Birdie MacLennan with Thanks to:

Chris Kirby, Lorraine Lanius, Tom McMurdo, and Prudence Doherty

* VTDNP Management Group * VTDNP logo by Heather Kennedy

“… from reel to real ...”

Vermont Digital Newspaper Project Grant Period: July 2010 – August 2012

NDNP Awardee Meeting Washington, DC August 29, 2011

Formation of the Advisory Committee Background

VTDNP established as a collaborative project between 4 diverse state institutions (UVM (state university), DOL (state library), Ilsley (dynamic public library in Middlebury) VHS (state historical society) diverse state involvement at outset Fall 2009 - Preliminary list of 12 members contacted during the course of proposal preparation (librarians, historians from state and county historical societies, state archivist) Summer-Fall 2010 - List revisited & modified; recruited and refined list of AC members after viewing Headline Vermont video on VT public television (http://video.vpt.org/video/1890746474 ). Journalism historian added (per panelist review feedback) Special Collections / Vermontia Librarian also serves as Project Historian & Title Essayist Aug 2010 – NDNP Awardee meeting (training! Ideas!) 3 members of Project Planning Team attended

Sept 2010 – Project Advisory communication tool established using Basecamp Project Management software Project Planning/Management Team (4 member group) begins compiling an Advisory Committee Briefing Book (based on MN) - Project information / scope - Title selection criteria (NDNP guidelines) - Vermont historical timelines/events - Articulation of marketing/promotional goals beyond selection Fall 2010 – Refining list of 500+ titles (VTNP/USNP local database) - breakdowns by county - analysis of holdings (completeness of copy) - and where are those master negatives?

Informing the Advisory Committee & Narrowing the Title Lists

Jan 2011 – Project Librarian hired to manage project Feb-Mar 2011 – List of master negatives obtained from State Archives (via Department of Libraries) Cross-referenced with titles and holdings from catalog (spreadsheet of titles identified w/in scope of grant proposal) Project Librarian aligns title & holdings from VSARA lists and VTNP catalog with reel and page count estimates Identification of 59 titles/title families from all of Vermont’s 14 counties); 720,000+ pages Title_ranking_form - Excel sheet/ranking form proposed for Advisory Committee to use in selecting titles (based on PENN model); We also discussed using a survey form such as survey monkey or zoomerang (Louisiana model)

Review of Selection Criteria Availability of Master Negatives

One List: 720,000+ Pages

Advisory Committee meeting Jan-Feb 2011 – Advisory Committee corresponds on Basecamp Face-to-face meeting postponed due to snow Project historian / Vermont history librarian shares preliminary title research from master list Feb-Mar 2011 – Project Management Group identifies 1 sample title on a compact reel (USNP film) & two major titles with lengthy runs (available from State Archives) Production starts… Remember lead time needed for frame-by-frame microfilm inspection and metadata collation Sample reel sent to vendors to convert for RFP proposal

Face-to-Face meeting Working Together / Outcomes

Apr 2011: Face-to-Face meeting with video-conferencing on Skype (10 of 12 Advisory Committee members attended) Presentation of project and progress to date Distribution of Briefing Book, title list and ranking form (had previously been distributed on Basecamp) Articulation of a timeline (one month) for selection of [minimum] 50,000 pages of content for digital queue. Some online discussion followed Reminders sent out one week before selections due

Outcomes and Future Direction 9 of the 12 sent AC members sent feedback (some tended to focus primarily on their county papers; others focused broadly) Selection results – based on ranking, geographical diversity and completeness sufficient for grant goals and timeline 12 titles from 10 (of 14) counties

Positive working relationship Generated energy & enthusiasm for project Contact with Vermont and New England Press Associations Potential for further outreach (historians, genealogists, schools) The more online content, the greater the potential for outreach & marketing

Selections Titles in process (to launch production): Vermont Farmer - Caledonia Co. (800 pages) sample reel Burlington Free Press weekly - Chittenden Co. - (24,000 pages) Rutland Herald weekly 1836-1854 - Rutland Co. (3,700 pages) Titles in process are about 28,500 pages, so new selections should tally about 72,000 pages: New selections (full Advisory Cmte): Globe - Rutland (2,000 pages) Windham County Democrat (88 pages) Vermont Transcript - Franklin Co. (800 pages) Vermont Phoenix - Windham Co. (10,000 pages) Watchman / State Journal title family - Washington Co. (12,500 pages) Middlebury Register family - Addison Co. (18,000 pages) Spirit of the Age title family - Windsor Co. (8,000 pages) With the remaining 21,000 pages we would like to do about 10,000 pages each from: Bennington Banner (42,600 pages total for all of the title) Caledonian title family - Caledonia Co. (30,000 pages total for all of this title) More, please? Beyond 2012 – supplemental funding? … continue remaining pages from the Bennington Banner and Caledonian title family.