creating content: smithsonian institution libraries' digital library program
DESCRIPTION
Creating Content: Smithsonian Institution Libraries' Digital Library Program. Martin R. Kalfatovic. Special Topics in Librarianship / The Catholic University of America, School of Library and Information Science. Class Lecture. July 31, 2007. Washington, DC.TRANSCRIPT
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
Creating ContentSmithsonian Institution Libraries'
Digital Library ProgramMartin R. Kalfatovic
New Media Office and Preservation Services
Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
Overview of Library Digitizing
• Books are unique objects for scanning purposes
• Differ from 2 dimensional works (e.g. Photographs)
• Differ from 3 dimensional works (e.g. Artifacts)
• Codex has been around for over 1600 years
• The book format (title page, text, index, etc.) since the mid-16th century
• Web delivery of book objects
has interesting challenges
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
Book Digitizing Process
• Bound materials– Quality issues– Protects the material
for future use
• Disbound materials– Generally better scans– Destructive
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
SIL Imaging Center
• Established 1999
• 2 digital scanning-back cameras– BetterLight– Phase I
• Flatbed scanners
• All Mac-based
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
• SIL has used a variety of commercial vendors for non- and semi-rare materials– Kirtas Technologies
(Robotic APT 2400 Scanner)
– Preservation Resources– PTFS, Inc.– JJT– TechBooks
Digitizing Vendors
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
Digitizing Partners
Internet Archive HQSan Francisco
Internet ArchiveScribe Book Scanner
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
Digitizing Standards: Page Images
DLF Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials
300 dpi, 24-bit color uncompressed TIFF, or lossless compressed images (e.g. LZW, JPEG2000)
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
Digitizing Standards: Text Conversion
Re-keying or OCR with correction to 99.997% accuracy
Standard mark-up schema (e.g. flavors of XML like TEI or structured databases)
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
SIL Digitizing Statistics• Approximately
350,000 scanned pages
• 700+ titles
• 1,100 volumes
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
Who Is Using the SIL Digital Library?
• Sewing machine enthusiasts
• Researchers in Brazil• School kids around
the country• Lepidopterists in Peru
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
Major Projects: Digital Editions• History of Science• Natural History• History and Culture• Art and Design
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
Major Projects: Trade Literature
• Trade Literature Collections– Over 500,000 pieces,
only a small fraction digitized
– 30,000 images from two collections
– Among SI Libraries’ most popular sites with over 15,000 visitors per month
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
Major Projects: Image Galaxy
• SIL Image Galaxy– Over 9,000 of SI Libraries’
most interesting images– Serves as a gateway for
product development and licensing
– Assists students and teachers in locating images for use in the classroom and other projects
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
Major Projects: Scholarly Publications
• Smithsonian Contributions and Studies Series– Collaboration with
Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press
– Currently over 65,000 pages online with another 80,000 in FY 2007
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
National and International Partnerships
• Aluka– African history
and culture
• Open Content Alliance
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
Internet Archive Scribe Scanner
• Single Scribe Machine– Human operated– 200 volumes per
shift per week– ~ 70,000 pages from
a single machine per week
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
BHL Scribe Facilities• Boston Library Consortium
(Boston Public Library)• New York Public Library• University of Illinois, Urbana-
Champaign• Natural History Museum
(London)• Smithsonian Inst. Libraries• Missouri Botanical Garden
(non-Scribe operation)
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
Digitizing Philosophy
• Digital Curation– Just as libraries keep
books, so do libraries have a mission to preserve “born digital” material
– Digital Preservation through assisting in the transmission of digital content to future generations
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
Smithsonian Digital Repository
• DSpace– Developed jointly by
MIT and HP
– Open source software used in hundreds of academic libraries
– Preserves and makes available digital output of scientists, researchers, curators, historians, etc.
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
Needs for Enhancing the SIL Digital Library Program
• Petabyte storage system for source files
• Effective system for archiving of digital material (byte preservation)
• Enhanced capacity for storing/delivering web-deliverable images
• Central programming support for enhanced XML data delivery
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries
Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Special Topics in Librarianship / CUA School of Library and Information ScienceJuly 31, 2007 / Smithsonian Institution
Martin R. KalfatovicSmithsonian Institution Libraries