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MISSION
STATEMENT
The Kentuckiana Digital
Library is built to enhance scholarship, research and lifelong learning
through the establishment of permanent access to shared digital archival
collections in the state of Kentucky. It also provides guidance and
instruction for Kentucky libraries, archives, historical societies
and museums on applying appropriate technologies used in the production
of digital library resources.
DIGITAL LIBRARY DEFINITION
A Digital Library is an
organized collection of selected digital resources created to support
scholarship, research and teaching. Through the use of appropriate
technological standards, a Digital Library is created to facilitate
permanent access to and resource discovery of selected digital
resources.
KENTUCKIANA
DIGITAL LIBRARY OVERVIEW
Background
The Kentucky Virtual Library was first conceived by the
State-Assisted
Academic Library Council of Kentucky (SAALCK); comprised of heads
of the eight state-assisted university libraries. SAALCK's vision
included the provision of general access to the wealth of special
collections materials held by their academic libraries, which had
been previously limited to visitors to their campuses. With the 1997
Postsecondary Education Improvement Act, under the leadership of Governor
Paul Patton's administration and the Council
on Postsecondary Education (CPE), funding for the digital library
opened the doors to wider participation by a variety of libraries
across the state, including public and special libraries. The KYVL
is seeking collaboration with privately funded institutions as well.
Prior to the KYVL funding, the planning committee successfully won
federal funding from the National
Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) to assist
its planning of implementation.
Kentuckiana
Digital Library Work Group
Work
Group List
Kentuckiana Digital Library Selection
Focus
Collections and subsets of
collections selected will have a strong
Kentucky orientation as well as broad appeal on geographic,
content and study levels. The materials will be unique or not widely
available. Collections will be proposed by archivists at the repositories
based on their evaluation of the materials' appeal and
appropriateness.
Year
One Project Goals (April 1999 - June 2000)
- Draft a digital library
program implementation plan
- Work with expert consultants
to refine the implementation plan and establish best practice guidelines
- Establish the hardware
and software infrastructure to support the digital library
- Establish central site
to manage systems infrastructure and perform selected digital conversion
of archival material
- Select target collections
for digitization
- Statewide implementation
of the Encoded Archival Description(EAD) standard
- Complete retrospective
conversion of statewide finding aids to EAD
- Begin preparation for
outsourcing digital conversion of microfilm and original material
from selected target collections
Year
Two Project Goals (July 2000 - June 2001)
- Implement statewide
training plan for digitization
- Complete outsourcing
contracts for microfilm to digital image conversion
- Mount digital
objects resulting from outsourcing contracts
- Assist state institutions
in applying specified KCVL guidelines for digitization projects
- Prioritize
collections for digitization at the central site.
- Establish digitization
services for select material from KCVL institutions
- Plan for future
digital library projects
Central
Site Management
The University of Kentucky was selected by KYVL to manage the ongoing
technological infrastructure for the Kentuckiana Digital Library.
In this role, UK manages the systems infrastructure for the digital
library, creates and conducts training modules on digital library
technology and performs digital conversion of selected archival material
from around the state.
TECHNOLOGICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
Metadata
Repository
A centralized access point comprised of searchable database records
describing digital library resources. This database is managed with
OCLC's SiteSearch database software.
SGML/XML
Database
A database record is not enough to describe what's actually in an
archival collection. Alternately, searchable finding aids describe
an entire archival collection to allow for item by item description.
Selected full-text resources also reside in the SGML/XML database.
All resources included in the SGML/XML Database can be browsed and
searched via full-text. This database is managed with the Dynaweb
XML/SGML Internet Server.
Digital
Archival Objects
The actual digitized objects selected from archival collections. Can
include image based material such as photograph or manuscript collections,
full-text material, sound, video, etc. These items are linked through
the Metadata Repository and the SGML/XML Database.
RESEARCH
AND EXPERT CONSULTANTS
In our efforts to move
from vision to reality, we researched the available literature and
reviewed established national digital library initiatives as well
as respected technological standards. Expert consultants for three
separate aspects of the project were also contracted. These expert
consultants reviewed our initial implementation plan, provided on-site
presentation and discussion sessions and continue to offer support
through correspondence as our project developed beyond the initial
planning phase.
Stephen Miller, Digital
Encoding Archivist at Duke
University's Digital Scriptorium. Stephen provided us with invaluable
assistance in our statewide implementation of the Encoded Archival
Description standard for creating digital archival finding aids.
David Seaman, Director
of the University of Virginia
E-Text Center. David provided expert assistance in the establishment
of our standards for digital scanning and imaging. David also assisted
with our selection of an appropriate digital camera for the Central
site and the production of RFP documents for outsourcing digital conversion
of archival material.
Roy Tennant, eScholarship Web & Services Designer for the California Digital Library. Roy assisted with the establishment of
our metadata guidelines.
We would also like to give
special thanks to OCLC
for assistance in developing our metadata repository with their SiteSearch
database software and the Enigma
Corporation for the use of their Dynaweb SGML/XML database software
granted to the University of Kentucky.
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