Robin Pike: From the Stacks to the Future of Research: Building a Scalable, Sustainable Digitization Program at the University o

(Trevor) And it's
my great pleasure today

to introduce our
Digital Dialogue speaker, Robin Pike,

with the Digital Collections Library here
at the University of Maryland libraries,

and also the head of the
Digital Conversion

and Media Reformatting Unit,
the digitization center upstairs

in this building,
and she's going to talk to us today

about building a scalable, sustainable
digitization program:*

From the Stacks to the Future of Research

so welcome Robin.

Thank you.

Good afternoon everybody,
I am Robin Pike,

as Trevor said, the Manager of
Digital Conversion and Media Reformatting.

Thank you all for coming
on such a lovely afternoon,

I know I'd rather be outside,
so I appreciate you coming here

to a dark room.

So, as Trevor said,
we're the digitization center

but we're also more than that.

We're involved in many aspects
of digitization projects

in the libraries.
As I will discuss today,

we play an integral role
in digital projects and

digital curation projects,
leading to wider use of

libraries' unique collections.

But first, a little history.

So, digitization at the
University of Maryland libraries

has a genesis similar to many other
academic library digitization programs.

In the early 2000's,
several discrete digitization requests

and projects were performed,
usually based on patron requests

or librarian projects
to showcase collections.

Digital images were
stored on computers

and later network drives,
with little to no metadata.

It was thus difficult
to search the digital objects,

and frequently images were rescanned ,
due to lack of finding,

the frequently requested objects.

Later, some metadata was collected
in an Access database

for the digital objects,
so that the more frequently requested

items can be tracked and used
more efficiently.

In 2005, the Office of
Digital Collections and Research

was founded under the
Dean of the libraries,

to bring control over
digital objects,

and to build the digitization program.

It was staffed to five
full-time librarians,

including an Assistant Dean,
two digital librarians,

one databases administrator,
one user interface specialist,

and also included
two graduate assistants,

and other part-time assistants,
from a developer systems librarian

and metadata librarian.

These people developed
the policies that governed

collections of the
University of Maryland libraries,

including document governing
the best practices for

digital collections,
and a home-grown

metadata schema,
which incorporated many

of the current needs
of the library's curators.

They also developed
the digital collections repository

and the systems that
manage the digital objects.

In addition to creating new,
discrete digital projects,

previously scanned digital objects
were ingested into the repository

with appropriate metadata.

Over the next few years,
development on the repository

and the user interface continued,
patron requests

were ingested individually
into the repository

to grow collections,
and changing staff

worked primarily with
Special Collections

to create and develop
digital projects

that are still highlighted
with their own portals,

through digital collections.

In 2007 and 2008,
University of Maryland libraries

was affected by the recession,
and many of the staff left

as funding was cut,
some by their own choice,

some... were just not renewed.

In 2009, the Office of
Digital Collections and Research

was dissolved because
Collection Management and

Special Collections
primary used the digital collections

repository, some of the staff
who were left were incorporated

into the new
Digital Collections Unit

under Collection Management and
Special Collections

and others were redistributed
to other parts of the library.

Like many other academic libraries,
University of Maryland's libraries

had made the decision
to scale back digitization

because it was an added bonus
to collections and was not

an essential service
at the time.

Some of the flexibility
of the office was lost,

and little development
on the repository

was able to continue.

This reorganization led to the
creation of a small digitization center,

to better serve daily functions
of image digitization,

requests, and the slow addition
of these requests

to existing digital collections.

New procedures for creating
digital collections

and exhibits of these digital objects,
and procedures for

digitization requests
were also developed at this time.

Two of our complete
[flatbed] scanners were purchased

in addition to other
smaller scanners available.

While resources were limited
to acquire scanning hardware,

we began to use standarized
image capture and image editing software

to create digital images
under the same diagrams.

Importers operated the scanners
under the direction of a librarian.

Over the next two years,
the digitization center

gradually grew based on
the continued demand for digital.

Best practice documentation
was updated to include

developing digital imaging
federal guidelines.

Digital exhibitions were created
to complement the large, annual

Special Collections exhibit.

Several collaborative projects
between departments began,

such as the digitization
of a small sample

of Katherine Anne Porter's letters
and the creation of TEI

for those documents.

Two long-term in-house
digitization projects,

commenced digitization
of public domain posters

from the government
documents collect unit,

and the National Trust
for historic preservation poster collection.

Other external digitization projects
began, including the relationship

with the Lyrasis Mass Digitization
collaborative project

through the Internet Archive,
which allowed efficient

and cost-effective mass digitization
of bound monographs and serials.

In 2011, additional scanners
and a digital SLR camera

were purchased and
additional students were hired

to meet the increasing
patron and librarians' need

of digitized collections material.

Digitization was becoming an
integral and expected function

of many events within the library.

Patrons expected to receive
digital images for image requests.

Librarians expected to be able to
put more of their content online,

for patron access
and for outreach.

The infrastructure of the repository
had not changed in about four years

despite the rapidly changing technology,
and not all departments and units

had used the digitization center
for their digital projects,

for various internal reasons
through its existence,

the result of which
were digital files,

of varying formats,
stored on a variety of external media

in those collections
and not in the repository.

At this time,
University of Maryland libraries

was reexamining
the digital collections infrastructure

and how to grow the operation
to best suit the changing needs

of librarians and demands for patrons.

Supported by vested librarians
and Collection Management's

Special Collections,
and the new Associate Dean

of the Information Technology division,
Special Collections was reorganized.

Part of this process
resulted in Digital Collections

moving under ITD
in December 2011,

and then later being split into
two units in early 2012:

Digital Stewardship and
Digital Conversion and Media Reformatting.

At their most basic levels,
Digital Stewardship would manage

large digital projects and initiatives
such as digital preservation

and the repository development,
and Digital Conversion

and Media Refomatting
would manage the digitization center

and growth of the capabilities
for in-house digitization

and management of digitization
projects for vendors.

The creation of these units
solidified the University of Maryland

libraries' commitment to
digitization and digital preservation.

In February 2012, I was hired
to manage Digital Conversion

and Media Reformatting,
hereafter referred to as DCMR.

I began by examining
previous policies and capabilities,

consolidating disparate
digitized materials

outside of the repository,
surveying available equipment

and the space for expansion,
and surveying stakeholders

throughout the libraries
for collection needs

and digitization priorities.

During the personnel surveys,
it was evident that there was

still confusion about what DCMR
would be doing beyond digitization.

I created a goals statement
of which the new unit

could perform for the libraries

to better define its
duties and services.

The statement was the backbone
of new policies developed

around the existing and new services,
in justification for new staff.

Principally, DCMR would handle
the production of digital objects

including textual, photographic,
audio and video for patrons

and Digital Collections,
primarily for permanent retention

and use outside of course reserves,
excluding the materials

digitized for reserves
for public services,

which may be performed in-house
or through a vendor,

depending on the nature
of the material

and the timeline
in which it is needed.

It will also coordinate
digitization projects

through vendors, for librarians
and library staff,

and coordinate cooperation
from other libraries' units when needed,

such as when preservation work is
needed in Preservation and Conservation.

The project managers in DCMR
will also coordinate with other units

and University of Maryland departments
on digital projects,

such as Digital Stewardship or MITH,

where it will serve as the
Manager of Digitization

or the liaison
with digitization vendors.

Additionally, the unit would also evaluate

and set or revise digitization standards

and workloads as needed.

We would be including
audio-visual digitization

and the new suite
of in-house services

offered by the Digitization Center,

however, the limited space
in the current setup

of five scanners
would not allow for...

additional audio-visual
digitization stations.

We moved the Digitization Center
from the second floor

Hornbake library
to the fourth floor Hornbake library

in an unused space,
which included slightly more space

for photo and text digitization,
space for three audio and video

digitization stations,
and additional dedicated staff space.

It was also essential
to build meaningful relationships

during the first several months,
so that library staff would feel

more invested in this new iteration
of the Digitization Center.

Moving the Digitization Center
required the most amount of

communication so that
we would not disappoint

or frustrate frequent users
with necessary downtime

and operational changes.

At the same time,
we were also able to integrate

an additional new scanner,
increasing our digitization capabilities.

Soon after, we started to integrate
a new, long-term digitization projectS

with a hiring of additional students.

During this planning and move,
we also hired two full-time library staff:

a broadcast media digitization librarian,
who'd be researching

and setting up two audio
digitization stations in the first year,

and a digital reformatting specialist,
who would be managing students

in the Digitization Center.

Requests and long-term
digitization projects

and performing quality assurance
on digital objects and metadata.

By October 2012, the Digitization Center
was functional in its new location.

In February 2012, we were able to
digitize flat items,

including photographs, prints,
manuscripts, slides, negatives and maps

up to 11 by 17 inches,
and we were also able to digitize

books, journals, newspapers
and other flat or bound materials

up to 18 by 25 inches.

We also provide
a digital photography service,

and we were able to provide
all of these digital objects

not only within the repository
when it justified it,

but also provide the materials
to requesters on various optical disks,

local area networks or FTP,
depending on the preference

for each requester.

At present, we can also perform
the following audio digitization services:

digital reformatting or conversion,
quarter inch audio open-reel tapes,

audio cassettes, and [?]
to archival and access digital audio files.

We can also batch convert audio files
to archival and access formats.

With about 90 hours
of student labor per week,

photo and document digitization requests
are performed within a 10 day

working day period,
though they are usually

completed much faster.

These requests are integrated
into the long-term project workload,

for each student is assigned
a part or a single long-term

photo or textual digitization project.

Extensive procedural documentation
is now created for long-term projects

so that students are
more quickly trained on their tasks

and have references
for standardized metadata.

At the beginning of April 2013,
the University libraries

have created almost 17,000
descriptive metadata records,

including over 10,000
digital image records,

about 3400 books in the repository,
about 3400 books in the Internet Archive,

and about 1600 moving image
and audio records,

mostly moving image --
we're just starting with audio.

The percentages of images
and metadata records

created in the repository
has increased over the last year,

with these developments
in the workflow.

Between new requests
and librarian projects,

digital objects continue
to be added to

existing digital collections
such as the University album.

We are also in the process of
creating new digital collections

to be representative
as separate entities in the near future,

such as the Preston family papers,
a collection of correspondence,

diaries and other papers,

primarily written by
a mother and daughter,

from about 1820 to 1894,
about domestic life in Maryland,

the Catholic Church,
global politics,

weather and national disasters,
slavery, and domestic abuse,

the beginnings of which
are now searchable in Digital Collections.

This project was initiated by
our historical manuscripts curator.

We also continued to maintain
a digitization contract

with the Lyrasis Mass Digitization Project,
to scan books and other mass volumes.

We have also started
several other large contracts

with digitization vendors
for rare formats,

or projects with preservation concerns
that are more cost-effective

to handle up in the
Digitization Center.

The Preston Family Papers project
is an example of a project

that we are both insourcing
and outsourcing,

as the diaries are fragile
and need preservation work

before a specialized vendor
will digitize them.

We are currently refining
our audio digitization workflow

to improve its efficiency.

Though the time it takes
to digitize audio depends on the format,

the labeling of the
original recording settings

and the material's condition,
most current audio requests

are short and long-term projects,
so we have flexible timelines

in which to complete them.

The leading pilot project
for developing

audio digitization work stations
and workflows was

the WMUC Archives recording project.

It has progressed from
digitizing select open-reel tapes

to digitizing these tapes
and ADATs in a production environment

to complete the digitization
of at least 100 recordings

for the special collections WMUC
exhibit opening this fall.

While the broadcasting media digitization
librarians handle the difficult formats,

several students have now been trained
to digitize easier audio formats

such as cassette tapes,
decreasing the overall cost

of digitization and increasing
our capacity to complete

audio digitization requests.

Beyond the production
of digital objects,

DCMR will play a leading role
in collaboration with units

that hold and manage collections
within the seven campus libraries

and units that provide services
for these collections.

Subject librarians and content managers

know their collections and
users better, and are able to

prioritize these projects and provide
guidance for the resulting products.

DCMR directs materials
into the workflow

based on the librarian's request
and their user's needs.

For example, if we wished
to digitize a serial set for access,

because it is deteriorating,
it is not known to exist elsewhere online,

and it's in the public domain,
we suggest that these volumes

be sent to the Internet Archive
for inclusion in that project

and access through that portal.

The Internet Archive makes volumes
searchable, via search engines

and their sites, and provides
a well-known and wider portal

to deliver books and serials
to researchers.

This workflow also provides
a two to three-month turnaround time

which provides faster access
to these lengthier materials

that we then provide in house.

One of the deteriorating serial sets
that we have created access to

in this manner is Sponsor,
a broadcasting journal,

searchable through the Internet Archive
gateway and Digital Collections.

We're also involved
in the multifaceted partnership

to digitize Special Collections'
French Pamphlet collection

also searchable through
the Internet Archive gateway

and Digital Collections.

After the French department
approached one of our

language and literature
subject librarians,

a partnership was formed

with Special Collections and DCMR
to digitize and make available

700 to 1000 of the 12000
French pamphlets

that we hold in Special Collections.

The 700 to 1000 set
was selected because

they have been previously cataloged
and were not required

further description work.

Future cases of this project
will require partnering

with the Technical Services division
and students in the French department

to ensure that the remaining materials
are cataloged before they are digitized.

After digitization, these materials
can be more easily used

in University of Maryland classrooms
and in classrooms around the world.

A similar project is actually underway
at the University of Florida

Digital Collections;
they have digitized

166 pamphlets, of which there is
little to no overlap with our collection.

The University of Florida
Digital Collections search interface is

a bit more advanced than the one
provided through the Internet Archive,

but the resources are available
via search engine as well,

which is currently the primary
and initial discovery point

for most online users.

These collections will complement
each other, and we hope that

there is some cross usage between
the institutions' collections.

Other Internet Archive
digitization projects

continue to be a collaboration
between the content holders and DCMR.

Another major undertaking
has been the digitization of

the Preston Family Papers
that I previously mentioned.

This is a combined effort between
the historical manuscripts curator,

our Preservation and Conservation unit
and DCMR.

After consulting with the curator,
we decided to divide this project

into two parts: flat materials including
letters, photographs and documents

and the diaries.

The flat materials could be
digitized in house, and

a Procedures Guide was created
for the students performing

at digitization, which included
diagrams on how to scan the letters,

some of which have odd
folding and numbering,

and metadata to use
across the collection.

The diaries had tight bindings,
and were very delicate,

so after consulting with
Preservation and Conservation,

these materials were sent to a vendor,
who will be performing

stabilization procedures
before digitizing the small bound volumes.

Both parts of the project
are progressing in tandem,

and several of the folders of letters
are already finished and

available through Digital Collections.

After a significant portion
of the collection is digitized,

these handwritten materials
will make an ideal transcription

or TEI project for field study students
in Special Collections,

another opportunity for collaboration.

The most intricate project
that DCMR has undertaken so far

has been the digitization
of the WMUC Archive,

the records and recordings
of the University of Maryland's

student radio station, for the annual
Special Collections exhibit

opening this fall.

This project was the reason
for taking a rapid approach

to creating a functional and developing
audio digitization workstation.

While we did not have
all the best equipment at first,

we were able to start digitizing
quarter-inch open-reel audio tapes

to archival standards,
by using and fixing

what legacy equipment
was available.

After the pilot digitization phase
of the project,

we had received our ideal equipment,

which was integrated
into the digitization stations.

We were then able to expand
the formats we were digitizing,

in the production phase of the project,
to include ADATs and cassette tapes.

Beyond the digitization
of audio recordings,

we are also digitizing photos

and documents, for the physical
and online exhibits.

These requests have been integrated
into our existing textual

and photographic project workflows.

The main collaborative effort
that has influenced the work of DCMR

has been its collaboration
with Digital Stewardship.

Digital Stewardship is guiding
the development

of the Digital Collections repository,
including another phase

of the WMUC pilot project.

Several of the staff
have developed new functionalities

for the repository,
from linking newly created audio files

from the WMUC pilot project
and other audio requests

to metadata records
for their access.

While these recordings are
not yet publicly available,

they will be going live
with the opening of the exhibit.

Digital Stewardship has also
developed the workflow

for ingesting three types of audio files:
the archival master,

the high quality user file
and the stringing file,

and coordinated the different
storage locations for each file.

We are also courting efforts
on other multi-tiered projects

where digitization is
one of many stages.

One such project, benefiting from
cross-unit collaboration,

is the Katherine Anne Porter
Digital Scholar and Media Edition project,

which will digitize approximately
4300 letters of which we have copyright.

While librarians and staff
from Special Collections

manage the description of materials since
they have knowledge of the materials,

DCMR is coordinating with
an external digitization vendor

so that the letters can be
digitized in a shorter timeline

than we would have been able to
complete in house.

Digital Stewardship is managing
the ingest and preservation

of digital objects,
and coordinating with MITH,

to later encode the letters in TEI,
to make them more accessible

to researchers
for digital curation projects.

This is the first such project
involving so many parties,

so we are using a web-based
project management application,

Basecamp, to track
conversations, files, due dates,

and overall progress.

Another collaborative project

that has been in progress
over the past year

is the Arthur Godfrey
Wire Recording digitization project.

These recordings are a small part
of the Arthur Godfrey collection,

held by Special Collections'
Mass Media and Culture,

and cannot be played on site,
due to the problem of maintaining

the wire player
and the fragility of the materials.

Because the wire recordings
are rare, fragile,

and have a number of preservation
and playback issues,

we collaborated with
Preservation and Conservation

to send these recordings
to a specialized vendor

with the equipment to
digitize wire recordings.

DCMR guided and assisted
MMC with the creation of

basic tracking metadata
for the recordings,

prior to sending the recordings
to the vendor.

DCMR also solidified
standards and workflow

for this first, large-scale
audio digitization project

performed by a vendor,
during the first two pilot projects.

Having received over 100
digitized recordings to date,

we are currently working on the second
production batch of these recordings.

DCMR and Digital Stewardship
plan to use the processes

developed in the WMUC Archives project,
to ingest the metadata

and digital objects into their
respective storage locations,

and plan to make the recordings
available on campus,

due to copyright issues.

Once the recordings are digitized,
they will be listenable

for the first time in many decades,
and also to a much larger audience.

While the content on the recordings
is of popular, entertainment radio shows,

they document pop culture and cultural
trends in the 1940s, 50's and 60's.

Many potential new patrons
may be drawn to this collection

of digitized recordings.

Once we document the success
of this part of the collection,

we may continue to digitize
other series, including

film and television show,
and documents and photographs

surrounding these productions.

With the success of these
multiple collaborative efforts

over the past year,
DCMR has solidified its role

in digitization and the production
of Digital Collections

in the University of Maryland libraries.

Unlike its previous iterations,
its role is introducing digitized content

and serving as a leader
in managing digitization projects

is now an integral part
of library operations.

DCMR has proven that
we are not only capable of

handling digitization projects but guiding
the development of digital curation projects.

As our successes grow,
we predict that our services and staff

will also grow to meet needs of patrons
and library content managers.

With the success of internal partnerships,
we also plan to look for partnerships

outside of the university,
potentially within USMAI institutions,

other partners
in the Center for Library Initiatives,

or other academic and federal institutions
to either digitize or collaborate

on digitization projects,

as our unique collections
take on a more prominent role

in the research community.

Thank you.

(applause)