SLIS 5715.002 Week 2

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(discussion of CPD Guide)

skillset of a digital librarian

some basics

• have to be flexible
  • (no industry standards for quality, workflow, etc.)
• strive for interoperability
• know difference: dpi = output, ppi = display
• scan at highest resolution appropriate to project
  • p. 32, 33, master specs
  • scan once well, and create smaller derivative images from master
  • web display: min. 150 ppi
• may need to change website every 2-3 years
  • look at navigation
  • think about user needs (they change)

need to be knowledgable in many roles & hire specialized staff

• project manager (multitask)
• selector / conservator
  • what are you going to put online?
  • get everyone's input (who is responsible for the item to be digitized?)
• cataloger / metadata analyst
  • need to know different types of metadata
• scanning technician / photographer / quality control technician
  • need ability to select good images
  • color correction = specialized area
• database programmer
  • want a programmer you can communicate with
  • who understands information needs
• sys-admin / net-admin
  • depends on size of institution
  • good relationship with this person is necessary
• information architect (user interface developer)
  • graphic design comes in handy

look at your skillset:

• what do you know
• what can you learn
• what do you need help with

...and...

• some of those specialties are more easily combined than others
• assess your team
• assess your skills
• make decisions

in-house vs. outsource

costs

• always changing
• it's getting cheaper
• try to find a recent, relateable model

hardware & memory

• get the biggest, fastest, best you can afford
• always changing
• bigger & flatter the monitor, the better
• better light scanback cameras
• if scanning a lot of slides, need to invest in slide scanner

digital asset management

• changed from digital imaging to digital libraries
• quickly changing

refreshment

• needs to be considered at the beginning of your project
• migration vs. emulation
• big problem!!!

metadata

• types:
  • descriptive
  • administrative
  • technical
  • structural
  • preservation
• much of it cannot be automatically produced
• time = money
• must know users and needs
• must know needs of staff
• know collection well
• very important skill to have

intellectual property concerns

• museums are good about having IP professionals
• Coalition for Networked Information

watermarking

• not done as much anymore
• usually upload lower-resolution pictures to web

guidelines for creating digital images

master image file

• do not touch them!
• hot topic: retouching images, restoring originals
• in this aspect, the museum world is very different from the library world
  • access vs. preservation vs. authenticity
• pros and cons to each
• document, document, document
• be specific with staff about policies, expectations
• scan high once
  • make smaller versions from the master

modes of capture

• three modes
  • bitonal
  • grayscale
  • color
• particularly important decision for:
  • black/white and sepia photographs
  • text
  • do you want the container, or the information?
• do you scan the backs of photos?
• do you scan the borders of photos?

p.31 guidelines by source type

quality control for images

key control patch

• scan it with the original
  • (if you need color correction)

p.39 flowchart

• good example
• but each lab will be different

(class break)

(discussion about our positions, difference btwn public & private institutions)

2002-03 study about museum jobs (111)

• wide variety of skills that people are looking for
• how many jobs require these skills
  • 64% art / design / art background
  • 55% cataloging / classification / vr standards
  • but only 8% want metadata (seems low)
  • 52% employee supervision
  • 37% project management
  • 20% contribute to professional organization
  • 5% enthusiastic
  • 5% grant-writing (seems low)
    • good to bring example of grant proposal to job interview
    • Grant-Writing for Dummies
• need to be able to teach users & other-generation colleagues how to use this
  • not condescending

collin on museums

different language, different viewpoints

• archivists
  • collection-level
• curators
  • some item-level data
  • they believe information is for the institution
• librarians
  • all about item-level data
  • they believe information should be free & easy for all

next week: article list due, email Elise about skillsets, read first 7 articles

kinetic examples: look at the 3d images (online)

can email Elise ahead of time about collection

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