers. This project has become a model for UF to provide bilingual metadata.
This is important because the timeline sought to provide an in-depth view of all of the aspects that make up immigration and, at the same, time to analyze the uniqueness of the Cuban immigration to Florida.
The timeline was based in the physical exhibit The Cuban American Dream displayed at the Smathers Library Gallery in After the material was scanned, UF curators began to prepare English metadata based on the library’s catalog and finding aids.
Then, UF staff used lcsh-es.org, a commercial prototype that provides a centralized database for Library of Congress recognized Spanish Subject Heading thesauri.
Once the images were available at UFDC, to create the timeline two students used Timeline JS, an open source tool from Knightlab.com.
When the timeline was ready, UF’s Exhibits Coordinator created points of access to the physical exhibit’s labels and a banner. Finally, she inserted the timeline into UF Libraries' exhibits website.
Portrait of Roniel Cabrera. Cuba, 1978.
Points of Access
LACC Website/Exhibits:
LACC Website/Research Guides:
Labels and Spreadsheets Related to the Physical Exhibit: