Online access to libraries’ collections through
state libraries

The Arizona Memory Project and the Access Pennsylvania Digital Repository find that CONTENTdm unlocks hidden collections for libraries and cultural organizations large and small

By J. Mariah Brown

Many research libraries and educational institutions have begun major digitization efforts to make their unique collections available on the Web to a broader audience. For many smaller institutions with more limited budgets and resources, however, obtaining the funding to digitize material and the training to implement digitization projects presents a challenge.

By partnering with state libraries and using CONTENTdm® Digital Collection Management software, small as well as large libraries and cultural organizations can easily manage their collections and collaborate with other institutions in a cost-effective way.

The Arizona Memory Project and the Access Pennsylvania Digital Repository both relied on CONTENTdm to bring an easy-to-use, affordable digital resources management solution to their members, whose technical skills and budget resources varied widely.

With collections from the Arizona State Library, the Arizona Historical Foundation and the Sharlot Hall Museum, the Arizona Memory Project features content ranging from federal publications to subject-specific photograph series dating back to the 1800s. One minute, Web searchers can skim through an archived legislative report, and the next experience virtual time travel while viewing the Sharlot Hall Museum American Indian Image Collection, featuring photographs of Navajo, Apache, Hopi and Pima tribes dating back to 1865.

The LSTA-funded project contains eight collections featuring nearly 4,000 items, although the number “changes and grows on a daily basis” as more records are added, according to Marisa Ramirez, Coordinator of the memory project. The organization plans to add oral history accounts, maps and audiovisual records as the program expands.

Prior to the implementation of the project in March, “many of the institutions had already started scanning collections, but lacked the technology to actually get them up online,” Ramirez says.   

The Director of the Arizona State Library recognized the need for smaller institutions to be able to digitize information, and realized that using CONTENTdm was the best way to achieve that goal, says Ramirez.

“Now we are able to provide access to CONTENTdm and site licensing to small libraries,” she says. “CONTENTdm has filled the need for organizations who want to get online and for us, who want to provide access to it.”

Although CONTENTdm has made it possible for libraries to successfully manage their digitized material and collaborate with other institutions, Janet Fisher, Director of the Arizona State Law and Research Library, says that the Arizona Memory Project is “not just a library project.” Participants also include special archives, museums and other historical institutions, she says.

“The software really allows for interdisciplinary collaboration,” Ramirez says.

Like the Arizona Memory Project, the Access Pennsylvania Digital Repository is a collaborative project offering access to Web searchers to an array of digitized material.

The repository, also financially supported by LSTA funds and a grant provided by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, is the result of joint efforts to “provide smaller libraries with the ability to store digitized collections,” says Joe Scorza, Executive Director of the Health Science Libraries Consortium and Access Pennsylvania.

HSLC/Access PA hosts the system, which features collections from the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, the Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc. and PALINET. The project was launched in December 2005.

“One of the real exciting aspects of using CONTENTdm in the Access Pennsylvania Digital Repository is that it has the potential to unlock all sorts of hidden collections from across the state for researchers across the world,” says Kurt Bodling, Pennsylvania State Library cataloger.

Photos giving a glimpse into the lives of gold miners of the 19th century, a necrology scrapbook containing obituaries of Civil War heroes, early photographs of Native Americans in America’s rugged West—all of these things have been made widely available with the use of CONTENTdm. 

There are 11,595 pages from the Pennsylvania Scrapbook Necrology in the collection, which contain roughly 50,000 clipped obituaries of Pennsylvania residents dating from 1891 to 1904, many of which are Civil War veterans and prominent figures.

Although some of the obituaries feature common citizens, Bodling says that there are several ways this information may come in handy to researchers and browsers alike. 

“A number of former slaves are included, so one could investigate how their place in society changed in three decades,” Bodling said. “One could investigate changes in societal norms by comparing the detailed description of fatal illnesses and accidents with modern sanitized obituaries.”

“There is the possibility of other interesting social history research as well,” Bodling adds, such as research of customs related to social status.

Both Scorza and Bodling recognize the importance of CONTENTdm in the success of the project.

“We believe that CONTENTdm has been the best choice, both technically and from an administrative standpoint, for our program,” says Scorza. “The service permits libraries to store public collections at no cost to the library for storage and support.”

“CONTENTdm makes it fairly easy to upload items,” Bodling adds. “It didn’t take very long to get materials out there in the public eye. Since each image and collection has a stable URL, we can link them from the library’s Web page, or send people links in answers to reference questions.”

CONTENTdm enables institutions of all types and sizes to collaborate and easily share material. “The member libraries range from small public libraries, to large university libraries, to special libraries, to school libraries,” Bodling says.