Digital Archives and Digital Archives and Institutional RepositoriesInstitutional Repositories

A Sabbatical ReportA Sabbatical Report

Dorothy ByersEngineering Library

June 13, 2005

Three purposesThree purposes

1. Investigate USC Digital Archives and use of Documentum, contemplated for use at OhioLINK’s Digital Resource Commons (DRC)

2. Prepare a pilot engineering repository with state-wide potential on DRC

3. Set the story straight on Joseph B. Strauss, Chief Engineer of Golden Gate Bridge and UC graduate

1. USC and Documentum1. USC and Documentum

Worked in metadata group at USC October-December 2004

Prepared metadata for photo archives Attended meetings of teams working on

migration from home-grown legacy system to Documentum

Reported difficulties with the migration to OhioLINK

2. Institutional repositories2. Institutional repositories

Studied MIT’s DSpace in depth October 04 and February 05

Visited CalTech and CODA team in December 04

Prepared proposal for OhioLINK’s DRC to house tech reports of UC’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department

Now waiting while OhioLINK develops the DRC using Fedora in lieu of Documentum

Will advise DRC during development

3. Joseph B. Strauss3. Joseph B. Strauss

Conducted research about Strauss– Cincinnati Historical Society– American Jewish Archive– Stanford Archives– Berkeley Archives (Water Resources

and also Environmental Design)Began web site about Strauss

3. Strauss cont.3. Strauss cont.

Web site about Strauss– Correct false information recently

published (re credentials)PBS American Experience DVD Golden

Gate Bridge“Case of the missing engineer” article

– Shed light on Strauss separate from the Golden Gate Bridge

What was learned?What was learned?

Digital archives – takes VERY sophisticated staff and equipment– open access software may be worth the effort

Institutional repositories (IR)– Simple systems lack

searching across collectionsability to manage wide variety of mediaobject-to-object relationship definitionsHarvesting capabilities

What was learned cont.What was learned cont.

Institutional repositories cont.– Complex systems

Require manpowerAre costly, especially if proprietaryOpen access seems most promising

– Metadata are all-important– Require some PR

For departments to participateFor patrons to benefit

What was learned cont.What was learned cont.

Joseph B. Strauss web site– Initial attempt to use Dreamweaver– How to mount various types of materials– Tricks of the trade in doing archival research

and documenting findings– Facts about Strauss

Civil Engineering curriculum verified in UC course bulletins

Taught at UC, verified in UC Board minutesWas active during time he was reported “missing”

from the GGB site

What next?What next?

Institutional repository– Build engineering repository at OhioLINK’s

DRC– Encourage engineering colleages state-wide to

participate Strauss research

– Expand web site– DREAM: get grant to create digital archive of

primary materials relating to Strauss, requiring collaboration among many institutions

Sites to viewSites to view

USC Digital Archive – http://digarc.usc.edu:8089/

Institutional repositories– MIT’s Dspace

https://dspace.mit.edu/index.jsp– CalTech’s CODA

http://library.caltech.edu/digital/– OhioLINK’s DMC (existing Digital Media Center)

http://dmc.ohiolink.edu/– OhioLINK’s DRC development pages (expansion of the

DMC) http://drc-dev.ohiolink.edu/wiki

Sites to view contSites to view cont

Fedora, IR open access software– http://www.fedora.info/

Strauss web site (under construction)– http://www.engrlib.uc.edu/strauss

My sabbatical blog– http://dfbdas.blogspot.com

Sabbatical: Digital Archives and Institutional RepositoriesSabbatical: Digital Archives and Institutional RepositoriesDorothy F. Byers, Engineering LibraryDorothy F. Byers, Engineering Library

My sabbatical blog: http://dfbdas.blogspot.com USC Digital Archive: http://digarc.usc.edu:8089/ Institutional repositories

– MIT’s Dspace: https://dspace.mit.edu/index.jsp– CalTech’s CODA: http://library.caltech.edu/digital/– OhioLINK’s DMC (existing Digital Media Center):

http://dmc.ohiolink.edu/– OhioLINK’s DRC development pages (expansion of the DMC):

http://drc-dev.ohiolink.edu/wiki Fedora, IR open access software: http://www.fedora.info/ Strauss web site (under construction): http://www.engrlib.uc.edu/strauss

Dorothy.Byers@uc.edu513-556-33526/2005