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Illuminated Heritage

June 2, 2008

Digital Past News

It’s been a long time since I last wrote here and I do apologize! However, I have some great news concerning Digital Past! We’ve seen a lot of growth lately with the following new participants:

• Chicago Botanic Garden - Lenhardt Library
• Morton Arboretum - Sterling Morton Library
• Chicago Zoological Society - Brookfield Zoo
• William Rainey Harper College

We have also seen several institutions that have been around for quite a while renewing their efforts, which is fantastic! There are also several new institutions considering their own digitization projects with Digital Past.

We are also building up (not so slowly) to the 100,000 item mark in Digital Past! As of today, we’re just over 92, 300.

Last week Digital Past was featured in the ALA (American Library Association) e-newsletter as their Digital Library of the Week.

Stay tuned for more Digital Past excitement!

posted by Kay at 11:31 am | Comments (0)

July 11, 2007

Audio Descriptions and Digital Past

I’m sure that those of you who have received LSTA grants for digitization lately know that they are starting to require a small group of your items to have audio descriptions. Several Digital Past people and myself attended the seminar on audio descriptions held here at NSLS earlier this year but for those who didn’t and would like to more, I will refer you to the Audio Description Illinois site from the Alliance Library System who is spearheading the effort. Be sure to check out some of the nice Best Practice sites, like the one about Ronald Reagan.

So, naturally, that means that we have to find a place to put the written text and the audio mp3 links in our metadata structure for Digital Past. After a lot of thinking, I think it makes sense to put both in the description field. They ARE descriptions after all and they will be towards the top of the page so people don’t have to go too far to find them. The extensive text descriptions will certainly enhance the rest of that which you have. And if you just put in the audio mp3 as a link like: http://www.link.com, CDM will automatically make it a link. The link should be headed with “Audio Description:” so screen readers can pick that up easily. You can then put the mp3 on your server or wherever. I still have to figure out where/how to load them on our server, but I should have that information for you soon…

Anyone think a different field would be better?

posted by Kay at 2:24 pm | Comments (0)

June 19, 2007

Digital Past in Everton’s Genealogical Helper!

Yup! That’s right, while browsing the shelves at Borders this weekend, I found Everton’s Genealogical Helper May/June issue with an article about the best US digital image sites and Digital Past was included! Yeay! It’s a nice overview of the project and features a screenshot of the home page. It was a fantastic surprise! So, go check it out yourselves, it’s on page 72. You’ll notice the addition of their award on the front page of Digital Past as well.

posted by Kay at 1:19 pm | Comments (0)

May 18, 2007

Veterans History Project

The Library of Congress has released a new Field Kit for those who would like to participate in the Veterans History Project. I know many are already involved but if you are not and wish to be, this would be a great stepping off point for you. Remember, interviews (whether audio, video or transcriptions of such) are welcome on Digital Past, as are supporting documents/images.

posted by Kay at 9:30 am | Comments (0)

May 7, 2007

New Exhibit at Digital Past

We have a new exhibit at Digital Past from the Cook Memorial Public Library District! Their exhibit Libertyville In The Twenties showcases a decade of history from our town. Our schools, churches, and businesses from the 1920s are highlighted, as well as local personalities, crime, entertainment and other facets of village life.

Check it out, have a walk down memory lane, or, uh, curiousity lane or something!

posted by Kay at 1:47 pm | Comments (0)

January 8, 2007

Digital Past TV Spot

For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, we now have our very own Digital Past commercial which runs on the Library Cable Network and maybe other places, I’m not sure. It features some of the collections of our participants and explains briefly what it is and all. We have it up on YouTube (linked above). Please feel free to use it wherever you think it might be appropriate - your library/museum, at presentations, marketing events, etc.

If you have any comments about it, please be sure to drop me a line!

posted by Kay at 11:17 am | Comments (0)

September 8, 2006

Digital Past Migration Over!

That’s right! The Digital Past migration to version 4.1 was completed last week and has been running fine for about 10 days now! For participants who have downloaded the new Acquisition Station, be sure to let me know so I can unlock your account!

If you’ve been thinking of joining the initiative but wanted to wait until after the migration, now’s your chance! We also have 2 demos coming up in November on the 8th and 16th. Several participants will discuss and demonstrate how they have used the project for their institutions and we’ll cover responsibilities for those interesting in joining as well. Hope to see you there!

Also, we’ll be starting up a Digital Past Users Group (DPUG) soon, so stay tuned for that announcement!

posted by Kay at 9:41 am | Comments (0)

August 25, 2006

Digital Past Upgrade Starts Monday

That’s right, 6:30 am Monday morning. For those finishing up and clearing out Acquisition Station, add and build queues, you’ll have the weekend. You accounts will be locked Monday morning at 6:30 and will be unlocked after you notify me that you’ve downloaded and installed the new Acquisition Station.

Stay Tuned!

posted by Kay at 2:25 pm | Comments (0)

August 9, 2006

Digital Past Upgrade Schedule Announced

Digital Past (www.digitalpast.org) which has been running on the OCLC CONTENTdm software package will be upgraded to the newest version of CONTENTdm at the end of August. The new version offers improved handling of compound documents, statistics by collection, and a more user-friendly interface for users and contributors. With the new implementation, participating institutions will now have control over their Digital Past home page which will allow for a more fluid and personalized page.

During the upgrade, we ask for your patience and understanding. The site will remain accessible the entire time, but participants will not be able to upload/change/delete items on the server. The lock out period will begin August 28th and will end September 5th. More information will be distributed to participants on the Digitize listserv. If you participate in the project and are not the listserv, we strongly recommend that you join. If you are interested in joining Digital Past or have any questions about the upgrade, listserv or program, please contact me…

posted by Kay at 4:31 pm | Comments (0)

May 25, 2006

Bound By Law - Copyright

In case you haven’t heard about “Tales from the Public Domain: Bound by Law?” from Duke University, I thought I would pass it on! This is a very gentle introduction to copyright law and the public domain - it’s in comic book form! The full book is available online for your reading pleasure, or you can order copies of it for a minimal fee. Pages 10-11 have a very nice chart that outlines what is/isn’t in the public domain. For all of you who’ve asked me about this, I now refer you to here! Have a good time!

posted by Kay at 10:08 am | Comments (0)

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