1. Digitization of the “Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections”: Great Concept/Fumbled Execution Michael Unsworth Humanities Librarian MSU Libraries unsworth@msu.edu

2. Outline of Talk Genesis Why Should We Care Contents Why Digitize Publication History Bibliographic Treatment Digitizers Analysis Solutions/Coping Mechanisms Conclusions

3. GENESIS: Library Instruction Session

4. WHY SHOULD WE CARE "The content of this forty volume history series, though uneven in quality, includes valuable material. Every teacher of Michigan history will testify to its usefulness. Even the less scholarly contributions constitute important evidence of what a generation of pioneers regarded as significant in their history." Lewis G. Vander Velde, "The Michigan Historical Commission: 1913- 1963," Michigan History Vol. 48, no. 2 (June 1964): 98.

5. WHAT IT CONTAINS: Letters Speeches Memorial Reports Private and Professional Papers of Individuals Personal Remembrances Historical Essays Documentary Material

6. EXAMPLE: J.A. Giradin, “ Slavery in Detroit,” Pioneer Collections Vol. 1 (1877): 415 “In ancient times the city of Detroit and vicinity had slaves among its inhabitants. The old citizens generally purchased them from marauding bands of Indians, who had captured the negro slaves in their war depredations on plantations… “Everyone lived in arcadian simplicity and contentment. The negro was satisfied with his position, and rendered valuable service to his master…”

7. ANOTHER EXAMPLE: F.M. Holloway, “Hillsdale County from 1829 to 1836 Inclusive,” Pioneer Collections Vol. 1 (1877): 180-181: “…and Mr. Stevens went with it [the proposed name of Litchfield] to Detroit, and by the free use of liquid, and other arrangements, prevailed on the Legislature to adopt that name.”

8. WHY DIGITIZE? Scattered runs Access restricted to libraries Publishing inconsistencies Poor quality paper Loss of other materials Promise of hi-tech indexing

9. WHY DIGITIZE? FROM THE MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES’ CIRCULATION DEPT.: “This item [v.9 1886] is sufficiently overdue that it is not likely to be returned in a timely fashion. (The borrower who has it has been billed for its replacement ) You may request this material via interlibrary loan (ILL): Pioneer collections : report of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan, together with reports of county, town, and district pioneer societies Lansing? Mich. : The Society], 1877-1888 MSU MAIN LIBRARY F561.M47 v.9 1886” Also checked out at MSUL: Vols. 1, 10-12; 15-18, 40 & Index for Vols 1-15

10. PUBLICATION HISTORY 1876-1886 (Vols. 1- 9): Pioneer Collections. Lansing : Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan & Pioneer and Historical Society of the State of Michigan (PHSSM). 1886-1912 (Vols. 10-38): Historical Collections. Lansing : PHSSM & Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society. 1915-1929 (Vols. 39-40): Michigan Historical Collections. Lansing : Michigan Historical Commission. Reprints/2 nd ed. for Vols. 1-21 published 1900-13.

11. Michigan Historical Collections CAREFULL!!!

13. VARIANT TITLES Historical Collections And Researches [1 ST ed.] Vol. 37 (1909,1910) Collections of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan… [Reprint/ 2nd ed.] Vol. 06 (1907) - Vol. 08 (1907). Collections: Report Of The Pioneer Society Of The State Of Michigan… [2nd ed.] Vol. 09 (1908)

14. CAUTION!!! It never had the title of Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, but it’s been commonly used to describe the entire collection.

15. BIBLIOGRAPHIC TREATMENT FOR 1 st EDITION Successive Entry Pioneer collections (1877). Vol. 1- 9 (1876-1886) OCLC #8597825 Historical collections (Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society : 1888). Vol. 10-38 (1886-1912) OCLC #8069520 Michigan Historical Collections. Vol. 39-40 (1915-1929) OCLC #8597926

16. Bibliographic Treatment for 1 st Ed. Latest Entry; OCLC #1757295

17. DIGITIZERS

18. SELECTIVE DIGITIZERS

19. Library of Congress’ American Memory – 9 Unique Volumes

20. Google Book Search – 27 Unique Volumes

21. Internet Archive Texts Collection 32 Unique Volumes

22. University of Michigan Digital Library’s Making of America 40 Unique Volumes

23. ANALYSIS

24. Analysis 1.Bibliographic control is complicated by the set’s numerous titles and issuing bodies. Regardless of what system of cataloging is used, the resulting record(s) are long, obtuse, and mind- numbing to even the most motivated user.

25. Analysis 2. Not all volumes digitized: 1 st. Ed.: 39 of 40 vol. were done Vol. 9 was not digitized by any project 2 nd. Ed.: just 13 of 21 vol. were done The contents of all 40 vols. are accessible

26. Analysis 3. Indexing/Access to Contents: Each volume has its own index Society-created cumulative indexes were digitized Many indexes created by outside groups have not been digitized

27. Analysis 4. No project treated it as a serial or collection: No “one stop” listing Can’t search authors or subjects across all volumes, as in:

28. ANALYSIS: JSTOR

29. Analysis 6. Digitization has: Increased “distribution” of individual volumes Provided access to content with: –Volume & cumulated indexes –Keyword searching only within each volume Complicated comprehensive searching by volume by volume searching

30. SOLUTIONS/ COPING MECHANISMS

31. 1. Get “Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections” as an access point on bibliographic records (OCLC#8069520: WorldCat record)

32. 2. Provide links to Digitized Volumes on Bibliographic Records (U. of Toronto OPAC)

33. 2. Provide links to Digitized Volumes on Bibliographic Records (U. of Toronto MARC record)

34. 3. Produce a comprehensive Web Guide http://libguides.lib.msu.edu/MPHC

35. http://libguides.lib.msu.edu/MPHC

36. 4. Selective Indexing

37. Native Americans Guide

40. 5. COMPREHENSIVE INDEXING PROJECT Requires $$$$

41. CONCLUSIONS

42. 1. NONE of the mass digitization projects took an effort to study bibliographic records to insure that all access points were available for Internet searching.

43. 2. “Genus Librarianus” is still needed, but needs time & resources to stay abreast of developments. Then can s/he react to techno projects and make sense of them by using knowledge of the print and online worlds.

44. END

45. DETAILED ANALYSIS OF EACH PROJECT

46. DIGITIZER: American Memory (LC)

47. 9 Vols digitized: all 2 nd Ed. Retrievability: –Title: Historical collections ONLY – Author: Michigan state historical society ONLY Collection: LC

48. Formats: Scanned HTML

50. DIGITIZER: Google Book Search

51. 31 vols digitized: ; 1 st Ed.: 20 ; 2 nd Ed.: 11 Retrieveability – all Author & title permutations plus Michigan state historical society WITH GREAT DIFFICULTY & PERSISTENCE Text Searching: Yes Print/Save: via PDF Collections: Harvard U. & U of Virginia Formats: PDF; Plain text; EPUB (download)

52. DIGITIZER: Internet Archive

53. 36 vols digitized: ; 1 st Ed.: 31; 2 nd Ed.: 5 Multiple formats Text Searching: Yes Retrieveability: All permutations Print/Save: via PDF Reader reviews Collections: U. of Toronto & Allen County (Indiana) Public Library

54. DIGITIZER: U. of Michigan

55. DIGITIZER: University of Michigan 40 vols digitized: ; 1 st Ed.: 39 ; 2 nd Ed.: 1 Formats: scanned & OCR Retrieveability: Author: Michigan Historical Commission & Michigan State Historical Society Title: Michigan historical collections. Text Searching: Yes Print only: small image Source Collection: University of Michigan

56. CURRENT BIBLIOGRAPHIC TREATMENT FOR 2nd Ed./REPRINTS Successive Entry Pioneer Collections (1900). Vol. 1- 9 (1900-1908) OCLC #13501029 Historical collections made by the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan. Vol. 11-12 (1908) OCLC #13500880 Historical collections (Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society : 1908). Vol. 13-21 (1908-19??) OCLC #13500714

57. PAST BIBLIOGRAPHIC TREATMENT FOR 2nd Ed. Latest Entry

58. RETRIEVABILITY American Memory: Site Title: Historical collections; Author: Michigan state historical society Actual Titles: –Collections of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan (2nd Editions) –Collections: Report Of The Pioneer Society Of The State Of Michigan (2nd Editions) –Pioneer Collections (2nd Editions) –Historical Collections (2nd Editions & Reprints) Actual Authors: –Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan –Michigan Pioneer And Historical Society