Digitization of Rare Book Collections

For my class on collection development, I am writing a paper about digitization of rare resources. As part of the assignment, we are required to write up a brief summary of the progress of our research. Rather than do it in .doc form, I chose to post it here as part of my blog.

Benefits of Digitization

One of the major benefits of digitization of rare resources is increased use. Peter B. Hirtle, in his article "The Impact of Digitization on Special Collections", cites increased use as the primary benefit. He says that before digitization efforts were commenced at Cornell University, certain rare books were only viewed a few hundred times a year. Since these books have been first digitized and then enhanced with searchable text via the Making of America Project, this number has gone up to about 5,000 views a day. A great number of people who previously would not have access to these materials now have access to them. The fact that they are available free and on the open web (link is at the bottom of this entry) makes them amazingly accessible to the general public.

Another related benefit is that of access being granted to new types of users. Materials previously only used by academic researchers are now available to the general public. Hirtle cites the example of writers of the Oxford English Dictionary using Cornell's Making of America Project for their research, when initially it was intended for American Studies scholars. Similarly, Anne J. Gilliland-Swetland discusses in "An Exploration of K-12 User Needs for Digital Primary Source Materials" the exciting possibility of using digitized primary source materials in the K-12 classroom.

Finally, digitization has the benefit of preserving the materials in question. For very fragile materials, digitization may limit handling. Some people really just need the text in question and therefore the digitized version may be acceptable. This saves the original from unnecessary handling.

Risks of Digitization

Digitization does have its risks. Although it decreases handling, which is beneficial for preservation, handling is required in order to perform the digitization process. The process itself, if not carried out correctly, can damage the original. In the article "Scan Locally, Access Globally" by Daniel DeSimone, the Library of Congress's digitization efforts are discussed. DeSimone describes the story of a French researcher, Pierre-Jean Raimond, who requested a digital copy be made of the 12th century manuscript "Exposicio mistica super exodum" in order to aid his research. This sparked discussion among the different branches of the library of congress about whether digitization would degrade the source material and how to avoid this. Ultimately, the rare books librarians and scan lab worked together to come up with a plan for digitization which preserved the manuscript's integrity, and, as DeSimone puts it: "demonstrated the collaboration of the Library's curatorial, conservation and digital specialists to meet the demand for digital images of rare materials while ensuring their preservation."

Not Just Making Copies

The possibilities of digitization of rare materials extend beyond just preservation and access. There is the possibility of attaching to the digitization explanations, essays and hypertext links to other related materials. Enhanced digitization may greatly improve the quality of information by drawing together different related sources to create a more complete picture of the information contained within. An example of something similar is located here . (Ok, I admit this isn't a digitized rare book or anything. I just wanted to link to it because it's cool and because it employs some of the same technology and strategies used in digitization of rare materials.) In this example, clicking on the interactive link gives you a very high quality image overlayed with information about the subject (the Tollund man). This is similar to something that could be done with a rare book, where a mouseover could bring you to extra information about the topic of the digitization effort. The only downside to this is the resources needed. According to the Council on Library and Information Resources, the cost of enhanced digitization of a 300 page book is approximately $2,500. This is by far the most expensive form of preservation. Is it worth it? I think in some cases, it definitely is, but whether it is a project that should be undertaken on a large scale is something that is yet to be determined.

Links

Cornell University's Making of America Project -- Digital library of 19th century American serials and monographs

Library of Congress Digital Collections -- Maps, newspapers, and rare books (the picture I posted here is one taken from a Book of Hours from the Rosenwald Collection)

Scan Locally, Access Globally -- Article written for the Library of Congress Information Bulletin by Daniel De Simone about the LoC's digitization efforts

UNESCO: Digitization of Rare Library Materials -- a short synopsis of some of the issues surrounding digitization

Other Resources

Gilliland-Swetland, A. J. (1998). An exploration of k-12 user needs for digital primary source materials. The American Archivist, 61(1), 136.

Hirtle, P.B. (2002). The impact of digitization on special collections in libraries. Libraries & Culture, 37(1), 42-52.

Jack of all trades, Master of none

So, a recent drop in internet service on a day I had intended to spend idly surfing the 'net resulted in me scrounging around for something offline to do. This led to what I thought would be a brief attempt at playing a game (Red Dead Redemption) on JP's XBOX, which then led to about eight straight hours of playing said game.

I will say right now that I am no "gamer." I've played video games for nearly as long as I can remember, starting with the original NES, but I have never identified myself as a gamer and actually hadn't played a video game quite so intently since the last Final Fantasy that wasn't terrible. Because I had never advertised myself as being officially into video games though, JP was pretty surprised that I got so into Red Dead.

I never really talked about video games before that because I'm just not that good at them. I enjoy them. But I'm never going to win an award for my virtual gunslinging and hogtying abilities. This is one of many things that I enjoy, that I can do tolerably well (key word here is "tolerably") but at which I will probably never excel. I'm ok with that on a personal level, but I sometimes get a little funny about playing games in front of or with people who are "gamers," because I'm pretty certain I'm embarrass myself. In recent weeks however, I've gradually forced myself to get over this reticence and just play, dammit, because it's fun.

In a moment of weakness however I lamented my lack of ability and expressed the opinion that I probably shouldn't do things that I'm not great at.

"People do things they're not great at all the time," JP assured me. "Why do you think people go bowling?! Or, uh... go bowling?"

Afterward, I sat pondering this. Of course it's ok to do things you're not good at, as long as you enjoy them. There are some things (like bowling) though, that you're simply not expected to be good at. The expectation is, in fact, that you'll suck,and that's fine, because everyone kind of sucks. I wondered what other activities were like this, and came up with karaoke and adult kickball.

Can anybody think of some other activities where the expectation is not to do well?

Augmented Reality and The Great Doodletown Caper

This Monday, my friend Dimitri and I went on a hike through the woods of the Bear Mountain State Park on a journey to find Doodletown, a mining town abandoned in the mid-sixties which has become a bit of a tourist attraction.

While this is technically a "ghost town," it doesn't quite live up to the implications that that name carries. When I think of a ghost town, I think of rickety old abandoned buildings and the excitement of exploring the ruins of a time gone by. Doodletown, in contrast, consists of some roads, foundations, rock walls and graves. We knew this going in, so we weren't disappointed, but ideally we would have been able to explore the architecture.

Helpfully, signs were posted around the area, many with either drawings or photos of the

destroyed buildings and descriptions of the names and occupations of the inhabitants. We

amused ourselves by making up stories about the citizens of Doodletown and expanding them as we wandered down the streets and through the graveyards ("There are as many graveyards as there are houses!" I mused. There did seem to be quite a lot of graveyards for such a small town!)

The signs were helpful, as I said, but they got me thinking about augmented reality, something we discussed in our "Social Networking in Libraries" class. This was the perfect place to implement something like that. The locations of the houses were relatively free of obstruction and there were photos or drawings, as I said, of nearly all of the buildings. It would have been great if instead of looking at a sign with a picture of the house, you could hold up some sort of device (such as a smart phone) or look through special glasses and see a virtual representation of the house where it stood. According to the 2010 Horizon Report, "An application currently in development by the EU-funded iTacitus project (http://itacitus.org/) will allow visitors to pan across a location — the Coliseum, say — and see what it looked like during an historical event, complete with cheering spectators and competing athletes." Doodletown may not be the Coliseum, but the application of Augmented Reality in any historical location is an exciting prospect.

And all those graveyards? Remember this article? Maybe we could use technology to really make this place a "ghost town."

Schools out for summer, but not for long!

In my second course in the Library Science program at Syracuse (IST511), we were encouraged to start blogs. This is primarily why this one exists. Dave Lankes, our professor, assured us that as soon as the course was over, we could abandon our blogs, no questions asked. "Not everyone is comfortable with their Library Science education being public," Dave said (basically, I'm recalling this from memory.) Not everyone is comfortable with their future employers, colleagues, etc. seeing the ignorance of the early days of their education.

I, on the other hand, am totally fine with making my ignorance public. I've been an avid internet-goer since I was in middle school, and I'm used to living my life publicly. I think this is partially just my personality--I have no secrets--and partially the exposure over the years. I've used Livejournal, Facebook, Myspace, AIM, and back in the day, Prodigy chat for many, many years now. I am, as they say, an open book.

So the reason I haven't updated this is not that I see fit to abandon this blog. It's just that I haven't been in school, so my mind has been on other things.

What have I been up to?

Well, I was hired to work for the Halloween season for a couple friends who own a souvenir photo business, Dead Memories. This is one of those things that in no way relates to my future chosen career, but seemed like such an interesting life experience, I couldn't pass up the opportunity.

I celebrated my daughter's fourth birthday with my parents, brother and sister. She received a cute pair of earrings and a necklace from my sister, ensuring that she now has not only more purses than I do, but more jewelry too.

I realized that I like Billy Idol. Who knew? Both Pandora and Last.fm have proven to be fantastic at introducing me to incredible music I wouldn't otherwise have encountered. If it weren't for these sites, I wouldn't be aware of Morphine, Stars, The Knife or Beirut, either.

I did Trivia Night down at the Dubliner for the first time, and was hardly an asset to my team. I got the South Sandwich Islands mixed up with the Sandwich Islands. How embarrassing! I did however know that Reykjavik is located within close proximity to a number of volcanoes. My team still lost, but we had fun.

Mostly my days have been spent watching movies, going for walks, sewing and seeing friends as much as possible. School starts again at the end of the month though, so as we get closer to that, expect my mind to go to library-related topics once again.

How to Find a Good Book

(in response to the chapter "Readers Advisory Services: How to Help Users Find a 'Good Book'" by Mary K. Chelton in The Portable MLIS)

I am one of those people who has never (at least not as an adult) approached a librarian to ask for help in finding something.  I suppose this is kind of funny, given that I am in the process of becoming a librarian.  Then again, I'm also the kind of person who never stops to ask for directions, or for help finding which aisle houses the cereal, so I think this is an overarching element of my personality.  Because of this tendency not to admit I need help, I never really honestly thought about how a librarian would help somebody find a book she might enjoy.  This article made me start considering that.

One thing that stood out for me was the assertion that "reading literature is a means of self-exploration" and "unless the book has meaning for the reader, all the rest is useless."  This is a phenomenon I have observed in movies and TV, so it makes complete sense that it would translate to books.  Kids often enjoy the book Where the Wild Things Are because they feel like they have difficulty conforming to adults' idea of "proper" behavior; They can put themselves in Max's shoes.  Similarly, I like the show "Firefly" not because I am a science fiction buff per se, but more because I can see my own struggles in the struggles of the characters.  

This of course means that at least some of the time, helping a member find the next book to read may be significantly more complicated than saying "Oh, you like Stephen King? Well, here.  Read The Tommyknockers."  I know that one of my favorite books of all time is The Terror by Dan Simmons.  However, I've tried to read other Dan Simmons novels and haven't been able to get through them.  I would love to find another book like that, but I don't know where to look.  (Maybe I should ask a librarian!)  I am interested to delve more into what kinds of resources are available to help with book recommendations.  

The article also mentions placing similar books together on the shelf (an incredibly enticing idea for somebody who loves to organize!) or making online suggestions available via E-mail.  I have also heard of libraries whose websites employ the Amazon-esque "If you enjoy this, you might also like..." model.  I think this is a fantastic idea, especially for people like me who hate asking for help.

 

Evil Librarians League

Last week, as part of my "Intro to the Library and Information Profession" class here at Syracuse University, we went as a group to the library and were able to view (and in some cases, handle) a variety of interesting books in the special collections. We saw some great stuff (a 500 year old atlas comes to mind--I love maps!) but the most memorable item of the day was one we didn't even get to see.

I texted my friend J.P. "They have books bound in human skin here!" His response: "What kind of librarian are you trying to become?" I of course informed him that I was in the process of becoming an evil librarian (insert maniacal laughter.) Our texted conversation continued as I climbed into bed, at which point he asked me what kinds of books would be bound in human skin.

Oh goodness. This, I think, is in part what led me to this profession in the first place. I have to know everything. I couldn't go to sleep now. That was a great question! I climbed out of bed and did some research.

Anthropodermic Bibliopegy. It turns out that many different kinds of books were bound in human skin. A "common" use would be for anatomy textbooks or other books related to the medical profession (and in these cases, the skin was often donated for this purpose.) Sometimes books about the crimes and/or trials of death-row criminals were bound in their own skin. Anthropodermic bibliopegy was also apparently practiced on the victims of the French revolution (and I would be willing to bet that those skins weren't willingly donated...)

Most of this information, by the way, was gleaned from a really great article from the Harvard Law Record, "Books Bound in Human Skin; Lampshade Myth?" by Dan Alban.

This topic is interesting of course because of its macabre nature. I love that stuff (A couple of my more memorable trips were to the Bodies Exhibit in New York City and the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia.) It is interesting on a deeper level, though, in that it raises the issue of relative comfort level with regard to death. In the past, when death was something people saw all around them, a book bound in human skin would be a neat curiosity, but not so appalling as to keep people from doing it. These days, when death is tucked neatly away in the halls of antiseptic hospitals, if you wanted to bind a book in human skin you may actually have to be an evil librarian.

Help! The library is poking me!

There is a lot of talk these days about social networking. I will be the first to admit that my usage of facebook borders on pathological (if I disappear one of these days, you'll know I've been sent to social networking detox). However, I was, until very recently, not aware of any sort of "issue" surrounding libraries and social networking. If you had asked me what kinds of challenges librarians faced regarding social networking, the only thing I could have imagined there being was whether to allow people to use social networking tools in libraries.

However, the more I delve into librarianship as a career, the more my view is shifting. Instead of seeing facebook, youtube, twitter and the like as the massive time-suck it is for me, many librarians are looking at how we can use these resources to further the mission of the library.

What I have seen in reference to these websites, for the most part, is suggestions about how they can be used by the library as a new way to communicate with patrons. This is a generally good idea, but I think that these tools can be used for far more. Setting up a presence on facebook is not a pointless endeavor. It is easy and requires only a minor time commitment. However, what I see as the real potential in social networking tools and web 2.0 lies more in how it could be used for library programs.

Given the idea of the library as a place that brings people together in order to share information, ideas and experiences, it makes a lot of sense to use social media. Maybe library patrons could be encouraged to contribute to a library-sponsored blog or message board, writing book reviews or sharing creative writing they have written. Another possibility would be to get people involved in a project that involves recording video and producing shorts to be posted on youtube. There is certainly a lot of potential.