What are the best practices and planning for a digitization project? How can your staff gain the skills needed to launch or maintain a digital project and what are the implications of launching a long term digital preservation system in your organization? Get the answers to these questions and more below.

Contents: Resources | Courses and Learning | Community | What could I do with…? | What’s New RSS Feed

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Resources

Best Practices and Planning for Digitization Projects

• The success of a project is generally in proportion to the time spent in planning the project. To help you avoid some of the pitfalls here are some recommendations and resources for planning a digital imaging project.
• Path: [Library Services » Technical Services » Digitization & Preservation]

Competencies for Preservation

• Preservation covers a wide range of activities: repairing the physical damage to well-used materials; transforming physical materials into digital format; or preserving the historic record or other notable resource collections. Use this list to help your staff achieve competency.
• Path: [Library Services » Technical Services » Digitization & Preservation]

Book Repair Videos

• Students at UNC have created three short videos: a pam folder procedure, tip-in procedure, and four-flap enclosures.  It’s much easier to learn from what you see and hear than to read and follow diagrams and wonder if you’re doing it right
• Path: [Library Services » Technical Services » Digitization & Preservation]

Glossary of Scanning and Digital Imaging Terms

• Alyce Scott  from the Illinois State Library helps explain some of the most common and confusing terms used in digitization projects.
• Path: [Library Services » Technical Services » Digitization & Preservation]

Bite-Size Digital History Webinar

• Learn to use Microsoft PhotoStory 3 to create digital history documentaries in this recorded webinar.
• [Library Services » Technical Services » Digitization & Preservation]

Digital Illinois

• Visit this WJIL page under the Featured Statewide Initiatives to find out more about digitization projects in Illinois including a “Descriptive Survey of Illinios Digital Collections.”
• [Illinois Center » Featured Statewide Initiatives » Digital Illinois]

Courses and Learning

Capturing History: Digitization Projects

• Computers have been around for a generation, now, and a lot of matierial is available through digital media. However, there is still a lot of valuable information left to be digitized. This tutorial covers the basics of scanning and will improve your understanding of the issues involved with digitization projects, including copyright issues, equipment, terms, funding. So, before breaking out the scanners, spend a couple of hours reviewing what you need to know in order to make your digitization project a success

All courses listed above are free to eligible and registered users of WJIL.

Community

Digitization and Preservation Symposium, August 25, 1:00 – 3:00 pm CT

Join colleagues for a two-hour symposium that will feature four presentations on current trends and practical approaches to library digitization and preservation projects. Guest panelists will address:

• Designing a digital preservation system using a framework that includes all stakeholders, from library administrators to archivists to IT workers to vendors.
• The difference between access and preservation tools, and why we need to consider both.
• Harvesting social networking websites for preservation.
• The organizational “long-view” of preservation resources, technology, costs and policies.

What Could I do with…Digitization Learning Opportunities”?

Have you always wanted your library to get involved in digitization but were unsure of how to begin or what you need to know?  Use the WJIL learning opportunities listed above to jump start your digitization experience. Enroll in the free WJIL course Capturing History: Digitization Projects and learn a bit about the basics of scanning then register and plan to attend the Digitization and Preservation Synposium to find out more about the long view of the technology, costs and policies associated with a digitization and preservation program.

WebJunction is hosting a two-hour symposium that will feature four presentations on current trends and practical approaches to library digitization and preservation projects. Guest panelists will address:

• Designing a digital preservation system using a framework that includes all stakeholders, from library administrators to archivists to IT workers to vendors.
• The difference between access and preservation tools, and why we need to consider both.
• Harvesting social networking websites for preservation.
• The organizational “long-view” of preservation resources, technology, costs and policies.

Panelists include:

• Sarai Lastra, Vice Chancellor of Information Resources/Director of Virtual Library at Universidad del Turabo, Puerto Rico.
• Sarah McHugh, Statewide Projects Librarian, Montana State Library, including Montana Memory Project.
• Amy Rudersdorf, Director of the Digital Information Management Program, State Library of North Carolina and lecturer at San Jose State University, School of Library & Information Science.
• Taylor Surface, Senior Product Manager, Digital Collection Services, OCLC

Click on the following link to sign up for the event:

Digitization and Preservation Symposium

Prepare and Respond: Partnering with Local Emergency Management, Tuesday August 3, 1:00 – 2:00 pm CT

Libraries are looking for ways to be better prepared for disaster response and recovery. Join guest presenter Lauren Mandel, research coordinator at the Information Use Management & Policy Institute at Florida State University’s College of Communication and Information, as she introduces a new key service role, Get to Know Your Emergency Operations Center (EOC), to the existing Hurricane Preparedness & Response for Florida Public Libraries Project. The Florida-based project helps libraries throughout the U.S. serve their communities through partnerships with fellow responders (e.g., emergency management, local government and other agencies) and become a safe haven, recovery center, information hub and evacuee resource. Come learn how this project can inform your library’s disaster preparedness plan and how your library can play an important role in community preparedness and recovery by working with your EOC.

Helping Job Seekers: Using Electronic Tools, Wednesday August 11, 1:00 – 3:30 pm CT

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) invests in resources and services to support national and local workforce development needs. ETA staff will join us for a 90-minute webinar to provide an overview of the public workforce system and present the electronic tools most helpful to library staff who assist unemployed workers. Attendees will learn how to direct patrons to the right tools for their needs and to find local Workforce System partners. The presentation will also include an online tour of the O*NET System, CareerOneStop.org and America’s Service Locator and including Occupational Crosswalks, job search/resume preparation and State Job Banks and Labor Market Information.

Digitization and Preservation Symposium, Wednesday August 25, 1:00 – 3:00 pm CT

WebJunction is hosting a two-hour symposium that will feature four presentations on current trends and practical approaches to library digitization and preservation projects.

Our guest panelists will address:

• Designing a digital preservation system using a framework that includes all stakeholders, from library administrators to archivists to IT workers to vendors.
• The difference between access and preservation tools, and why we need to consider both.
•  Harvesting social networking websites for preservation.
• The organizational “long-view” of preservation resources, technology, costs and policies.

Panelists include:

• Sarai Lastra, Vice Chancellor of Information Resources/Director of Virtual Library at Universidad del Turabo, Puerto Rico.
• Sarah McHugh, Statewide Projects Librarian, Montana State Library, including Montana Memory Project.
• Amy Rudersdorf, Director of the Digital Information Management Program, State Library of North Carolina and lecturer at San Jose State University, School of Library & Information Science.
• Taylor Surface, Senior Product Manager, Digital Collection Services, OCLC.

For more information on all WJ webinars visit L2.

At this point we are still migrating IDA collections and integrating them with the Digital Past collections in CONTENTdm version 5.3.1. We know that there are several collections that have problems. We will be working with the collection owners to resolve those problems over the next few months.

November 13, 1909 began like most days in the St. Paul Mine as approximately 481 men and boys climbed into the wooden cage that carried them down into the mine. The electrical system which lighted the tunnels was out of order, as it had been the past few weeks, so they were lit by kerosene torches that hung from the walls. There were about 40 mules working in the mine that day and after the workers finished lunch, around 12:30, the mine manager order six bundles of hay to be sent down to the mule stables. The car containing the hay was sent down to the second level and from there it was pushed toward the stables by Robert Deans and 15-year-old Matt Francesco. As they gave the car a final push toward the stables it rolled to a stop near the downward shaft. What they did not see, as they walked back to the main cage, was that the hay stacked high in the car was directly under one of the kerosene torches and soon caught on fire.

So began one of the worst coal mining disasters in U. S. history. In the end 259 men and boys perished, in spite of heroic rescue attempts. Only 20 men were rescued. They had walled themselves off (to avoid the “black damp” , the mixture of unbreathable gases that form when oxygen is removed from an enclosed atmosphere) 500 feet underground. They spent eight harrowing days in complete darkness with only a pool of water that trickled from a coal seam to drink.

On November 14-15, 2009 the Village of Cherry will commemorate the 100th anniversary of this tragic event. On their website about the disaster, The Illinois Labor History Society has provided information about the commemoration:

This November 14-15, the Village of Cherry will commemorate the disaster and the miners.  A full weekend of ceremonies is planned, free and open to the public.
On both days, there will be walking and trolley tours of the town, mine site and cemetery.  Videos on labor topics are scheduled, along with displays and genealogical workshops.  On Saturday, November 14, a new monument will be dedicated at Cherry’s Village Hall.  Chicago Fire Fighters’ Local 2’s color guard will lead the procession to the dedication.  In 1909, Chicago fire fighters came to Cherry to help extinguish the blaze.  Preceding the dedication, labor musician Bucky Halker will sing coal mining and labor songs.

Confirmed speakers for the dedication include Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael Carrigan, United Mine Workers Vice-President Steve Earl, Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson, State Senator Gary Dahl and State Representative Frank Mautino.  Confirmation is still pending on other speakers.

On Sunday, November 15, the tours and displays will continue. At 11:45 a.m., people will gather at the Cherry Grade School.  For many years it was traditional for Cherry children to march to the cemetery on the disaster’s anniversary.  After a march to the cemetery, there will be speeches from Italian representatives.  Many of the immigrant miners who died were recent arrivals to the U.S. from Italy.   Speakers include Italian Consul General Alessandro Motta, Charles Bernardini, immediate past-president of the Italian-American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest – Chicago; and Silvia Bartolini, President of Emilia-Romagna Citizens Abroad.

Cherry is on Route 89, about five miles north of I-80, in Bureau County.  The small village has kept alive the story of the workers who never came home.

For More Information about The Cherry Mine Disaster:

Eight Days in a Burning Mine

The narrative of Thomas White, who was trapped in the mine with nineteen others, as told to The World Magazine in 1911.

(Source: U. S. Department of Labor, Mine Safety & Health Administration)

Report on the Cherry Mine Disaster

In 1910 the Illinois Bureau of Labor Statistics compiled a complete report on the Cherry Mine Disaster. It includes the story of the disaster; information about the miners who were killed (including their country of origin, families and children); the public response to the disaster; details of the settlement with the St. Paul Coal  Company.

(Source: Illinois Digital Archives)

Tragedy in November: the Cherry Mine Disaster

Article in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, v.72, no.1

(Source: Illinois Digital Archives)

Stout, Steve. Black Damp: the story of the Cherry mining disaster. Utica, Ill. : Utica House Pub. Co., 1979

Pauley, Jeffrey W. The Cherry Mine disaster and its impact on state and federal legislation. Thesis (M.A.)–Illinois State University, 1995

Tintori, Karen. Trapped: the 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster. New York : Atria Books, 2003

Image Source: Flickr.com

Imagine the world in 1904:

“The Wright Brothers’ famous flight at Kitty Hawk occurred the previous year. Gasoline-powered automobiles, motion pictures, and the “wonder drug” aspirin were introduced to the public only 10 years before. Electric lighting and telephones were less than 25 years old, and still a novelty only read about by most Americans. Food was stored in ice boxes, and the horse-drawn ice wagon was a familiar site.

But from Opening Day – April 30, 1904 – to the closing ceremonies on December 1st of that same year, the St. Louis World’s Fair played host to nearly 20 million visitors, who witnessed the public debut of air conditioning, were able to ice skate throughout the entire summer, and spoke by wireless telegraph to cities 1500 mile away. In addition, they could “see the world”: from the Tyrolean Alps to the jungles of the Philippines; from the gardens of Japan to the holy sites of Jerusalem; from Southwestern pueblos to Eskimo villages. And all within the 1240 acres of the fair.” (Source: Meet Me At the Fair)

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, also known as the St. Louis World’s Fair of 1904, was designed to celebrate the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase. According to the Report of the Illinois Commission it was “…an exposition of the progress of the world’s industries, arts, sciences and civilization to date, but more particularly an exposition of the progress of the American States which are part of the Purchase, and of their neighbors.” This report gives – in detail – the work of the commission, including reports of committees in charge of the exhibits in the Illinois Building at the Fair.

Examples of images in the Report:

Page 124: The busts of Abraham Lincoln and U.S. Grant, in butter. Could this be the inspiration for the Illinois State Fair tradition of the butter cow?

Page 78: The Illinois State Seal, made from grains and grasses.

More Images from the Fair:

An Official Souvenir Postcard
(Source: http://genealogyinstlouis.accessgenealogy.com/1904.htm)

Cover of the sheet music for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition March
(Source: National Museum of American History, Archives Center)

For more information about the Louisiana Purchase Exposition:

Websites:

1904 World’s Fair, The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St Louis, Missouri, 1904

The 1904 World’s Fair: Looking Back at Looking Forward – Missouri Historical Society

At the Fair: The Grandness of the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair

Progress Made Visible: Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 1904 – University of Delaware Library, Special Collections Department

Postcards of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition St. Louis, Missouri, 1904

Meet me At the Fair

Bibliography:

Bennitt, Mark. History of the Louisiana purchase exposition, comprising the history of the Louisiana territory, the story of the Louisiana purchase and a full account of the great exposition, embracing the participation of the states and nations of the world, and other events of the St. Louis world’s fair of 1904; comp. from official sources by Mark Bennitt, editor-in-chief … Frank Parker Stockbridge, managing editor … with an introduction by Walter B. Stevens … Illustrated under direction of Edgar M. Dilley with more than four thousand engravings; Saint Louis, Universal exposition publishing company, 1905.

Hendershott, Robert L. The 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair: the Louisiana Purchase Exposition mementos and memorabilia; Iola, Wis. : Kurt R. Krueger Pub., c1994.

Parker Engraving Company. Ground plan of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Mo., 1904; St. Louis : Buxton & Skinner, Stationery Co., c1904.

Roosevelt, Theodore. Address of President Roosevelt upon the occasion of the opening of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, April 30th, 1903
New York, Cincinnati, etc., American Book Company, 1904

First celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882 in New York City, the holiday was not celebrated on the first Monday in September until 1884.  The idea of a “workingman’s holiday’ grew with the development of labor unions and by 1894 twenty-nine states had adopted the holiday.

Some highlights of labor history in Illinois:

(Source: Chronology of Illinois Labor History: UIUC) http://www.library.illinois.edu/irx/chronology.htm

March 1867 – an act making eight hours a legal day’s work was passed.

May 4, 1886 – Haymarket protest meeting at which a bomb was thrown, killing 8 police officers and wounding about 65 other persons.

1894 – The Pullman strike

Workers at Pullman Car Company strike over wage cuts. American Railway Union called general railroad strike in sympathy. President Cleveland sent federal troops to Chicago in defiance of Governor Altgeld.

November 1905 – The Industrial Workers of the World was founded in Chicago.

1909 – Ten hour day law for women passed.

1929 – Children required to complete elementary grades before going to work.

1943 – Equal Pay for Women Act passed.

IDA collections with labor history materials:

Pullman State Historic Site

Southeast Chicago Historical Society

More information on Labor Day and Labor in Illinois:

Websites:

The History of Labor Day – U.S. Department of Labor

http://www.dol.gov/OPA/ABOUTDOL/LABORDAY.HTM

Labor Day Information and Resources: USA.gov

http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Labor_Day.shtml

Labor Day: History.com

http://www.history.com/content/laborday

(Includes a picture gallery and videos)

Oral History Project in Labor History: Roosevelt University

http://www2.roosevelt.edu/library/oralhistory/oralhistory.htm

Illinois Labor History Society

http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/

Chronology – Illinois Labor History

http://www.library.illinois.edu/irx/chronology.htm

Bibliography:

Matejka, Michael G. Fiery struggle : Illinois fire fighters build a union, 1901-1985. Chicago : Illinois Labor History Society, c2002.

Newton-Matza, Mitchell. Intelligent and honest radicals: the Chicago Federation of Labor and the Illinois legal system, 1919-1933. Thesis/Dissertation: Thesis (Ph. D.–Hist.)–Catholic University of America, 1999.

Orear, Les, and Orear, Linn. Chicago’s packinghouse workers: their story. Chicago, IL: Illinois Labor History Society, c2004.

Scipes, Steven R. “Kim”. Trade union development and racial oppression in Chicago’s steel and meatpacking industries, 1933-1955. Thesis/Dissertation: Thesis (Ph. D.)–University of Illinois at Chicago, 2003.

Stein, R. Conrad. The Pullman strike and the labor movement in American history. Series: In American history. Berkeley Heights, NJ, USA : Enslow Publishers, c2001.

In 1909 occupational diseases were a growing concern. The preliminary investigations of the Commission on Occupational Diseases found that workers in occupations as varied as the metal industries, mining, leatherworks, mills and bakeries, woodworking, distilleries and others were exposed to working conditions and toxic substances that all had a damaging effect on their health. The members of the Commission reported “It is well known that much of the sickness and mortality now caused by various trades are not fated or necessary. Much of the evil can be prevented or mitigated by methods already known to science and embodied in the best regulations and laws….We do well to conserve the force of steam and mine, but the health and vigor of our people deserve much more attention and care.” Governor Deneen agreed that this important work had only just begun and asked for appropriations to continue the work of the Commission.

This report discusses the branches of industry in which “conditions deleterious to the health of the workers has been found to prevail”. It outlines some of the dangers to which workmen were exposed and offers suggestions for improvement of those conditions and led to the 1911 report.

The 1911 Report contains the findings of the Commission, after an investigation that lasted a little over nine months. The list of industrial poisons that workers were exposed to is quite extensive. While the report is quite eye-opening, one of the Commission members, Dr. Alice Hamilton, was a historic figure of great interest.

Dr. Alice Hamilton (1869-1970), physician, social reformer and a pioneer in the field of industrial toxicology in the United States was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana on February 27, 1869. Her sister was the well-known classics scholar and author Edith Hamilton. In 1893 she received her medical degree from the University of Michigan. Following internships in Minneapolis and Boston she did post-doctoral work at the Universities of Munich and Leipzig in Germany, at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, and at John Hopkins University in Baltimore. She was appointed professor of pathology at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 1897.

In 1902 she accepted a position as bacteriologist at the Memorial Institute for Infectious Diseases in Chicago. During the typhoid fever epidemic in Chicago that same year when she made a connection between improper disposal of sewage and the role of flies in transmitting the disease her findings led to a reorganization of the Chicago Health Department. Dr. Hamilton became director of the Occupational Disease Commission when Governor Charles Deneen created it in 1910. She noted the health problems of many of the immigrant poor workers were due to the unsafe conditions to which they were exposed while working. With no laws regulating safety at work, employers routinely fired ill workers and replaced them with new ones. The Occupational Disease Commission was the first commission of its type in the world and led to several workers’ compensation laws being passed in Illinois. This important report contains the findings of the Commission.

Dr. Hamilton lived and worked for nearly a decade Chicago’s Hull House (a settlement house in the middle of Chicago’s working class slums, where social activists lived and worked for progressive causes). Her friendship there with reformer Jane Addams sparked her interest in what was then called “occupational disease”. Focusing her scientific research skills on industrial diseases, she became a special investigator for the United States Bureau of Labor in 1911. By 1916 she had become a leading American authority on lead poisoning and one of the handful of worldwide specialists on industrial diseases. Her reports on lead, and later on rubber and munitions, led to improved safety standards nationwide.

She went on to become the first woman on the faculty of Harvard University in 1919 and later its first professor of public health.  During the course of her long career, Hamilton published numerous studies on industrial toxicology, several books, and an autobiography.

Alice Hamilton died on September 22, 1970, in Hadlyme, Connecticut.

Image: Alice Hamilton during her first year at harvard, 1919.

Image Source:The Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University

For more information about Dr. Alice Hamilton:

Websites:

Video from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

Alice Hamilton and the Development of Occupational Medicine

Alice Hamilton Collection: An inventory of the collection at the University of Illinois at Chicago

Alice Hamilton, M.D.

Alice Hamilton (1869-1970), Physician, Public Health reformer

Changing the face of Medicine: Biography: Dr. Alice Hamilton

Chemical Achievers: The Human Face of the Chemical Sciences: Alice Hamilton

Pashaei, Fatima. “Remembering Alice Hamilton.” Job Safety and Health Quarterly (JSHQ) volume 13, no. 3, Spring 2002

Women in Chemistry: Alice Hamilton

Bibliography:

Hamilton A. Exploring the dangerous trades: the autobiography of Alice Hamilton, MD. Boston: Little, Brown, 1943.

Sicherman, Barbara. Alice Hamilton. Alice Hamilton: A Life in Letters. Harvard University Press, 1984. Second publishing- University of Illinois Press, 2003.

Governor’s Special Message Transmitting the Report of the Commission on Occupational Diseases, April 1909

Report of Commission on Occupational Diseases to His Excellency Governor Charles Deneen, 1911

Originating in 1861 as a privately published roster of legislators, the Blue Book has evolved into a historical publication complete with biographies, articles, illustrative photographs and helpful information for Illinois citizens. Recent issues of the Blue Book also include lists of toll-free state telephone numbers and updated listings for Illinois news media – including contact information.

This collection, from the Illinois State Library, contains keyword/subject searchable versions of the Illinois Blue Book (1900-present).

If your library would like to get involved in a digitization project, find out more about the Illinois State Library Digital Imaging Program.

The project debuted June 29th with an online conference. A recording of the event is available at
http://www.atlaspodcasts.org/webcast-2009-06/ .

The Cullom-Davis Library at Bradley University will serve as the first partner library to produce additional podcasts on Illinois history to be added to the site. They were involved in the first set of ten podcasts, providing the material for the five from Peoria. At the heart of the ATLAS project are digital images of historic people, places, documents and objects. The images are combined with audio descriptions and placed on a map of Illinois to produce an engaging new interactive learning model for libraries and their customers.

The project began with ten short high-quality podcasts about nineteenth century Illinois and famous women from the first hundred years of statehood. Produced in association with LearningTimes, each podcast spotlights a specific person or topic area. ATLAS visitors are able to mouse over a city in Illinois and select a story of interest, featuring engaging commentary and information. A searchable database allows users to search sound files, narratives and photographs. The programs may be enjoyed right from the ATLAS site, or downloaded to a portable audio player.

The ATLAS site will support dozens of additional podcasts. To encourage continued growth and wide participation, LearningTimes trained over 50 librarians from all over the state to produce their own podcasts. Based on the popular LearningTimes program “Producing Great Audio and Video Podcasts,” these online workshops offered concrete approaches for bringing each of the elements of a great podcast together. Participants learned the practical skills and techniques they need to produce high-quality, highly engaging audio and video podcasts. Participants are expected to share two images relating to Illinois history and additional podcast modules which will become part of the project website.

“We are thrilled to introduce this exciting new tool to the library community” said Kitty Pope, ALS Executive Director.  “As we dig our way out of this recession, Central Illinois libraries are embracing their new role as the one community organization that crosses all boundaries and creates a forum to work together. I believe ATLAS will highlight this emerging role and build a bridge for inter-agency cooperation. I can see libraries working with a whole new group of folks on this project, from the small business to historic sites and recreational facilities, the opportunities for creating podcasts to add to the map are endless. This is a great project, for these challenging times.”

“We are delighted to be the first library partner in this exciting historical project and have a lot of wonderful material to contribute,” stated Barbara Galik, Director of the Cullom-Davis Library at Bradley University. “Our Access Services Librarian, Skip Burhans, will work with students to research selected topics, choose images, and write and produce podcasts for the site.”

LearningTimes CEO John Walber added: “We are honored to participate in this unique program. ATLAS enabled us to combine our skills in online community development, podcast production and training, and map-based podcasting, with the great stories of Illinois heroes. We hope this is just the beginning of a great and expanding future for the ATLAS collection.”

To participate in upcoming ATLAS events, join the ATLAS google group at http://groups.google.com/group/AllianceATLAS?lnk=gcimv

The ATLAS project was funded through a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant from the Illinois State Library, a division of the Office of Secretary of State. 

Article courtesy of ALS