The Berry College Photographic Digital Archive Steering Committee is charged with oversight of the project to digitize, identify, arrange, describe, and conserve the collection of documentary images in the Berry College Archives. While some work has been done on this project, a comprehensive project plan is needed to ensure its success.1 By January 15, 2013, the committee is expected to create a project plan which outlines the project scope and goals, including training, communication, human resources, and technology requirements, with the goal of having complete project guidelines and at least a prototype digital archive in place by April 1, 2013.
The primary purpose of the Berry College Photographic Digital Archive is enhance access to the materials by allowing users to search collections rapidly and comprehensively from anywhere at any time. Digitization will also help preserve the materials by reducing wear and tear on these fragile items. This does not mean, however, that digital copies should be seen as a replacement for the original piece. Digital files are not permanent and should be maintained and periodically transferred to new formats. Even after digitization, original documents and artifacts must still be cared for. Preservation remains a secondary benefit of digital projects.2
The Berry College Photographic Digital Archive is expected to comply with professional best practices and standards, including conformation to the Digital Library of Georgia Digitization Guide.3 Submission of the collection for inclusion in the DLG is expected.
Based on conversations at September 28, 2012 meetings related to the Martha Berry Digital Archive, the technology platform associated with MBDA have emerged as the best platforms for the Photographic Digital Archive. While the steering committee may choose to recommend a different approach, justification for doing so would need to be extremely strong.
Other considerations that should be addressed in the final project guidelines include (but are not limited to) selection priorities, coordination of access issues with preservation issues, workflows practices that ensure incorporation of all digitized items into the collection, and guidelines for descriptive metadata, including controlled vocabulary terms. The committee should also involve other campus constituencies in the project, through active consultation, inclusion in the committee, or by other means.
Finally, the collection should be described in detail and the descriptive guide tagged according to Encoded Archival Description standards and added to the Library's finding aids on the World Wide Web.
1 An Introduction to Digital Projects for Libraries, Museums and Archives (http://images.library.uiuc.edu/resources/introduction.htm)
2 An Introduction to Digital Projects for Libraries, Museums and Archives (http://images.library.uiuc.edu/resources/introduction.htm)
3 Digital Library of Georgia Digitization Guide (http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/guide.html)
Current Members
Former Members
· Discussed and reviewed project scope and goals composed by Jeremy –
Scope – Create an accessible, browsable digital image repository that represents Berry College and its related schools to the wider world.
Goals –
1. The archive will use a naming convention for resources that allows easy correlation of digital image with physical image and its location within the archives
2. The archive will be readily accessible to researchers around the world
3. The archive will allow researchers to perform more “self-service” research before contacting the archives for assistance, allowing archives staff to reallocate their staff to adding additional resources to the Archives physical collection.
4. The archive will use identified standards of archival collections that enables consistent description of resources
5. The archive will be created using a workflow that eliminates duplication of scanned images
6. The archive will have a working prototype accessible by April 1, 2013.
7. The archive will provide the resources necessary to crowd-source identification of individuals within the photographs of the collection.
· It was suggested and agreed to use the existing technology platform (Omeka) in the MBDA project as the basis for the photographic digital archive; a test site has been established.
· There was a brief overview of the Digital Library of Georgia Digitization Guide which will also be used as the basis for the photographic digital archive.
· Started to address aspects of the project plan outline – training & workflow, technology, communication, and metadata guidelines.
· Discussed and reviewed categories of information contained in archives photograph database that would help determine file-naming conventions – box and folder titles, subject heading listing, folder and photograph numbers, and photograph descriptions
· It was suggested to develop student training guidelines for scanning photographs, similar to training guidelines for the Martha Berry Digital Archive (MBDA) Project
· Distributed and reviewed the Photographic Digital Archive Steering Committee charge (project guidelines)
· Discussed outcomes of photographic digital archive – accessibility and preservation of photographic images