michigan pioneer & history collections

The “Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections”: A Case Study in Digitization

Michael UnsworthHumanities Librarian

MSU Libraries unsworth@msu.edu

GENESIS:Library Instruction Session

WHY SHOULD WE CARE"The content of this forty volume history

series, though uneven in quality, includes valuable material. Every teacher of Michigan history will testify to its usefulness. Even the less scholarly contributions constitute important evidence of what a generation of pioneers regarded as significant in their history."

Lewis G. Vander Velde, "The Michigan Historical Commission: 1913-1963," Michigan History Vol. 48, no. 2 (June 1964): 98.

EXAMPLE:J.A. Giradin, “Slavery in Detroit,” Pioneer

Collections Vol. 1 (1877): 415:

“In ancient times the city of Detroit and vicinity had slaves among its inhabitants. The old citizens generally purchased them from marauding bands of Indians, who had captured the negro slaves in their war depredations on plantations…

“Everyone lived in arcadian simplicity and contentment. The negro was satisfied with his position, and rendered valuable service to his master…”

ANOTHER EXAMPLE:F.M. Holloway, “Hillsdale County from

1829 to 1836 Inclusive,” Pioneer Collections Vol. 1 (1877): 180-181:

“…and Mr. Stevens went with it [the proposed name of Litchfield] to Detroit, and by the free use of liquid, and other arrangements, prevailed on the Legislature to adopt that name.”

WHY DIGITIZE?

• Scattered runs• 54 repositories:

OCLC; 20+ with full runs

• Publishing inconsistencies

• Poor quality paper

• Loss of other materials

WHY DIGITIZE? FROM THE MSUL CIRCULATION DEPT.:

“This item is sufficiently overdue that it is not likely to be returned in a timely fashion. (The borrower who has it has been billed for its replacement) You may request this material via interlibrary loan (ILL):

Pioneer collections : report of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan, together with reports of county, town, and district pioneer societies Lansing? Mich. : The Society], 1877-1888 MSU MAIN LIBRARY F561 .M47 v.9 1886”

Also checked out at MSUL: Vols. 1, 10-12; 15-18, 40 & Index for Vols 1-15

DIGITIZERS• American Memory (Library of Congress;

digitized for the “Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910”)

• Google Book Search • Internet Archive Texts Collection is a

"collection is open to the community for the contribution of any type of text," many were scanned by Microsoft's "Live Search Books" during 2006-2008.

• University of Michigan Digital Library

PUBLICATION HISTORY

• 1876-1886 (Vols. 1- 9): Pioneer Collections. Lansing : Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan & Pioneer and Historical Society of the State of Michigan (PHSSM) .

• 1886-1912 (Vols. 10-38): Historical Collections. Lansing : PHSSM & Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society.

• 1915-1929 (Vols. 39-40): Michigan Historical Collections. Lansing : Michigan Historical Commission.

Reprints/2nd ed. for Vols. 1-21 published 1900-13.

Michigan Historical Collections CAREFULL!!!

VARIANT TITLES

• Historical Collections And Researches [1ST ed.] Vol. 37 (1909,1910)

• Collections of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan… [2nd ed. or Reprint] Vol. 06 (1907) - Vol. 08 (1907) .

• Collections: Report Of The Pioneer Society Of The State Of Michigan… [2nd ed. or Reprint] Vol. 09 (1908)

CAUTION!!!It never had the title of Michigan Pioneer

and Historical Collections, but it’s been commonly used to describe the entire collection.

BIBLIOGRAPHICTREATMENT FOR 1st EDITION

Successive Entry• Pioneer collections (1877). Vol. 1-

9 (1876-1886) OCLC #8597825 • Historical collections (Michigan

Pioneer and Historical Society : 1888). Vol. 10-38 (1886-1912) OCLC #8069520

• Michigan Historical Collections. Vol. 39-40 (1915-1929) OCLC #8597926

Bibliographic Treatment for 1st Ed.Latest Entry; OCLC #1757295

ANALYSIS

Analysis

1.The set’s numerous titles and issuing bodies complicate any system of bibliographic control. It is inherently messy.

Analysis

2. Not all volumes digitized:

• 1st. Ed.: 39 of 40 vol. were done Vol. 9 was not digitized by any project

• 2nd. Ed.: just 13 of 21 vol. were done

Analysis3. Indexing:

• Each volume has its own index

• Society-created cumulative indexes were digitized

• Most indexes created by outside groups have not been digitized

Analysis4. No project treated it as a serial or collection:• No “one stop” listing• Can’t search authors or subjects across all

volumes, as in:

ERGO

Analysis5. Digitization has:• Increased “distribution” of

individual volumes• Provided access to content

with:– Volume & cumulated

indexes– Keyword searching only

within each volume

SOLUTIONS/COPING MECHANISMS

Digitizer CompilationJSTOR

Contributor Compilation:U. of Toronto

Contributor Compilation:856 fields in MARC records

Outsider Compilation #1http://guides.lib.msu.edu/

page.phtml?page_id=2159

Outside Compilation #1

Outside Compilation #3

Selective Indexing

Selective Indexing

Selective Indexing

Selective Indexing

COMPREHENSIVE INDEXING PROJECT

Requires $$$$

CONCLUSIONS

1. Three of the mass digitization projects took no or minimum effort to study bibliographic records to insure that all access points were available. Only the Internet Archive provided all author and title permutations.

2. “Genus Librarianus” is still needed, but needs time & resources to stay abreast of developments. Then can s/he react to techno projects and make sense of them using knowledge of the print and online worlds.

END

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