A behind-the-scenes look at digitization
When the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center (UWDCC) digitized and published online a painting that captures picturesque Wisconsin scenery as its 1 millionth digital image, the occasion marked a significant achievement for the university library community. Today the UWDCC continues to add to its burgeoning collections – approximately 200,000 digital images have been added since Lois Ireland's "Harvest Time" went live last October.
It is difficult to truly value the work being done by the UWDCC without the context of understanding how such an object becomes digital.
By following a single book, journal, image or archival collection – this article will follow the journey of the 1728 first edition of Ephraim Chambers Cyclopaedia, a universal arts and sciences dictionary – along the UWDCC's digital production workflow, one can more fully appreciate the amount and diversity of “behind the scenes” work involved in publishing these digital resources.
Education, Psychology and Transportation Bibliographer Marilyn Hicks proposed the project to digitize the Cyclopaedia, which resides in the Department of Special Collections in Memorial Library. First, the UWDCC's Project Assessment and Development Group (PAD) reviewed the project idea. PAD group members Steven Dast, Linda Duychak, then-acting UWDCC Co-Heads Amy Rudersdorf and Lisa Saywell, and Projects Manager Vicki Tobias evaluated and recommended the idea, assessed the materials, completed a cost estimate and composed a brief documenting pertinent project details. Digitizing the Cyclopaedia received final committee approval by one of two governing bodies, the UW Digital Steering Committee or the UWDCSC, a UW System-wide library committee focused on digital work. The UWDCC and Hicks also agreed to a memo of understanding, which outlines project deliverables, deadlines and other pertinent information.
Once approved, Cyclopaedia was reviewed by the Metadata Group, which creates the data that allows a digital object to be searchable. Student staff supervised by Metadata Librarian Jessica Williams created and reviewed the metadata.
Next, the project went to the Reformatting Group. Student staff supervised by Reformatting Group Head Pat Tuchscherer scanned every page of the four-volume Cyclopaedia on their overhead color scanner, a machine which allows the UWDCC to digitize oversized, rare or fragile objects without risk of harming the texts. The Reformatting Group created both derivative images, allowing users to view four differently sized images of each page, and text files that are displayed alongside the page images, allowing users to search the digital book text.
Following reformatting work, the digital images and associated metadata were loaded onto a test server and reviewed as part of a final "quality control" process. During this stage, Tobias worked with Hicks to write contextual information for the project's Web page. UWDCC Web staff member Liz Hust used that information as she developed, coded and published the Cyclopaedia Web pages. Hicks provided a final review and approval to "go live" with the digital collection.
Finally, the UWDCC released the digital Cyclopaedia and publicized its presence. Library Technology Group staff Peter Gorman (who is also current UWDCC head), Nathan Rogers and Sue Dentinger, and DoIT/LIRA staff Rose Smith and Scott Prater play important roles in the UWDCC "go live" process. This includes creating URLs for all digital objects, uploading and validating data and images, and other functions necessary to publish and maintain the digital resources.
Shortly after the site went live, L.A. Miller, Web manager of www.cyclopaedia.org, a Web site devoted to the book that is part of a Web ring of rare books, discovered the digital Cyclopaedia and linked to the UWDCC's work on his site.
"What a great idea, what a fantastic luxury, the electronic age is at last bearing some worthwhile fruit," says Miller.
While not every digitized object receives such public displays of affection, it is a good example of the benefits of digital preservation for both the academic arena and society at large.
The Wisconsin State Journal ran a complete feature on the UWDCC in October 2005.