Sailing the Digital Serial Seas: Charting a New Course with CONTENTdm
Eve GrünbergFrancesca Francis
State Library of North Carolina
NASIG 2013
Mandate of the Library and advent of digital publications
Finding a digital content (or asset) management system
Different types of digital serials and how we work with them
Challenges and expectations “Sailing” ahead
The Manifest
The Library’s mandate: Manage and preserve state publications, respectively, in all formats for permanent public access and maintain a permanent depository collection of all printed state documents North Carolina State Documents Depository
System (est. 1987) = Clearinghouse + depository libraries
Identify, collect, process, distribute, provide access
Background
2003 – 60%+ state government information born digital
Need a way to manage digital content Digital Management Program (DIMP) study
CONTENTdm Qualified Dublin Core Automated metadata crosswalking Customization Digital Archive for preservation
Digital pubs, ho!
Trial period: October 2006-February 2007 We bought and designed the ship
(but are renting the dock…)
The (pre-)maiden voyage
Readying the ship
Guidelines: Digital Collection Development Digitization Priorities General Metadata Metadata for Serials Preservation Metadata Preservation and File Format
http://digital.ncdcr.gov/cdm/about
Connexion Digital Import (i.e. CDI) = MARC (Connexion) Qualified Dublin Core (CONTENTdm)
Serials Multiple digital file upload Single reference URL Structure (“parent” & “children”)
Handling the cargo
How received: PDF (from agencies or converted) Routine searching
How inventoried: Digital database PinPoint Hash
CINCH does both! http://cinch.nclive.org/Cinch/CINCHdocumentation.pdf
Final prep: Renaming (using guidelines; unique, for
preservation) Move to cataloging
Cargo type #1: Born digital
Start in MARC CDI feature – attach the digital object Crosswalk from MARC to Qualified Dublin
Core – digital object (w/ metadata) “drops” into CONTENTdm
Serials editing Edit metadata of parent approve index Edit metadata of children approve index
Transporting from Connexion to CONTENTdm
CDI feature in Connexion
Serial record (Project Client view)
Parent
Children
Serial record (public view)
Parent
Children
As compared to monographic record (public view)
Library digitizes many of its own publications (including serials)
Identify publications digitized In house Internet Archive
Cargo type #2: Digitized serials
DIMP/Internet Archive workflow
DIMP (Library)
Internet Archive
Digitization
Titles & MARC
records
Additional data (Z39.50 protocol
) Grab metadat
a & objects
Load object with metadata thru Project Client
Serial record
Large serial files are treated as monographs (serial structure not created) Digitized files typically larger Some documents are thousands of pages long Loading times are too long, can freeze
Solution: Load as single items (individual compound objects w/ full
metadata) Add extra metadata field (serial title) to collocate Issue identifying information (i.e. year) added to title Special link to search results of all issues in serial title
Oversized cargo
Serials as monographs (public view)
Serial structure (parent and children) also used for collection level records
Collections: Have collective research value, but may not be
worth cataloging alone (i.e. ephemeral) Share subject and/or agency information, other
natural relationships May or may not have a collective title
Miscellaneous cargo
Collection level record
Anchoring serials during title changes
Digital materials tied to records Throwing traditional title changes overboard
New records for title changes as usual in MARC Single record approach in digital collection
Add all OCLC numbers, all titles (in other title field) on all records associated
Same link on all MARC records associated Exceptions: major changes to serial (i.e. title
merged/separated, agency shift, content/focus)
Our experience and feedback has shown us that it is very difficult for the patrons to see the relationships and understand the records if we use a multiple records approach to show the serial title changes
When you think about your physical collection, the serials sit together seamlessly on the shelf regardless of the title change; and so by using a one-record approach, digital serials can “sit together” in the digital collection
WHY???
Serial title changes
Creating serial records is a multi-step and complex process
The index runs in the background…or does it? Approving large files (the sea monsters of the
collection) Coordinating workflows with others Deleting/replacing serial issues, or: whoops, we
broke the structure Turning monographs into serials
Riding the waves: Challenges with CONTENTdm
Smoother-running approval and indexing Ability to handle secure and large files like
other files Better search engine: the white whale
Relevant results Alphabetical/chronological order
How much cargo can this ship hold? Finding the limits of an “unlimited” collection (and patching the leaks)
Sailing ahead: Our wish list
http://ncgovdocs.org/
Sail to our port!
Contact information
Eve Grünberg, State Documents Cataloger
Francesca Francis, Assistant State Documents Cataloger
Questions? Comments?
