sustaining and enhancing, not (just) archiving: the digital library of core materials on ireland and...
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Sustaining and enhancing, not (just) archiving: The Digital Library of Core
Materials on Ireland and other models
Sustaining and enhancing, not (just) archiving: The Digital Library of Core
Materials on Ireland and other models
Paul S EllCentre for Data Digitisation and
AnalysisQueen’s University Belfast
Paul S EllCentre for Data Digitisation and
AnalysisQueen’s University Belfast
SummarySummary
Introduction – who we are and what we do Sustainability Model 1: The Database of Irish
Historical Statistics Sustainability Model 2: The Act of Union Virtual
Library Project Sustainability Model 3: The Stormont Hansard
Project Sustainability Model 4: Virtual Library of Core
Materials on Ireland Which models work The future…
Introduction – who we are and what we do Sustainability Model 1: The Database of Irish
Historical Statistics Sustainability Model 2: The Act of Union Virtual
Library Project Sustainability Model 3: The Stormont Hansard
Project Sustainability Model 4: Virtual Library of Core
Materials on Ireland Which models work The future…
CDDA’s objectivesCDDA’s objectives
To develop strategic humanities e-resources
To develop methodologies that assist in the management and interrogation of the source materials to produce new perspectives and scholarship
To use these resources in its own research and publish scholarly books and journal articles
To develop strategic humanities e-resources
To develop methodologies that assist in the management and interrogation of the source materials to produce new perspectives and scholarship
To use these resources in its own research and publish scholarly books and journal articles
What has been digitised by CDDA
What has been digitised by CDDA
Historical census data for Britain Welsh historical statistics Mortality statistics Hearth Tax Data Statistics on Religion Scottish National Dictionary Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue British Parliamentary Papers with BOPCRIS Database of Irish Historical Statistics Irish texts Key holdings from QUB Library Special collections British Parliamentary Papers referring to Ireland Act of Union Virtual Library including images and some OCR work Image scans of Latin texts for Ireland Stormont papers Historical diaries relating to China Convict database for Down County Museum, Living Linen Irish Studies e-Library Total funded work = £7,000,000
Historical census data for Britain Welsh historical statistics Mortality statistics Hearth Tax Data Statistics on Religion Scottish National Dictionary Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue British Parliamentary Papers with BOPCRIS Database of Irish Historical Statistics Irish texts Key holdings from QUB Library Special collections British Parliamentary Papers referring to Ireland Act of Union Virtual Library including images and some OCR work Image scans of Latin texts for Ireland Stormont papers Historical diaries relating to China Convict database for Down County Museum, Living Linen Irish Studies e-Library Total funded work = £7,000,000
Model 1: The Database of Irish Historical Statistics - Project Aims
Model 1: The Database of Irish Historical Statistics - Project Aims
To construct a census-based relational database for the period 1821 - 1971
To facilitate regional, national and comparative research on Ireland
Opportunity to further the quantitative study of Irish history
Restricted availability of published census returns
Technological advances make possible large scale database projects
To construct a census-based relational database for the period 1821 - 1971
To facilitate regional, national and comparative research on Ireland
Opportunity to further the quantitative study of Irish history
Restricted availability of published census returns
Technological advances make possible large scale database projects
The Database of Irish Historical Statistics
The Database of Irish Historical Statistics
32,934,018 data values from 1821 to 1971, and then linked to contemporary digital sources
Mostly census data but also annual agricultural statistics, civil registration information, crime statistics . . .
Topics include population statistics, crop and stock data, language, literacy, religion, occupations, employment, housing, emigration, industry and industrial structure, trade and commerce, wages, pauperism etc
Outputs include a book mapping the Famine
32,934,018 data values from 1821 to 1971, and then linked to contemporary digital sources
Mostly census data but also annual agricultural statistics, civil registration information, crime statistics . . .
Topics include population statistics, crop and stock data, language, literacy, religion, occupations, employment, housing, emigration, industry and industrial structure, trade and commerce, wages, pauperism etc
Outputs include a book mapping the Famine
DBIHS ‘Sustainability’DBIHS ‘Sustainability’• Give digital objects to someone to archive• All data deposited with the History Data Service Simple data format – ASCII, comma delimited Detailed documentation Early project so no website, limited data complexity RDMS functionality lost – but the software is long out
of date anyway Sun workstation on which much of the data resides
has gone once the project lead retired and took the machine!
Project staff have left, retired or died Low usage levels – too focused a resources?
• Give digital objects to someone to archive• All data deposited with the History Data Service Simple data format – ASCII, comma delimited Detailed documentation Early project so no website, limited data complexity RDMS functionality lost – but the software is long out
of date anyway Sun workstation on which much of the data resides
has gone once the project lead retired and took the machine!
Project staff have left, retired or died Low usage levels – too focused a resources?
Sustainability Model 2: The Act of Union Virtual Library
Sustainability Model 2: The Act of Union Virtual Library
Imperatives – 200th anniversary of the Act of Union, increased interest in the Act, access difficulties
Range of disparate and rare materials 60,000 digital objects 1798 - 1803 Parliamentary Papers, pamphlets,
newspapers, manuscripts E-content better than the analogue materials
– enhanced searching, one stop shop www.actofunion.ac.uk
Imperatives – 200th anniversary of the Act of Union, increased interest in the Act, access difficulties
Range of disparate and rare materials 60,000 digital objects 1798 - 1803 Parliamentary Papers, pamphlets,
newspapers, manuscripts E-content better than the analogue materials
– enhanced searching, one stop shop www.actofunion.ac.uk
Act of Union SustainabilityAct of Union Sustainability The ‘in-house solution’ to cut costs –
from data capture, to the development of a database driven website
IS will ‘maintain’ website No new content added No changes to the website Many projects funded under NOF-
Digitisation have disappeared Project too focussed to have mass
appeal?
The ‘in-house solution’ to cut costs – from data capture, to the development of a database driven website
IS will ‘maintain’ website No new content added No changes to the website Many projects funded under NOF-
Digitisation have disappeared Project too focussed to have mass
appeal?
Sustainability Model 3: Stormont debates
Sustainability Model 3: Stormont debates
£303,330 Arts and Humanities Research Council Resource Enhancement Grant
90,000 pages of ‘Hansard’ from the House of Commons from 1921 to 1973
Web-based full text and page image searchable by MP, place, date, subject and free text
Will link to texts of contemporary debate www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie and www.niassemby.gov.uk
In the past material difficult access, difficult to use with no integrated index, failed to impact on the study of Northern Ireland, and did not address an interest in devolved government
£303,330 Arts and Humanities Research Council Resource Enhancement Grant
90,000 pages of ‘Hansard’ from the House of Commons from 1921 to 1973
Web-based full text and page image searchable by MP, place, date, subject and free text
Will link to texts of contemporary debate www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie and www.niassemby.gov.uk
In the past material difficult access, difficult to use with no integrated index, failed to impact on the study of Northern Ireland, and did not address an interest in devolved government
Full-text search – the results
Full-text search – the results
IRA Ian Paisley Drunkenness Emigration Army Civil Service Irish language Budgets
IRA Ian Paisley Drunkenness Emigration Army Civil Service Irish language Budgets
Historical Hansard SustainabilityHistorical Hansard Sustainability
The get someone else to maintain the resource in the long term approach
Around £75k given to the AHDS Executive to develop and maintain the site
Doubt over AHDS future No funding model to develop additional
content Complex resource with bespoke functionality Although AHRC questioned the ‘high-level’ of
funding given to AHDS it probably was not enough
The get someone else to maintain the resource in the long term approach
Around £75k given to the AHDS Executive to develop and maintain the site
Doubt over AHDS future No funding model to develop additional
content Complex resource with bespoke functionality Although AHRC questioned the ‘high-level’ of
funding given to AHDS it probably was not enough
Sustainability model 4: Digital Library of Core Materials on
Ireland exemplar
Sustainability model 4: Digital Library of Core Materials on
Ireland exemplar £620,000 grant from JISC to digitise journals, monographs and manuscripts relating to Irish Studies and create the foundations of a digital library resource
Up to 100 journals covering 200 year period and about 400,000 pages
2,500 pages of manuscript 205 key monographs Machine-readable text for all journals and
monographs and some manuscripts Detailed ‘object’ level metadata
£620,000 grant from JISC to digitise journals, monographs and manuscripts relating to Irish Studies and create the foundations of a digital library resource
Up to 100 journals covering 200 year period and about 400,000 pages
2,500 pages of manuscript 205 key monographs Machine-readable text for all journals and
monographs and some manuscripts Detailed ‘object’ level metadata
Strong Project PartnersStrong Project Partners
Centre for Data Digitisation and Analysis at Queen’s University Belfast has a long track record of key e-resource development
Analogue Content Partners – Queen’s University Library, Linen Hall Library, Robinson Library, journal publishers, Royal Irish Academy
e-Content Partners – AHDS (Centre for e-Research), CDDA, University College Dublin, Digital Humanities Observatory
Dissemination Partner – JSTOR Preservation Partners – AHDS – now replaced by
Expert Centre Network, JSTOR
Centre for Data Digitisation and Analysis at Queen’s University Belfast has a long track record of key e-resource development
Analogue Content Partners – Queen’s University Library, Linen Hall Library, Robinson Library, journal publishers, Royal Irish Academy
e-Content Partners – AHDS (Centre for e-Research), CDDA, University College Dublin, Digital Humanities Observatory
Dissemination Partner – JSTOR Preservation Partners – AHDS – now replaced by
Expert Centre Network, JSTOR
Project ImperativesProject Imperatives
Access to rare resources without visiting Belfast
Resource discovery – use of less common journals
New, complex searching using detailed metadata and semantic searching
Serendipity A one stop shop for
journals – and more Enhanced research
developing from better access
Access to rare resources without visiting Belfast
Resource discovery – use of less common journals
New, complex searching using detailed metadata and semantic searching
Serendipity A one stop shop for
journals – and more Enhanced research
developing from better access
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Sustainability: Why the DLCMI project works
Sustainability: Why the DLCMI project works
Diaspora of Irish Studies Content chosen by academics for academics Provides basic research materials - humanities
scholars not required to change the way they work - a model suggested by the British Academy
Critical mass: Significant body of material which will continue to be augmented – it won’t be a dead archive with new journal issues added, and new journal titles
A fully working technical solution in place with CDDA and JSTOR
Sustainable business model with JSTOR with subscriptions outside Britain and Ireland and free access within
Diaspora of Irish Studies Content chosen by academics for academics Provides basic research materials - humanities
scholars not required to change the way they work - a model suggested by the British Academy
Critical mass: Significant body of material which will continue to be augmented – it won’t be a dead archive with new journal issues added, and new journal titles
A fully working technical solution in place with CDDA and JSTOR
Sustainable business model with JSTOR with subscriptions outside Britain and Ireland and free access within
Key role of JSTORKey role of JSTOR JSTOR is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to
helping the scholarly community discover, use, and build upon a wide range of intellectual content
Today, there are 779 full back runs of journals online (1100 total signed), 16 collections, 553 publishers in 26 countries and 50 disciplines represented – so critical mass
Subscription model, and carefully selected collections, allows for a good income stream
Moving wall concept so that recent journal issues are available
Recurrent funding for journals in the archive Funding to revise the dissemination system and
associated hardware to enhance the resources But even so would other e-resources match the ‘market’
for Irish Studies content?
JSTOR is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping the scholarly community discover, use, and build upon a wide range of intellectual content
Today, there are 779 full back runs of journals online (1100 total signed), 16 collections, 553 publishers in 26 countries and 50 disciplines represented – so critical mass
Subscription model, and carefully selected collections, allows for a good income stream
Moving wall concept so that recent journal issues are available
Recurrent funding for journals in the archive Funding to revise the dissemination system and
associated hardware to enhance the resources But even so would other e-resources match the ‘market’
for Irish Studies content?
Sustainability challenges 1Sustainability challenges 1
Critical mass is probably important: so should emphasis be placed on e-Science and particularly the Data Grid to integrate materials – ECAI and JSTOR examples
Key, core, strategic resources needed – not material focussed on a small group of scholars. Medieval crop yield project example
Such better guides/tools be developed to assist access to e-resources?
Can the Expert Centre concept initially funded by JISC replace AHDS with CDDA, HRI, CHC, HATII, and old AHDS subject centres as members or will vital skillset be lost?
Critical mass is probably important: so should emphasis be placed on e-Science and particularly the Data Grid to integrate materials – ECAI and JSTOR examples
Key, core, strategic resources needed – not material focussed on a small group of scholars. Medieval crop yield project example
Such better guides/tools be developed to assist access to e-resources?
Can the Expert Centre concept initially funded by JISC replace AHDS with CDDA, HRI, CHC, HATII, and old AHDS subject centres as members or will vital skillset be lost?
Reference linkingReference linkingReference links in the JSTOR Archive are
indicated by an arrow allowing
the user to click directly through
to the cited
article.
Sustainability challenges 2Sustainability challenges 2
Are the funders being fair? Neither AHRC or ESRC will provide funds for sustaining e-resource and the latest JISC call insists on free content worldwide
There is a need to demonstrate that e-resources are making a contribution to scholarship and teaching. Was AHDS funding withdrawn because of limited used?
Is, as AHRC suggested, necessary experience in UK Universities to maintain and develop complex e-resources as AHRC suggest. Are Institutional Repositories an answer?
Is a three year sustainability model acceptable?
Are the funders being fair? Neither AHRC or ESRC will provide funds for sustaining e-resource and the latest JISC call insists on free content worldwide
There is a need to demonstrate that e-resources are making a contribution to scholarship and teaching. Was AHDS funding withdrawn because of limited used?
Is, as AHRC suggested, necessary experience in UK Universities to maintain and develop complex e-resources as AHRC suggest. Are Institutional Repositories an answer?
Is a three year sustainability model acceptable?