Wednesday,
March 8, 2006
11:00am -
12:30pm
Session 8: New
Challenges for Image Professionals in
Small Institutions: Strategies for Converting
Archival Collections into Scholarly Information
on the Web
This session addresses the
huge increase in the demand for smaller
institutions to develop strategies for
transferring their unique and scholarly
collections into digital information resources.
As the responsibilities of image professionals
continue to evolve in the 21st century,
it is not unusual for visual resources
curators and their staff members to be
charged with a major role in developing
these resources for Web delivery.
Contrary to the experience
of major institutions who, with abundant
financial support, have already made their
signature subject or media oriented collections
available on the Web, many smaller academic
and private institutions are home to local
history collections still in analog format.
Many items in these smaller collections
contain valuable complimentary materials
that could add to the body of knowledge
if made accessible to the research community.
A case in point is Long Island University’s
Cedar Swamp Historical Society (CSHS)
collection that contains not only important
local documents, but also items of national
significance from the Revolutionary and
Civil War periods.
Based on the knowledge gained
during the real time process of developing
a website for CSHS, this session will
bring the audience from project selection
to prototype. Topics for discussion include
a practical overview of collection selection,
a how-to guide for securing community
and institutional support, tips for writing
grants for small projects, a template
for research and text development, and
information on applying in-house conservation
efforts. Of equal importance, best practices
for developing small-scale projects including
metadata standards and usability testing
necessary for semantic interoperability
between smaller and major collections
will be addressed.
Moderator:
Catherine Larkin, Long Island University,
C. W. Post Campus
Speakers:
Catherine Larkin, Long Island University,
C. W. Post Campus
Donald Ungarelli, Long Island University
Donna Marciano, Long Island University,
C.W. Post Campus
|
