A County-Wide Museum-Library Collaboration

September 2002

Crossing Organizational Boundaries

The Project

Supported by an IMLS National Leadership Grant for Library-Museum Collaboration, 2001-2003

Three-way partnership A major research library (UW) A mid-size history museum (MOHAI) 10 smaller museums and historical societies belonging to the

Association of King County Historical Organizations (AKCHO)

Project Partners

Museum of History & Industry University of Washington

Libraries Black Heritage Society of

Washington State Eastside Heritage Center Maple Valley Historical

Society Northwest Railway Museum

Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society

Rainier Valley Historical Society

Renton Historical Museum Shoreline Historical Museum White River Valley Museum Wing Luke Asian Museum

Online access to 12,000 King County Images (Fall 2003)

Web-based access to many images from smaller organizations throughout the county

Ability to search collections from one institution or across all together

Benefits for Project Partners

Increased comfort with digitization technology and cataloging methodology

Increased communication among the partners Improved image collections management Ability to add additional images and/or information after the

project is completed Workshops on image selection, cataloging, photo sales Scanning and cataloging of images Use of CONTENTdm software Hosting of database on UW server

Major Activities of Project Staff

Establish partnerships and communication mechanisms Plan workshops and other meetings Keep partners on task with image selection Determine scanning requirements Schedule and facilitate scanning Review quality of scans and upload to server Develop data dictionaries Catalog images

Preliminary records (before scanning) Full records (before Web launch)

Public outreach Evaluation

Partnerships

Communicate project planning to all partners Email/listserv Telephone Site visits

Be prepared for changes Illness Workload stress Different organizational cultures Permissions

Workshops

Assess preliminary training needs of partners Baseline survey administered in March-April

Schedule presenters, participants This is a challenge with part-timers, volunteers from multiple

institutions Be prepared to coach outside workshop framework

Site visits Evaluate workshops

What could we do better?

Scanning

Revisited UW, MOHAI requirements for past projects Experimented with size, compression level of images

to be displayed online Had to leave room in scanning schedule for equipment

repairs, rework, filling in gaps Balancing partners’ requests with vendor’s

requirements Reviewing deliverables for quality, accuracy

Cataloging

Some fields are required by UW Some systems have already been established Each institution has different ideas, differing

levels of information available Consistency desired for maintenance,

searchability

Public outreach

Presence at conferences throughout project to explain process, disseminate concept WMA Annual Conference, Keyport, WA, June 2002 LITA, Dallas, TX, October 2002 Washington Heritage Conference, Bellevue, WA, October

2002 AAM Annual Meeting, Portland, OR, May 2003 (tentative)

Need to publicize product (website) when complete Exhibit possibilities

Evaluation

Important at every stage in the process IMLS strongly urges use of Outcome-based

Evaluation (OBE) Measure process, not project What changed for participants as a result of project?

Project Technology: CONTENTdm

Software to “gather, organize, manage, store, and search digital material” Create digital images Put them into databases Catalog them Find them again Post them to the Web

Workstation-based image input

Scanning spreadsheets contain basic catalog records added during upload

Scanned CDs are uploaded from a workstation to the server via FTP

Web-based cataloging

For editing catalog records and server/collection administration

Can be used anywhere at any time Easy to use forms Any number of users

What to do in the field with slow connections or no connections?

Continual Updates Possible

Web-based cataloging allows instant updating even after ‘publication’ Data

Easy using the web – front end Images

More complex process – will probably require UW to do this

Multiple Databases

Each institution has its own database on the UW server Each institution’s home page can link to its separate

database on the server The website will cross organizational boundaries,

and show all the material ‘virtually’ combined

Cross-database searching

Website’s home page will search all the databases simultaneously All 12,000 images can be searched at once Searching all kinds of ways

* Format * People

* Places * Date

* Events * Subjects

Case Study: UW Libraries

UW Libraries: Lead Partner Duties

Maintain server Upgrade software Administer users Run help desk Train users

UW Libraries: Staff Involved

Systems administrator in Computing dept. Cataloging staff Special Collections staff Student workers Pacific Northwest experts Metadata specialists CONTENTdm help desk person Web producer

Benefits to UW 1 of 2

Fulfill mission Connecting people with knowledge

Create a great resource for faculty and students Relationships with MOHAI and AKCHO Re-evaluate our processes Create and document workflow processes

Benefits to UW 2 of 2

4,000 TIFF images of Seattle Get funding for our digital operation Clean up some paperwork Get less ‘glamorous’ material scanned Examine outsourcing as an option Promote our collections

Challenges of Project for UW 1 of 2

UW was the guinea pig Worked out procedures and kinks with scanners

Pressure to get better computer security Need to create cooperative strategies

With other institutions With commercial companies

Communications Commercial scanner doesn’t make the same judgment

calls as staff/student scanners

Challenges of Project for UW 2 of 2

Training grant staff Maintaining 2 workflows Re-evaluating all our processes Adapting to new processes 4,000 images out of circulation at one time

Identifying so many images Pulling so many images at once Re-filing

UW Libraries: Collections Scanned

A.C. Warner C.F. Todd Theodore E. Peiser Dearborn Massar Federal Emergency Relief Administration Civil Works Administration UW Campus

A.C. Warner

500 photographs from early 1900s Northern Pacific Railway Seattle, ships on Elliot Bay, waterfront mills Photographer for Lowman and Hanford, publishers

C. F. Todd

425 photographs. 1905-1930 University of Washington campus Seattle waterfront Denny regrade activities Pike Place Market Seattle buildings especially apartments

Theodore E. Peiser

150 photographs. 1860s to 1900 Seattle scenes Departing for the China Expedition/Boxer Rebellion Temporary camps including Camp Lawton Corrals & stables for troops in Seattle

Dearborn Massar

3,000 photographs. 1943-1963 Team of Phyllis Dearborn and Robert Massar Contemporary architecture of the Pacific Northwest Commercial and residential Interiors and exteriors

Federal Emergency Relief Administration

450 photographs Medical, hospitals and nursing Industrial arts projects Domestic arts projects Earthmoving projects Agricultural and lumber projects Highway and street construction School building and playground projects

Civil Works Administration

Photographs from 1930s Infrastructure projects Playfield and park improvements School projects Hospital and nursing activities Airport improvement

UW Campus

1,532 photographs Covers early history of UW Includes more recent architectural images

Case Study: MOHAI

MOHAI: Lead Partner Duties

As a lead partner, duties include: Hiring, housing, and overseeing staff paid by grant Managing grant budget, including keeping track of

matching time contributed by all partners Assisting with training of AKCHO partners Choosing 4,000 images

MOHAI: Staff involvement

Collaborative project involves staff throughout museum: IT – workstations, computer troubleshooting Library – image selection, training Curator of Photography – image selection, training Historian – metadata, training Education – evaluation External Affairs – grant-writing, publicity Fiscal office – budget matters Special events office – meeting set-up Administration – overview Interns and volunteers – image filing and re-filing

Challenges of Project for MOHAI

Challenges of taking on a digitization project: Smaller staff (than UW) means people already wear

more than one hat Selecting 4,000 appropriate images is an enormous

undertaking Dealing with grant requirements and people can

take as much time as doing the project Granting agency now suggests needs assessment

and requires evaluation

Benefits of Project to MOHAI

Benefits of working on a collaborative project: Grant funding means 4,000 images will be scanned and

cataloged (less than 2,000 are already online) Entire website makes Seattle history more accessible to a

broader audience—MOHAI’s mission Collaborative nature supports our relationships with peers in

the heritage community Increased visibility may lead to increased photo sales

MOHAI image selection approach

Used project to greatly expand knowledge of collections not previously examined Moen Collection – early snapshots of Ballard Glass lantern slides ca. 1880s-1890s

Expansion of images from important collections Seattle Post-Intelligencer Collection Webster & Stevens

Addition of images from collections frequently requested Century 21 color slides

Formats not possible to scan in-house Glass negatives Oversize

A few images not in King County but important to King County history

AKCHO image selections 1 of 4

White River Valley Museum 402 images of Auburn and Kent area Possibility of adding more Buildings; businesses; homes; farms; Northern Pacific

Railroad; Japanese American community represented Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society

497 photos Selected broadest possible spectrum from fairly specific

collection, including: ocean-going vessels; shipyards; tugs; sailing ships; maritime characters; and trades

AKCHO image selections 2 of 4

Eastside Heritage Center 801 images representing Eastside history, primarily Redmond,

Bellevue, and Kirkland Northwest Railway Museum

Railroads; lumber mills; mining; wooden bridges May select railroad-themed images from UW and MOHAI

collections and assist with their cataloging Rainier Valley Historical Society

Rainier Valley/Columbia City streetscapes; small town life and urbanization; streetcars/transportation; schools; sports; local businesses and industries

ACKHO image selections 3 of 4

Black Heritage Society Activities relating to African Americans in King County from its earliest years

Maple Valley Historical Society 434 images of Maple Valley and vicinity (Ravensdale; Georgetown; Black

Diamond; Hobart; Taylor) Local industries/commerce; Schools; Transportation; Sports/recreation

Renton Historical Museum 400 images scanned, with offer to contribute 100 additional images Renton people, places, and activities depicted, including schools;

built and natural environment; people at work and at leisure; family portraits; and disasters

AKCHO image selections 4 of 4

Shoreline Historical Museum 211 images scanned, with possibility of adding more if time

permits Images depict Shoreline vicinity since 1880s, including early

settlers; Interurban; Aurora Ave. businesses; Playland Wing Luke Asian Museum

162 images scanned Ownership issues, geographic limitation made for smaller contribution

Asian Americans in Seattle’s International District are represented