Digital Gateway

Raiders of the Archives

There's a post from the Chronicle of Higher Education's ProfHacker blog that showcases one graduate student's cost saving portable scanning station, which he assembled for far less than than a commercial workstation.  When working with primary materials the student is able to image all of the documents and save them for his personal use.  The only hitch is that not all archives allow cameras to be used, or in some cases, archives ban tripods or fixtures to hold cameras.  Roy Tennant writes about the blog post, but it seems that his main point is to promote an OCLC report.

Is this something that libraries should be examining, or is it more geared toward researches on a tight budget whom travel?  It seems those who would benefit the most are researchers who need to be mobile.  Turning to libraries, it would make the most sense for small libraries or historical societies.  It's amazing how fast users can image books and manuscripts with a large imaging station that uses dual cameras connected to a computer.  However, a setup like that can cost $10,000 and require support.  For libraries that have felt unable to digitize due to startup costs, it may be time to reevaluate.

Changes in DLS

In March of 2006 when I came to Washington University, my job title of Digital Library Director seemed a little optimistic, as the Digital Library Services consisted of just myself. Things began to look up when in mid-April I hired Cassandra Stokes as Digital Projects Librarian. Cassandra helped to start the unit and did great work here, but decided this fall to return to Austin, Texas. Apparently, though it's a part of the Lone Star State, people don't seem to care. We miss her but wish her and her family the best in their move back.

 

The third full-time person to join the staff was Shannon Showers, who was hired as Digital Projects Assistant in 2007. Shannon quickly began an MLS program at the University of Missouri while continuing to work, and shortly after she completed the program in August of 2009, she was promoted to the professional position of Digital Access Librarian. Shannon excelled in both positions and with Cassandra's departure, Shannon was promoted to Digital Projects Librarian.

Shortly after we began work on our IMLS grant project, we recognized we would need additional expertise in editing the law suits that comprise the primary content of the project, and hired Erika Cohn, a recent library school graduate and previously law school graduate, to the grant-funded, temporary position of Legal Documents Editor. Erika has performed a critical task for the project, while at the same time learning a great deal about digital library development. With Shannon's promotion, Erika has taken the permanent position of Digital Access Librarian. She will continue her work of editing legal documents while incrementally taking on the duties of that position.

The unit has had some significant accomplishments since it began in 2006, owing mostly to its talented and dedicated staff, and with these changes I hope we can continue to produce good work.