The Carroll County History Project is an ongoing effort to preserve the history of Carroll County, Maryland by collecting videotaped memories of residents. The project was recently awarded the 2011 Maryland Preservation Award for Educational Excellence by the Maryland Historic Trust. Through the cooperation and efforts of the Carroll County Public Library and the Community Media Center, over 50 of the project's oral histories are now available in a new MDCH digital collection.

A digital collection of items scanned as part of The Civil War in Your Attic project is now available on MDCH. The items include letters, photographs, commissary notes, military appointments, and other documents dating from the period. Many more items scanned at the Enoch Pratt Free Library and other participating institutions will be added to the online collection in the coming months.

Thanks again to WHILBR, Western Maryland's Historical Library, for enabling us to harvest metadata from their existing digital collections and make it available to users of the MDCH website.

The Project Client, formerly called the Acquisition Station in the previous version, has been redesigned and streamlined. The CONTENTdm web-based administration interface now allows for scheduled indexing and approvals. These changes will further maximize the efficiency of MDCH's digitization workflows, and will simplify the collection building and import process.

OCLC has integrated Find, the search engine that powers WorldCat.org, into the software. This enhances the end-user experience by making it easier to search and find items across MDCH collections. Visitors to the site can use advanced features such as faceted searching and relevancy ranked search results.

Other significant improvements to CONTENTdm include better handling of EAD finding aids, as well as the support of Unicode, an industry standard character encoding system which allows for recognition of text in most of the world's languages, including non-Western languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Greek, and Hebrew.

We are also still working toward using the Digital Collection Gateway, which was discussed in my previous blog post. OCLC recently added this feature to CONTENTdm, enabling users of the software to upload and synchronize metadata from their digital collections to WorldCat. Metadata records for a few of MDCH's collections should appear in WorldCat shortly. Look for more information in the coming weeks.

Yesterday, MDCH staff attended an online webinar orientation session provided by OCLC to learn how to use the Digital Collection Gateway, and to better understand what we can expect during pilot phase testing. After we have upgraded our server to CONTENTdm version 5.1 (more on this in later blog posts), we will start uploading some of our smaller collections to WorldCat. I'm interested to see how the process works, and to begin testing out this new capability of CONTENTdm.

On April 23, I visited the Montgomery County Historical Society in Rockville, Maryland. The society participated in the MDCH program back in 2004, when we digitized the Fair Hill Boarding School collection and posted it on the MDCH website, so I was looking forward to the visit to see if we could renew our partnership. While I was there, the society's archivist gave me a tour of the the Jane C. Sween Library, a non-circulating library and archives located in the white carriage house at the Beall-Dawson Historical Park. We discussed potential collaborative digitization projects and viewed items from the society's collections, including: a set of Montgomery County real estate atlases, the earliest dating back to 1916/1917; a handwritten ledger of a local benevolent society dating from the early 1900's; and selections from society's manuscript, ephemera, and Montgomery Mutual Insurance Company collections. I was also quite fascinated by the scrapbooks of Frank M. Heath, who in 1925 set out with his horse Gypsy Queen to ride through all 48 states in the continental U.S. During the next two years, Heath and Gypsy Queen traveled over 11,000 miles, finally arriving in Washington, D.C. in 1927. Although it was decided that the scrapbook was not appropriate for inclusion in MDCH's digital collections for a variety of reasons, this rather odd and interesting piece of memorabilia was fun to see, and is a great example of some of the more unusual items I've come across in working with archives, museums, libraries, and other cultural heritage institutions. I appreciated the Montogomery County Historical Society's archivist taking the time to show me around their collections, and look forward to working with him on future projects. Stay tuned for further developments.

One of the most important considerations when evaluating oral history collections is, of course, format. While fundamental principles of preservation and access apply to any collection, the process of working with documents (i.e. transcriptions, reports, etc.) can be quite different from working with audio and video recordings. To date, the MDCH program has partnered with several institutions to digitize and/or provide access to oral history collections in a variety of formats.

In 2006, the program worked with WHILBR, Western Maryland's Historical Library, on "Coal Talk." The "Coal Talk" collection included a number of interviews with individuals who were part of Western Maryland's coal mining communities. The interviews, most of which took place in the early 1990's, were recorded on audiocassette tapes. While MDCH did not ultimately host the collection on our website, we did convert the original tape recordings into digital .wav audio files. The files were later made available on WHILBR's website as part of the "Coal Talk" digital collection.

In 2007, MDCH began a partnership with St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Potomac, MD on the American Century Project, a collection of oral histories completed by students in their junior year. As part of this ongoing project, each student selects a person of no relation to interview about a period or event, then creates a paper based on the interview, primary and secondary sources, and their own analysis. While audiocassette tapes of the interviews are archived at the school's Dreyfuss Library, audio files of the recordings were not included as part of the online MDCH collection. Instead, the students' papers were digitized by Dreyfuss Library staff, and PDF's and metadata were imported into MDCH's Union catalog using CONTENTdm collection management software. CONTENTdm's OCR (Optical Character Recognition) extension enabled Dreyfuss Library staff to also generate full-text transcripts of the PDF's.

As mentioned in my previous blog post, MDCH has recently partnered with Carroll County Public Library (CCPL) and the Community Media Center on the Carroll County History Project. The project's collection of interviews with Carroll County residents are in a digital video format, so no conversion of VHS tapes or other analog video formats is necessary; however, determining the best way to provide access to the videos using CONTENTdm has been a learning experience for staff here at MDCH, myself in particular. 

Although CONTENTdm can store and retrieve most audio and video files the same as other file types (JPEGs, PDF's, etc.), there are some unique factors that come into play when working with audiovisual materials. Depending on the file format and delivery method selected, the videos may be stored on the CONTENTdm server and accessed natively within the CONTENTdm record, or they may be stored on a separate server and accessed through a url. If importing the files directly into CONTENTdm, it is recommended that they be in a compressed format, such as MPEG for moving images (video, film, etc.) and MP3 for audio. Compressed files can be downloaded more quickly by end-users, and take up significantly less storage space on the CONTENTdm server. To further facilitate faster download and easier viewing, lengthy audio and video sequences should be segmented when possible. Interviews, for example, can be edited and broken down into smaller segments, which are then imported into CONTENTdm as separate files. This also enables the creation of more specific metadata, including subject terms, for each audio or video segment. If working with audio or video delivered in a streaming media format, then the files are stored on a streaming media server. The metadata is entered into CONTENTdm, and a url linking to the streaming media file is imported.

In the case of the Carroll County History Project, the interviews are currently stored in a web-accessible Adobe Flash video format on a server maintained by the county's Community Media Center. Rather than import all of the videos into CONTENTdm, we have decided to instead import urls linking to the videos stored on the separate server. CCPL and the Community Media Center will provide the metadata for each video, which will also be imported into CONTENTdm. We are currently exploring possible ways to link to various points in the videos, as well how to best display the videos and metadata within CONTENTdm. While there are still some details to be worked out, I look forward to making this unique oral history collection available on the MDCH website. Since our collaboration on the Carroll County History Project began, I have also received inquiries from other institutions interested in partnering with MDCH on oral history projects. These potential new partnerships offer an exciting opportunity to apply what we have learned in working on other collections, and to explore further how to best digitize, store, and provide access to oral histories.

In November and December, I made visits to all three regional libraries in Maryland- Southern Maryland Regional Library in Charlotte Hall, Western Maryland Regional Library in Hagerstown, and Eastern Shore Regional Library in Salisbury. During each visit, I met with library staff to discuss digitization efforts in the region, learn more about how each regional library has partnered with MDCH in the past, and explore ways of collaborating in the future. In January, I visited the Columbia Archives to see some of their unique collections, including the papers of urban planner and developer James Rouse, and to discuss some possibilities for partnership.

My travels in Maryland have also included two trips to the Carroll County Public Library (CCPL) headquarters in New Windsor. MDCH is currently working with CCPL and the Community Media Center on the Carroll History Project, an ongoing effort dedicated to preserving the history of the county and the memories of its residents. In the coming months, the MDCH website will provide access to the Carroll History Project's large and growing collection of video interviews conducted with Carroll County residents. More about this exciting new project, as well as oral history collections in general, will be discussed in upcoming posts.

Prior to coming to Enoch Pratt, I worked at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) and the Folger Shakespeare Library. At both institutions, I coordinated all requests for images, and facilitated documentation of the collections in digital and traditional photographic formats. The collections included works of art, manuscripts, rare books, maps, and photographs. Through my work at the BMA and the Folger, I became knowledgeable about digitization technologies, metadata standards, and copyright issues. 

In the month since I started in my new position, I've already met so many people from libraries and cultural institutions throughout the state of Maryland, and I have been very gratified by their enthusiasm and interest in MDCH. I am excited to be heading up the MDCH program, and look forward to being a part of its continued growth and success.

The transportation of these maps represent the MDCH Program's first successful implementation of procedures for the secure transport of materials on loan for digitization. These procedures are similar to those employed by museums for traveling exhibits. The procedures include obtaining insurance coverage, drawing up loan agreements, making plans for the appropriate transportation of materials, employing basic guidelines for the proper handling of the materials during digitization, and secure storage.

Insurance coverage

Any library that regularly hosts traveling exhibits from other institutions has probably secured a certificate of insurance to cover the exhibit during the period of the loan. This kind of insurance coverage may be referred to as coverage for museum collections and temporary loans. Typically, a request for a certificate of insurance should include an inventory of the items to be loaned, the estimated value of the items; the name, address, and contact information of the individual at the lending institution that is in charge of the collection, and the time period of the loan. Once this information has been received the insurance company will issue a certificate of insurance to cover the materials in the unlikely event that anything should happen to them from the time the materials leave their home institution to the time that they return. If you're transporting materials to your institution for digitization find out if your library has the right kind of insurance to cover the materials during the period of the loan. You should check with your insurance provider to find out the details of the coverage, including whether or not the company requires the use of a particular transport service (such as Artex or FedEx Custom Critical) and whether or not the value of the items must be provided by a certified appraiser.

Loan agreements

In the museum, archival, or special libraries profession, loan agreements are contracts between the lending and borrowing institution to document a loan transaction. This document is usually drafted by the lending institution and will include an inventory of the items being loaned, a brief report on the condition of the materials, contact information for the lender/borrower, and information about when the items were returned. Additionally, the loan agreement may dictate which services the borrowing institution can use to transport the materials or how the materials may be stored during the loan. If the lending institution does not have a formalized loan policy in place, and they are willing to loan their materials, then it would benefit all parties for the borrowing institution to draft a loan agreement.

Transport services

In some cases the lending institution's loan agreement will dictate which transport service may be used. Some common services include Artex Fine Art Services, Fine Arts Express, Crozier Fine Arts, and FedEx's Custom Critical service. These types of transport companies specialize in the transport of rare, priceless art and artifacts and are well versed in the appropriate handling of these items during short or long distance transport. In the case of the maps transported from Talbot County we used FedEx's Custom Critical Surface Expedite service. This allowed us to take advantage of their same day, door-to-door delivery of the maps using a dedicated vehicle. The vehicle was monitored via satellite and I received updates on the progress of the vehicle in my e-mail inbox. The maps were packed in a box using packing guidelines employed by the Northeast Document Conservation Center.

Proper handling of rare materials

Special care should be taken to ensure that rare and/or fragile materials are handled during the digitization process in such a way that they are not damaged. Exposure to light and heat and drastic changes in temperature and humidity contribute to the deterioration of special collections materials. Other precautions to take when digitizing materials include the following:

• Keep food or drink away from the work area
• Keep sharp items and pens/markers away from original material
• Wash hands thoroughly and regularly, and wear cotton gloves to prevent the transfer of skin oils to original material
• Pages of a book should be turned carefully
• Books should not be opened to an angle greater than 120 degrees
• Do not flex an item when turning it over
• Brittle materials may need to be encased Mylar in order to be handled safely if scanned at all
• Repair of damaged originals should be done by a trained professional

Secure storage

When the materials are not being digitized they should be covered and stored in a secure area, such as a locked room with limited access or in a safe or vault. Ideally, the secure area should be one where there is control over the temperature and relative humidity. At the very least the secure area should be climate controlled.

Following these procedures will help to ensure that the materials are returned to their parent institution in the same condition in which they left.

The history of the school has roots that date back to 1799 when the Benevolent Society of the City and County of Baltimore, founded by a group of parishioners from Old St. Paul's, established an orphanage for the care and education of indigent and orphaned girls. The orphanage moved locations and changed names several times before it was closed some time during the 1950s. In 1958 the Benevolent Society decided to establish a new college-preparatory school for girls - today's St. Paul's School for girls.

During this morning's meeting we talked about specifications for scanning and the creation of archival master images, including such details as resolution, file type, storage and backup of image files, etc. We also talked about strategies for selecting materials and preparing descriptive information. As plans progress and the digitization of materials is complete, MDCH will provide the technical infrastructure for hosting their digital collections and making them accessible to a wide audience on the World Wide Web.

St. Paul's is looking into the possibility of purchasing a scanner for use in house so that their materials don't have to leave campus. Doing the digitization in house will also provide hands-on opportunities for student workers to learn about handling archival materials and preparing descriptive information. They will also gain technical skills working with computers and scanners. As a collaborative partner they are looking to MDCH to provide a number of services, primarily consulting services and technical infrastructure support.

In addition to technical specifications we also talked a little bit about selecting materials with an eye toward their historical context. We agreed that the photographs would be a good place to start - after all, a picture is worth a thousand words. Describing the photographs will include answering questions about who, what, when, where, etc. Making the photographs accessible online will spotlight various aspects of campus life throughout out the school's fifty year history. During the course of conversation I also suggested that they round out the collection by including documents such as the school's charter among the items they selected for this collection. Documents such as the charter will provide more historical context for the photographs and also speak a little bit about the growth and development of St. Paul's over the years as an independent school in Maryland.

There are some very exciting possibilities for collaboration with the St. Paul's School for Girls, including a digital storytelling project to explore more of the school's history by means of oral history interviews with retired faculty and staff. Collaborative projects are still in the planning stages but could be available online as early as spring 2008. Stay tuned to www.mdch.org for further developments.

• Scanning or digital photography to create archival quality master images
• Creation of derivative images suitable for delivery over the web
• Storage of archival master images for long term preservation, plus backup copies of images on archival CD/DVD media
• Preparation of descriptive metadata according to MDCH standards
• Technical infrastructure and support for hosting of digital images and descriptive metadata as digital collections
• Harvesting of descriptive information and URLs from legacy databases
• Consultation services for local digitization projects as needed

MDCH staff are as involved or uninvolved in digitization projects as called for by the needs of the contributing organization. For example, the Baltimore Streetcar Museum contributed three volumes of photographs from their President's Collection to the MDCH Program. MDCH staff completed all digitization work, including scanning, ingestion of images into the CONTENTdm database, addition of descriptive metadata, and hosting the entire collection on the MDCH website. We're preserving three copies of archival masters: one copy of each file on a storage array and two copies on two sets of archival DVDs.

We took a different approach with the American Century Project based on the staff resources available at the St. Andrew's Episcopal School. Using one of our CONTENTdm Acquisition Station (data entry module) licenses a staff member remotely uploaded their oral history transcripts to our CONTENTdm server. We worked together to repurpose descriptive information by mapping metadata from their catalog's MARC records to our local Dublin Core fields. For the most part all that the MDCH Program did was to set up a collection on the MDCH website, consulte about metadata issues and concerns, and provide the technical infrastructure and support to get their digital collection online.

A third approach we've taken to populating the MDCH website with collections is to harvest descriptive metadata and URLs from a legacy database. For example, the Digitization Librarian at the Western Maryland Public Library exports metadata from their WHILBR collections that are then manually imported into a CONTENTdm collection and published to the MDCH website. URLs point users back to the WHILBR database to view digital files, but they're searching descriptive information in one location. By pointing users back to the WHILBR database to view digital files we are avoiding the need to rewrite any license agreements between WHILBR and its contributors.

These digitization services are offered to our partnering organizations in keeping with the Enoch Pratt Free Library's Central Library's role as the State Library Resource Center. Any cultural heritage institution, and in some cases private collectors, with Maryland-related primary source materials are invited to get in touch with me to explore the potential of providing online access to those materials.

In the past, PDF files were displayed in a CONTENTdm collection as a link that opened the PDF in a new browser window. One way to work around this is by saving each page of the PDF as a JPEG and then importing the page images into one CONTENTdm document as a compound object. This is the approach we took with the American Century Project. This workaround is effective but somewhat time-consuming and not ideal because each page image counts against the total number of items allowed on our CONTENTdm server. CONTENTdm 4.3 has integrated the features of the PDF (such as search term highlighting, full-text searchability, and printing all or part of the PDF document) into the CONTENTdm compound object display interface. This is a much more user-friendly and aesthetically appealing way to manage PDF documents in CONTENTdm. Additionally, each PDF document, no matter how many pages long it is, will only count as one item against the total number of items we're allowed to store in our CONTENTdm server. Effective, efficient, and innovative.

The other feature of 4.3 that I'm excited about is the ability to more easily share controlled vocabularies between fields in a collection or across different collections. Controlled vocabularies are predefined lists of approved terms that can appear in metadata fields within a CONTENTdm collection. For example, the Subject field can be pre-filled with Library of Congress Subject Headings. Catalogers can select from this list or submit new terms for approval in CONTENTdm's data entry module called the Acquisition Station. Until now controlled vocabularies had to manually be copied from field to field within a collection or across different collections.

These are just a couple of the new features of CONTENTdm 4.3. DiMeMa will be hosting some upcoming web sessions to talk about the rest of the features in more detail. I'm really excited to see that DiMeMa is continuing to develop CONTENTdm with the needs of its users in mind. This is the second organization I've worked at where I've gotten to implement the use of CONTENTdm. It's a solid product and it has been integral to our success over the past couple of years.

Do you think you might have a collection that would make a great addition to the MDCH Program? Get in touch with me at nnasr@prattlibrary.org or give me a call at 410-545-6342 and let's explore the potential for partnership together.

There's been a lot going on with the MDCH Program in the last couple of years. We redesigned the website, giving it a new look and feel. We rebuilt the technical infrastructure of the website. Using new software to facilitate the sharing of information we have lowered the technical curve to make it easier to share and publish digital collections. I've been visiting institutions around the state to explore new opportunities for partnership and to survey collections for new digital projects.

In 2006 the MDCH Program moved into the national spotlight with the publication of the Maryland Library's Most Wanted collection. This interactive exhibit has engaged the public by soliciting their help in identifying some unidentified photographs. This website builds on principles of Web 2.0 technologies by allowing users to submit their best guess using an online form. MDCH staff members follow up on the information submitted and add accurate identifications to each photograph's descriptive information. The names of the "Master Sleuths" who correctly identify the photographs are featured on the exhibit's project credits page.

Our successful use of the CONTENTdm Digital Collection Management software has also moved the MDCH Program into the national spotlight. I've given a number of presentations locally and at national conferences to demonstrate how we use CONTENTdm to input images and descriptive metadata and make them available ton the MDCH Program website. We're not only adding our own images and metadata either. Thanks to CONTENTdm's interoperable functionality, we're able to harvest URLs and descriptive metadata from our partnering institutions such as the Western Maryland Public Library's historical library database also known as WHILBR.

It is the people and places and all of the events that have taken place in its history since its charter was first granted that give Maryland its unique identity as a state. I like to think of the MDCH website as a gateway for users to learn more about Maryland's cultural heritage. With that in mind there are a variety of approaches to partnering with the MDCH Program. I'll talk more about that in another blog entry.

There's been a lot going on with the MDCH Program in the last couple of years and I believe there's a lot more to come as we increase partnerships and continue to grow our digital collections. Stay tuned to this blog for more information!