Sunday, January 29, 2012
Go forth and digitize
Many Nebraskan (and other) libraries are starting to digitize some of their historical items, and the Nebraska Memories program run by the Nebraska Library Commission provides an easy way for them to do it. Even more libraries would probably be interested except they worry about copyright headaches. According to a panel discussion held at ALA Midwinter Conference, they may be worrying more than they need to. This article provides a lot of food for thought!
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My experience is that the true headache is when no or little background information is provided on the material being digitized. I digitized and created metadata for some 80 photos at my library and it's one thing to be objective about what your describing and another to think about how a patron is going to find the material. If the building or people or event do not have an accurate name it will be harder to find. And my favorite issue, the date the photo was taken. Sure you can guess by the "style" in the photo but who's to say they are "in-style"?
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