digitization - new chances for public archives

DigitizationNew Chances for public archives

Dr. Joachim Kemper (Speyer) Dr. Harald Stockert (Mannheim)

Digitization - New Chances for public archives

A) The Example of Mannheim

MAUD GmbH

Some facts about Mannheim

• About 290.000 inhabitents

• Located at the confluence of the Neckar and the Rhine

• Former Residence of the Electoral Palatine

• Nowadays modern city with industrial, academic and services focus

Mannheim

Mannheim: Castle

Mannheim: Water Tower

Mannheim: Collini-Center

Our mission

…we are the memory of the City Administration

of Mannheim

…we create identity and awareness about the

history of our city

Digitazation

- Digitalization: Easier research, better prevention

Experience since 2001. First projects: 400.000 Newspaper clippings 100.000 Photos 30.000 Posters, cards and plans

Experiences in Digitazation (II)- 300.000 Family Index Papers (1807-1900)

- 1.700.000 Registration Files (1900-1985)

- 1.000 Registers of Births, Mariages and Deaths (1870-1983)

The City Archives as a service provider

2009 Opening of the Digitazation Centre Mannheim

New rooms

New scanners

New staff

Type of Business: Betrieb gewerblicher Art (BGA)

The City Archives as a service provider

Staff: 3 salaried employees;

several freelancers

Hardware (selection):- 6 Scanners for books (A1, A2, A3)- 1 Scanner for posters (A0)- 2 Document Scanners (A4) for index

cards

Reference customers

New challenge: The foundation of MAUD GmbH

MAUD GmbH = Mannheimer Archiv-und Digitalisierungszentrum

Foundation: 27th May 2014

Main Shareholders:

• ISG-Freunde

• Mannheimer Architektur- und Bauarchiv

The Circle of MAUD

MAUD GmbH

Dividend

Founders and Shareholders

Sponsoring

F.e. - Publications

- Acquisition of historical

documents- Hardware

Rooms for Maud: a former dentist‘s surgery

Scanning with camera work stations

Books to be scanned in the storage

Conclusion: Archivists as entrepreneurs?

• More entrepreneurial attitude

• More competition

• More customer proximity

• Digitazation as milestone towards a public digital archive

• A possible answer to budget reduction

• Higher cost recovery for a public institution

• …

And last but not least:

• More willingness to think things new.

Digitization - New Chances for public archives

B) The Example of Speyer

Digitization – New Chances for Public Archives

Department of cultural heritage Speyer (Germany): City

Archives, Museums (Jewish museum), Memorial places.

• New archival „label“

• New technologies – digitization and online ressources,

web 2.0

• Challenge to revise the „dusty“ archival image?

Dusty Archival image?


Speyer („imperial cathedral“, founded 1030)


Speyer (burial site for

Salian, Staufer and

Habsburg kings and

emperors)

Speyer (medieval jewish court; museum)


• 50.000 inhabitants

• More than 1 million tourists per year

• 3.500 professional sightseeing tours

• And (former chancellor)…


Jaques Chirac, Helmut Kohl (Speyer cathedral, 1986)


• Historical tradition

(imperial town Speyer),

oldest charter 1182

• Residence of the

highest court of the

Holy Roman Empire

(Reichskammergericht)


• Nevertheless: Little interest by researchers

and other users

• „Defensive“ archival strategy, absence of

digitization

• Somehow typical german? Do I need an

archival homepage at all?


• Situation 2010 (Speyer)

• Digitization (2011-2014), enabled by several

research projects (European Union; German

Research Community), own activities, public-

private projects.

• Good experiences (Munich) …


• Social Media: Largest number of Web 2.0-

tools in Germany (for an archive,-))

• For instance: Facebook, Twitter (several

accounts), Flickr, Pinterest, video channel,

slideshare)

• Six different blogs …


• A real german „Archive

2.0“ does not yet exist

• „Archival (working-)

organization 2.0“, e.g.

…

Dashboards (tweetdeck),

chats, project-tools …


• Social Media: Important addition to digitization

• Social Media: Showcase for digital activities

and presentations …


Showcase …

By bread alone you can

not live. There must also

be sausage and ham.


• Social Media: series of conferences („Offene

Archive?“ – „Open Archives?“, 2012, 2014, next

year )


• Important part: digitization and presentation of

family history sources

• Palatine region (Speyer-region): emigration in the

19th century, especially to the United States

• E.g. church registers (online, digitized)


• Need for further online ressources, broader digitization

(civil registers since the beginning of the 19th century)

• Lot of work also for archival staff

• Answer (inter alia): Cooperation inside „Janus“

(project; Ancestry; MAUD), to digitize and index our

older registers


Thank you very much!

[email protected]

Twitter via @Jo_Kemper

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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