1. An Introduction to the Alliance, NWDA, and Digital Services Planning Jodi Allison-Bunnell, NWDA Program Manager

2. First, the Alliance

3. Membership Oregon & Washington Private & Public 2-year and 4-year community colleges, private colleges, public research universities

4. 7 Puget Sound 5 Eastern 2 Central 2 Southern 17 Willamette Valley 36 Members Central Oregon Comm. College Central Washington University Chemeketa CC (July 2007) Clark College Concordia University Eastern Oregon University Eastern Washington University George Fox University Lane Community College Lewis & Clark College Linfield College Mt. Hood Community College Oregon State University Oregon Health & Science Univ. Oregon Institute of Technology Oregon State University Pacific University Portland Community College Portland State University Reed College Saint Martin’s College Seattle Pacific University Seattle University Southern Oregon University The Evergreen State College University of Oregon University of Portland University of Puget Sound University of Washington Walla Walla College Warner Pacific College Washington State University Western Oregon University Western Washington University Whitman College Willamette University Cascade Range

5. Council & Executive Committee Deans/Directors of 36 member institutions Committees & Steering Teams Collection Development Electronic Resources Northwest Digital Archives Summit Borrowing Summit Catalog An involved membership

6. Summit Courier Service Electronic Resources Digital Services Northwest Digital Archives Major Programs

8. 9.2 million unique titles 28.7 million items 433,117 loans in FY08

9. 280 libraries served through 80 dropsites in Oregon, Washington, & Idaho 24-48 hour delivery 350,000 packages / year Courier Service www.orbiscascade.org/courier/

10. Electronic Resources Group purchase of databases, electronic books & journals Shared subject expertise Shared licensing expertise Group buying power Increased access Cost avoidance ~ $8 million each year www.orbiscascade.org/er/

11. Digital Services New program (May 2007) investigating digital services federated search systems streaming media new search engines data harvesting digital repositories next generation integrated systems

12. Northwest Digital Archives Highly valued initiative Compatible mission Interest in Working with broader set of cultural institutions Move to sustainability Exploring digital content future www.orbiscascade.org/nwda/

13. Strategic Agenda Council working on new SA – November 2008 meeting – February 2009 meeting Completed initiatives: – Growth in existing programs – NWDA program – Cooperative Collection Development New initiatives: – Digital Services – Regional Library Services Center – Many others!

14.  High density storage  Member buildings put to best use  Cooperative collection development  Home for other collaborative projects - Digitization - Preservation - Instruction Regional Library Services Center www.orbiscascade.org/rlsc/

15. Council Planning Sneak Peak Digitization general: – Very important/important 61% Digital preservation: – Very important/important 43% (also strong “investigate further”) Discovery tool: – Very important/important 39% (also strong “investigate further”) Hosting content: – Very important/important 61% Scanning and reformatting: – Very important/important 42% (also strong “investigate further”)

16. Next, NWDA

17. The Northwest Digital Archives (NWDA) is a regional consortium that provides enhanced access to archival and manuscript materials through a union database of Encoded Archival Description (EAD) finding aids. Union database includes finding aids for over 4,900 archives and manuscripts collections in thirty different repositories in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska. Brings together academic (public and private), state, historical societies, and municipal archives.

18. Alaska State Library, Historical Collections Central Washington University Central Oregon Community College Eastern Washington University Gonzaga University Idaho State Historical Society Lane Community College Lewis & Clark College Montana Historical Society Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, Eastern Washington State Historical Society Oregon Health & Sciences University Oregon Historical Society Oregon Institute of Technology Oregon State University Pacific Lutheran University Portland Community College Seattle Municipal Archives Seattle Museum of History and Industry University of Alaska, Fairbanks University of Idaho University of Montana University of Oregon University of Washington Washington State University Western Oregon University Western Washington University Whitman College Whitworth University Willamette University

19. Program History 2002: Founded with grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission 2002-2004: Phase 1: $350,000 NEH grant and $138,000 NHPRC grant 2005-2007: Phase 2: Grants of $300,000 from NEH and $178,000 from NHPRC July 2007: NWDA became a permanent program of the Orbis Cascade Alliance 2007-2008: Digital Services needs assessment and planning efforts

20. Current Program EAD database of over 4900 finding aids Technical infrastructure hosted at Washington State University 20,000 to 22,000 documents retrieved per month Member training and support Emphasis on collection-level access to materials Half-time Program Manager Working Groups support policy and changes to site and program: – Standards – Usability Design

30. Current Services: The Pluses Finding aid access across institutions Serves experienced researchers well High-level collection access Some access to digital content Finding aids are in a portable, flexible format Usability testing shapes site functions Good search engine exposure

31. Current Services: The Minuses No digital content hosting capability Links to digital content functional but clunky Finding aids have a limited audience Not taking full advantage of flexible data structure Encoding finding aids has few rewards for some current and potential members We’re another silo!

32. Last, Digital Services Planning

33. The Big Questions Why digitize, and for whom? Role of special collections and archives What do our members want and need? What do their researchers want and need? How do we create an essential program?

34. Needs Assessment Process Survey of Digitizing Initiatives Researcher Type Survey Researcher Needs Study Institutional Needs Survey

35. Survey of Digitizing Initiatives Many programs in place Convergence in standards for metadata Many concerns about sustainability Many concerns about audience/use Desires for collaboration, training, hosting

36. Researcher Type Survey Priority audiences: – Students from my academic institution – Faculty from my academic institution – Staff/administration from my institution – Avocational historians – Family historians/genealogists – Alumni of my academic institution

37. Researcher Needs Study: Preliminary Results Strong desire for traditional reference functions Less interest in web 2.0 functions Search preferred to browse Most unfamiliar with sites we showed them

38. Institutional Needs Survey A clear mandate for search engine exposure of any digital content Very strong interest in pursuing preservation of reformatted and born digital materials as a consortium, including hosting for preservation Very strong support for a program to aggregate archives and special collections materials for access, including “skin and slice” capabilities Support for a program to present whole digitized archival collections Adapt existing best practices Desire for training Strong support for scanning and reformatting services

39. Other Factors to Consider Investment in NWDA database metadata Mass digitization of special collections Need to increase efficiency of digitization and metadata creation Strong desire to integrate silos

40. Review Process October 2008-Present Digital Program Working Group studies results NWDA PM studies results Both present preliminary recommendations Meet with NWDA ST early November Group presents recommendations This group carries forward into this meeting Council integrates into February 2009 retreat

41. Digital Preservation Develop a digital preservation solution for born-digital and digitally reformatted content LOCKSS system, likely dark archive Consider other models: MetaArchive Cooperative

42. Discovery Develop a discovery tool or system to search and present content from systems currently used by Alliance and NWDA institutions: – Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems – Institutional repositories (IR) – NWDA database Presentations/user services to be informed by user studies

43. Hosting Services Develop options for hosting content for access For institutions currently without hosting options Also may interest others who want other options

44. Scanning and Reformatting Services Initially group-rate contracting for special formats Facilitate “adoption” of institutions who need services by institutions that have them for a fee Long-term, plan for services based in RLSC

45. Fees Flexible structure Opt in, out of services

46. A Digital Services Systems Model Content Server Preservation Server Storage Server Institution A Institution C Institution B DAM Content Server DAM Preservation Server Institution D Content Contributor Content Server IR DAM Preservation Server Discovery Interface Consortial Systems Participates in shared storage and preservation services Has content harvested, participates in preservation service, and runs preservation node Participates in storage and preservation services and runs preservation node Participates in storage service NWDA DB Prepared by Michael Paulus, DPWG chair, October 31, 2008

47. IMLS Collaborative Planning Grant Advisory Board in important areas: – Preservation – Search and presentation – Business planning Programmer for prototype DPWG meetings with AB December 2008-December 2009 – Mostly January-July 2009

48. Grant Prospects IMLS National Leadership Grant, February 2010 – August 2009-January 2010 preparation NHPRC Digitizing Historical Records, June 2009 Several possibilities with NEH

49. Atmospheric Considerations Always a need to focus on advocacy, users as well as back end – Institutions have to find this service essential Economic situation – Find ways to create cost savings, shift existing budgets rather than new money