Conference Schedule and Program

and

Links to Survey, Handouts, and Presentations

The Digital Commonwealth of Massachusetts celebrated the launch of the new portal with its second annual digital library conference (click for news release). This conference was designed for all cultural institutions that have an interest in digital libraries, including historical societies and commissions, museums, archives, research institutions, schools, and libraries of all types.

Thanks to our Sponsors

Digital Commonwealth update and celebration of the Portal Launch - Vivien Goldman, President, Steve Dalton, Vice President, Carolyn Noah, Past President, and Greg Pronevitz, ex officio.

Keynote Session

May I Digitize this Photo? Go With the Flow
When may we digitize a photograph, diary, letter? When is an old photo in the public domain? If it’s not, is there still a way we can scan it legally? What disclaimers should we use? This talk uses an easy to follow flow chart to help make sense of complicated questions.
Speaker: Mary Minow, Library Law Consultant -

Download handouts:

107 Fair Use

108 Limitations on Exclusive Rights

204 Who Owns the Copyright?

504 Libraries, Archives ... Copyright Liability

Fair Use Checklist

Hirtle Chart 2007

Jury Instructions

Exhibits and Gold Sponsor Spotlight Sessions Open

Luncheon Keynote Speaker

The Digital Commonwealth: the Bridge to Library 2.0
Library 2.0 projects have the potential of transforming library staff and programs, and engaging patrons in new levels of involvement in their community and library. Building the Digital Commonwealth will allow libraries to implement ideas and technologies associated with Library 2.0 and identify individuals who can help them manage the transition to this new technology. What’s the downside? We’ll talk about that too!
Speaker: Marshall Keys, Library Consultant, MDA Consulting

Download presentation (6.7 MB)

 

Breakout Sessions

1:45 – 2:35

Virtual Archives: Preparing to Create a Digital Collection
Digitizing materials to make them available on the Web sounds sexy and easy. Buy a scanner, choose the collection, scan the materials, and mount them. Simple, isn’t it? Unfortunately, that is not the case. There is much more to be considered and accomplished before one can even get to the scanning step, let alone mount the materials in an organized and coherent manner. This session will address a number of the issues that need to be considered before the scanning of documents, photographs, or other materials actually begins.
Speaker: Gregor Trinkaus-Randall, Preservation Specialist at the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners - Download presentation

Case Study: Statewide Digital Project, Connecticut History Online
Connecticut History Online (CHO) is a collaborative project of the Dodd Center, University of Connecticut; the Connecticut Historical Society; Mystic Seaport; and the Connecticut State Library. This program will use the development of CHO to focus on the steps and obstacles of getting an online digital project from initial grant to a sustainable statewide project.
Speaker: Kendall Wiggin, Connecticut State Librarian

The Future of the Past: Digital Libraries in the Age of Social Software
Flickr, YouTube, FaceBook and a host of other social sites allow people to record and share images and experiences of the past and present, and encourage active participation through discussion, bookmarking and remixing. What can libraries, museums and historical societies learn from these sites, and how can we use our professional skills and experience to meet the challenges of this changed and changing environment?
Speaker: Elizabeth Thomsen, Services Manager for NOBLE, the North of Boston Library Exchange - Link to presentation

How do they do it? Displaying Digital Images on the Web
Web presentations of digitized materials are comprised of more than just digital images. We will examine several different websites that present online historical sources during this session. Looking closely at what is on the screen helps to identify issues and components of the "backend"--the web delivery system behind the web display. Real examples will help articulate some decisions that institutions face as they make digital content available on their websites.
Speaker: Nancy Heywood, Digital Projects Coordinator, Massachusetts Historical Society - Download presentation (7MB) - handout
 

2:45 – 3:35

Scanning 101
This session will be an introduction to the terminology, concepts and basic standards involved in scanning and digitizing items for use in digital collections such as the Digital Commonwealth. Basic terms such as pixel, resolution, optical vs. interpolated DPI, JPEG, and TIFF will be reviewed and illustrated. Concepts and considerations such as color accuracy, image enhancement, image file size, and image file type will also be considered. We will also review current digitization standards. A live scanning demonstration will be included in the program!
Speaker: Scott Kehoe, Technology Consultant, Northeastern Massachusetts Regional Library System - Link to presentation

Case Study: Museum Imaging Workflow
This case study analyzes digitization efforts at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where creation of sustainable digital assets begins with carefully managed – though often customized – workflows.  An encyclopedic collection of digitally reformatted fine art objects from the MFA’s collection now resides in web accessible databases.  In aggregate, MFA manages more than 200,000 publication standard images, along with the requisite metadata.  This session will take participants behind the scenes and into the digital production lab for a candid discussion of critical imaging issues.  Participants from museums and historical societies may find this session particularly helpful.
Speaker: David Mathews, Manager, Imaging Studio, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

New Trends for a Traditional Subject: Primary Sources and the World Wide Web in Teacher Training and K-12 Curriculum Support
The proliferation of websites presenting digitized images of primary source documents and artifacts has revolutionized the teaching of history. Join the education staff of the Massachusetts Historical Society as they demonstrate some of the Society’s newest digital projects and discuss their impact on K-12 outreach at the MHS. Learn more about how the Society’s digital collections are used in teacher training programs and in curriculum projects developed through the Adams and Swensrud teacher fellowship programs. Education staff and teacher fellows will also share strategies for integrating digital primary sources into K-12 classrooms.
Speakers: Jayne Gordon, Director of Education and Public Programs, Massachusetts Historical Society and Kathleen Barker, Education Coordinator, Massachusetts Historical Society - Download presentation

Building Repositories: Three Perspectives
Three repositories and three approaches are represented on this panel designed for institutions that are considering developing a repository locally. Managers of CONTENTdm (C/W MARS), DSpace (MBLWHOI), and DigiTool® (Boston College) repositories discuss the decision-making process that led to their choice of platform, how the repository was built, decision-making on metadata, and lessons learned.
Speakers: Ann Devenish, MBLWHOI Library, Woods Hole, MA - Download presentation; Michael Bennett, Access Services Supervisor, CW/MARS Download presentation (1.8MB); Mark Caprio, Digital Repository Program Manager, Boston College

3:45 – 4:35

Metadata Considerations for Digital Collections
Metadata is an integral part of digital collection building. This session will provide an overview of aspects of metadata that are central to the creation of digital collections, such as the Dublin Core and other metadata standards, XML, the Open Archives Initiative (OAI), and metadata content standards. The presentation will include a discussion of the impact of metadata on collection access and ways to increase the interoperability of digital collections and expand access. Find out what you need to know to make good decisions about how you will describe and provide access to your digital collections, now and in the future.
Speaker: Amy Benson, Schlesinger Library at Harvard University. Download presentation (6.7MB)


Case Studies in Digital Collaboration: Sudbury’s Goodnow Library and Town Organizations and the Topsfield Historical Society and Town Library
Bill Talentino and Laura Scott Lowell will explain the nature and purpose of the Sudbury archives project and how it has evolved over the past fifteen years. The challenges of developing cooperative relationships with local public and private organizations will be discussed, along with the logistics and procedures that helped to insure the project’s success. They will show examples of digitized material from the collections, demonstrate how they are used, and share lessons learned over the course of their project.

Bill Whiting and Jackie White will describe the efforts made by an all-volunteer Historical Society to preserve its historical record archives and make them available to the public. They will describe how partnerships between the library and historical society with other town departments have resulted in financial support, internships, and the donation of other community resources to support the town’s digitization and preservation projects. They use PastPerfect to manage their digital image collection.
Speakers: Bill Talentino, Director, Goodnow Library, Sudbury; Laura Scott Lowell - Download presentation (3MB), Goodnow Library, Sudbury; Bill Whiting, Topsfield Historical Society - Download handouts: #1, #2, #3, #4; and Jackie White, Director, Topsfield Town Library.


Picture This! (But Don’t Forget the Context)
The context is as important as the pixels in being able to learn from historical images. Placing images in context, through selection, display, description and placement, and being aware of the earlier context and potential biases, must be considered as we present historical images and gather current “history.” Now that photography and videography are ubiquitous but ephemeral, we must also make an effort to accurately capture and preserve the flavor and context of life
today.
Speaker: Ronald A. Gagnon, Executive Director, North of Boston Library Exchange - Link to presentation
 

About our speakers:

Mary Minow has a library science degree from the University of Michigan and a law degree from Stanford University. She worked as a public librarian for ten years and now works as a library law consultant specializing in copyright, privacy, and the First Amendment. She has consulted for the California Digital Library and library digitization projects across the country.

Marshall Keys assists libraries and their vendors anticipate the influence of social, economic, and cultural change on their operations and program offerings. He was the Executive Director of NELINET until 1999 and a member of the adjunct faculty at Simmons for five years. He has been a keynote speaker for many organizations.

Kathleen Barker is the Education Coordinator at the Massachusetts Historical Society, where she creates and implements professional development programs for K-12 teachers and their students. She also coordinates an NEH-funded project to develop a web-based documentary history of the coming of the American Revolution. In addition to her education work she has served as a manuscript cataloger and EAD finding aid assistant at the MHS, and as a reference assistant in the Research Center of the Chicago Historical Society.

Michael J. Bennett is Access Services Supervisor at the C/W MARS library network, Worcester, MA. He is project manager of Digital Treasures http://dlib.cwmars.org/ a digital library repository of the cultural history of Central and Western Massachusetts. Currently he serves on the Massachusetts Digital Commonwealth www.digitalcommonwealth.org/ Executive Committee. His latest article, “Digital Repository Implementation: A Toolbox for Streamlined Success,” will appear in the fall issue of OCLC Systems & Services: International Digital Library Perspectives.

Amy Benson is the Librarian/Archivist for Digital Projects at the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University. In this position, she oversees the full life cycle of digital materials at the Library including identification and selection, appraisal and acquisition, description, storage, delivery, and preservation activities. Amy formerly worked as the Program Director for NELINET Digital Services. She was responsible for coordinating and implementing all efforts relating to NELINET's new branch of services in the digital arena, including education and training, member services, consulting, and vendor relationships. Previously at NELINET she spent five years as Consulting Librarian for Technical Services during which time she provided training, support, and consultation in the areas of cataloging, technical services, and related technologies. Prior to coming to NELINET she worked at Harvard's Widener and Houghton libraries. She holds a B.A. in French and Modern Languages from Beloit College, an M.S.L.S. from Simmons College, and an Ed.M. from Harvard University.

Mark Caprio is the Digital Repository Program Manager at Boston College, responsible for coordinating all programmatic aspects of eScholarship and related library Digital Repository initiatives, including service definition, user support, policy development, marketing and communication, and outreach to the Boston College community. He is the facilitator for the Digital Repository Board and a member of the Digital Preservation Board at Boston College.

Ann Devenish is responsible for publication services for the MBLWHOI Library, Woods Hole, MA. In that capacity, she serves as project manager for the Woods Hole Open Access Server (WHOAS), the institutional repository serving the Woods Hole science community. Prior to coming to Woods Hole, Ann was Consulting Librarian for Resource Sharing at NELINET, the New England regional OCLC- affiliated network, 1990-2002. She has also worked in public and academic libraries in readers' advisory, reference and interlibrary loan services.

Ronald A. Gagnon is the Executive Director of the North Of Boston Library Exchange (NOBLE), and has worked in public and academic libraries. He is the author of a chapter in the recent book, Library/Vendor Relationships published by Haworth Press, entitled “Library/Vendor Relations from a Public Library Perspective.” NOBLE is the technology partner for 28 public and academic libraries. The NOBLE Digital Library is a core service, helping member libraries to present
and share their rich history.

Jayne Gordon is currently the Director of Education and Public Programs for the Massachusetts Historical Society. Previously, she was Executive Director of the Thoreau Society, the world's oldest and largest organization devoted to the legacy of an American author. She has been involved with organizations connecting history, literature and landscape for over thirty years, including the Thoreau Institute (Walden Woods Project), the Concord Museum, and the Orchard House. In addition, she has been an educational consultant, interpretive planner, and workshop facilitator for dozens of non-profit, academic and government organizations.

Nancy Heywood is the Digital Projects Coordinator for the Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS), a position she has held since 2000. She coordinates the production, development, and delivery of websites that present highlights from the MHS's manuscript collections, including the Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive (www.masshist.org/digitaladams); The Diaries of John Quincy Adams: A Digital Collection (www.masshist.org/jqadiaries/); and African Americans and the End of Slavery in Massachusetts (www.masshist.org/endofslavery). Prior to her current position, she worked as a Manuscript Processor at the MHS and Project Archivist at the MIT Institute Archives and Special Collections. She is a member of the Digital Commonwealth Executive Committee.

Scott Kehoe is the Technology Consultant with the Northeast Massachusetts Regional Library System (NMRLS) in Danvers, MA. He teaches and consults on technology, computing, and digital imaging issues. Scott managed Imagining History, (http://nmrlsdli.cdmhost.com/index.php), a two year, $25,000 LSTA grant that digitized thirty-five hundred images from eight NMRL member libraries. This collection of photographs, maps, and correspondence is now the Northeast Massachusetts Digital Library. Prior to NMRLS, Scott worked at the Davis Library, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, and at the Loeb Library, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University as Reference Librarian / Head of Public Services.

Laura Scott Lowell has served as archivist and project editor for the Sudbury archives project since it began in 1991. She has also developed collaborative archival projects for the communities of Wilbraham and Rockport, Massachusetts, and served as a “Roving Archivist” for NMRLS, consulting on projects in Topsfield, Andover, Lowell, and Salem. In addition to her on-going work with the Sudbury project, Laura is currently a manuscript processor with the Massachusetts Historical Society.

David Mathews manages the Imaging Studios at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The MFA is dedicated to presenting over six hundred thousand objects online for public research and enjoyment.  It presently hosts over two hundred thousand objects online. David's past affiliations include Harvard University Art Museums, NEDCC Film Preservation Lab, and the Montana Historical Photographic Archives. 

Bill Talentino has been the director of Goodnow Library, Sudbury for 19 years and administrator of Sudbury Archives from its beginnings in 1991. In collaboration with Laura Scott Lowell, he has written four grants to support the Sudbury Archives.

Elizabeth Thomsen is the Member Services Manager for NOBLE, the North of Boston Library Exchange, and the author of Rethinking Reference: The Reference Librarian's Practical Guide for Surviving Constant Change.” She is a member of the Digital Commonwealth Executive Committee.

Gregor Trinkaus-Randall received his BA and MA in History and Library Science/ Archives Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a graduate of Yale University's NEH-funded Preservation/Conservation Internship. He has also attended “Digital Preservation Management: Short-Term Strategies for Long-Term Problems” at Cornell University. He is a member of the Academy of Certified Archivists, and was recently elected a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists. He is currently the Preservation Specialist at the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, and an ex-officio member of the Digital Commonwealth Executive Committee. With funding through an IMLS National Leadership Grant, he and the staff of the Northeast Document Conservation Center developed dPlan: an Online Disaster Planning Tool. He is the author of Protecting Your Collections: A Manual of Archival Security, published by the Society of American Archivists (1995) among other publications.

Jackie White, Director of the Topsfield Town Library came to the library in 1999 as Assistant to the Director.  She became Director in 2000 after the completion of the Library renovation project and the addition of an historic records room. Together with the Topsfield Historical Society, she led the library’s initiative to preserve Topsfield’s historic records and make them available to the public.  She received a BFA in art with an emphasis in Art History from the University of Connecticut in 1977. Her interest in working and volunteering in libraries began in college, and after a career in advertising and communications she returned to her interest in library science.

Bill Whiting retired after 36 years in the telecommunications industry to take on an active role as a community volunteer. He is Chairman of the Topsfield Cable TV and Website Committees. He works with the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the Trustees of Reservations and other environmental groups. Bill serves on the Board of the Topsfield Historical Society and has been leading the project to preserve Topsfield’s historical records.

Kendall Wiggin is a graduate of the Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science and has served as Connecticut State Librarian since October 1998. There he directs the development and administration of library programs and services including, Information Services, statewide Library Development, Public Records, State Archives and the Museum of Connecticut History. He is the former New Hampshire State Librarian. He serves on a wide range of advisory boards and commissions, including the Connecticut History Online Management Committee. He is an American Library Association Councilor and liaison to the Digital Future Coalition and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA).