Frequently Asked Questions
GENERAL
Hudson River Valley Heritage (HRVH) is an online collection of resources in digital format with historic and heritage value from libraries and cultural heritage organizations in the Hudson Valley region - Columbia, Greene, Ulster, Sullivan, Rockland, Orange and Putnam Counties of New York State. It is accessible via the Internet/Web at http://www.hrvh.org. Users of HRVH can search for resources across all collections.
Organizations (libraries, historical societies, museums, archives, etc.) that participate agree to contribute digital collection(s) along with specific information or metadata about each item in the collection.
Some of the items already contributed include photos, postcards, letters, diaries, scrapbooks, manuscripts, memorabilia, maps, ephemera, and even short audio and video clips and 3-D objects.
Hudson River Valley Heritage service is administered and hosted by the Southeastern NY Library Resources Council, one of nine reference and research library resources councils in the state. SENYLRC is located at 21 S. Elting Corners Rd., Highland, NY 845-883-9065. HRVH funding comes from federal funds, NY State funding for library systems to SENYLRC, special grants awarded on a competitive basis to SENYLRC and annual membership dues of the contributing organizations. SENYLRC is responsible for licensing the CONTENTdm™ software that runs HRVH, as well as the high speed bandwidth to serve up the digital images to the Web. SENYLRC provides extensive training and support for the service. SENYLRC has created a Digital Advisory Committee to recommend procedural and policy issues about the HRVH initiative.
Each organization contributing a collection is responsible for:
- Creating the digital format (e.g., scanning or transferring audio or video clips to a digital file, etc.) or outsourcing the scanning;
- Creating the descriptive information about the object (i.e. the metadata);
- Uploading the digital file and metadata to the HRVH server hosted by SENYLRC;
- Creating the collection description for mounting on the organization’s introductory HRVH collection page (sample collection page);
- Updating the metadata with additional information and adhering to the metadata style guidelines.
- Increased awareness, knowledge of and access to your organization and your collections by researchers, students, instructors and website voyageurs;
- Enhanced comprehension and familiarity by HRVH's online users with the region's extensive and diverse heritage;
- Simplified digitizing processes to create, store and describe (metadata) your collections with HRVH's computer hardware and digital access management software - CONTENTdm™;
- Continued support, assistance and access to SENYLRC's administrative staff and digital lab, which contains computer and scanning equipment and CONTENTdm™ to digitize, load and catalog your collections;
- Improved appreciation of your organization's community value and presence by more people, including government officials and public and private funding sources;
- Formalized and shared regional information technology initiative circumventing your organization's need to seek an individual and costly solution.
Effective July 1, 2006, organizations contributing to HRVH must join SENYLRC as a member. The level of membership depends upon the mission and size of the organization – either a full voting governing member with annual dues in 2006/07 of $450 or as an affiliate (non-voting) member with annual dues for 2006/07 at $150. Thereafter, dues will increase annually by 5%.
An individual organization may join as an individual Affiliate member. Affiliate members will receive the client software (CONTENTdm™) installed on-site at their organization. Staff at organizations that are affiliate members are eligible to receive up to 28 hours of onsite training and consulting at SENYLRC or at their organization (currently a $700 value). You are eligible for additional support via phone and email. The member also is represented on the HRVH website in its own collection page that may include the organization’s logo and links to the homepage and other websites (sample collection page).
Yes, multiple organizations can join as one affiliate member to contribute jointly to HRVH. Normally, the organizations are in the same proximity (e.g. town) with each other. An example is a local public library, the historical society and a local museum. The group as a whole will be eligible to receive the same level of training and consultation, but not individually. Also it is critical that such a group identify a project manager as the primary contact with SENYLRC. The group will receive one main collection page on the HRVH website, but not the individual organizations. Also, the group is eligible for one copy of the client software, but this may be loaded on a shared laptop computer that can move from one organization to the next if appropriate. Joint project management is very important to the success of a group effort contributing to HRVH.
Your organization will sign a participant agreement and agree to have your collection(s) reside on HRVH. Realizing that the overall value of HRVH is enhanced by the inclusion of these collections, contributing organizations (the “content owner”) will allow SENYLRC (the “content provider”) to offer online access to their collection(s) via HRVH on a non-exclusive basis for the length of the HRVH service life, but no shorter than seven years, unless other legal issues warrant the withdrawal of an image or an entire collection. If your organization continues to contribute thirty (30) objects or more to HRVH, it will maintain a membership relationship with SENYLRC according to SENYLRC’s membership criteria and dues structure for a governing or affiliate member. The organization will be eligible to annually receive the training, support and consultations offered by SENYLRC and/or other trained personnel during the length of SENYLRC membership.
In addition to having your digitized items from your collection(s) reside on the HRVH, your organization will:
- Receive up to 28 hours of individual training and consulting during the 1st year (either on-site or at SENYLRC) at no cost (if over, cost of $35 per hour);
- Receive SENYLRC consulting via phone and e-mail;
- Receive an installation of the CONTENTdm™ client software on the organization’s computer (in addition to the above 28 hours);
- Have access to a scanner and workstation at SENYLRC office;
- Have the ability to attend any training workshops at member rates;
- Have the ability to borrow the HRVH circulating laptop and scanner for a limited period of time;
- Benefit from the creation of a collections page on the HRVH website for each organization or group contributing;
- Have increased visibility of the organization and its collection by the greater public;
- Have the ability to receive other SENYLRC services, including staff development workshops at member rates, placement of interlibrary loans at affiliate; rates, plus other services (see the brochure, SENYLRC Membership Categories and Service);
- The minimal service value received by contributing organizations in Year 1 is estimated to be at least $700.
Value in year 2 and beyond:
- Receive up to 10.5 hours of individual training and consulting (either on-site or at SENYLRC) at no cost (if over, cost of $35 per hour);
- Consulting via phone and e-mail;
- Use of HRVH scanner and workstation at SENYLRC office;
- Ability to attend any training workshops at member rates;
- Ability to borrow the circulating laptop and scanner for a limited period of time;
- The continued maintenance of the organization’s collections page on the HRVH website;
- Increased visibility of the organization and its collection by the greater public;
- Software upgrades.
Organizations that do not continue to add digital objects to HRVH are encouraged to remain as affiliate members. However, if an organization decides to discontinue as an affiliate member, it agrees to keep their collections in HRVH (unless legal issues warrant such withdrawal), and will not have access to continued SENYLRC-sponsored consulting and training.
PLANNING
Any individual organization or groups of organizations that have items in their collection that meet the HRVH collection criteria may join. Individuals with private collections are encouraged to collaborate with a library or cultural heritage institution in their area that is contributing collections to HRVH.
The following are the basic steps to contribute collection(s) to HRVH:
- Determine
that you have an eligible collection(s) to contribute:
- Collections are historical in nature;
- Have an enduring research and educational value;
- Are housed at your organization in the Southeastern region of New York.
- Have the support and commitment by the organization’s governing body;
- Contact SENYLRC (845-883-9065 and ask for Tessa Killian);
- Join as either a Governing or Affiliate member of SENYLRC;
- Complete the HRVH Participant Profile;
- Sign the HRVH Participant Agreement;
- Identify a project manager and project staff (paid or volunteer);
- Have access to high speed Internet in order to upload the items in the collection to the SENYLRC HRVH server;
- Commit staff time for training;
- Learn what is involved in the complete process of digitizing and contributing to a shared digital service like HRVH (issues: project management, digital imaging, metadata, copyright, digital preservation).
The following are the basic steps in actually contributing items from your collection to HRVH:
- Contact SENYLRC (Tessa Killian) to discuss the target collection(s) to contribute to HRVH.
- Determine if the organization’s staff will create the digital objects or outsource this component to a vendor like Hudson Microimaging in Port Ewen, N.Y. (Toya Dubin, 845-338-5785 info@hudsonmicroimaging.com) or OCLC Preservation Service Center in Bethlehem, Pa. (Ron Gardner, Digital Service Consultant 800-848-5878, ron_gardner@oclc.org).
- Set an appointment with SENYLRC staff (Zack Spalding) to install the CONTENTdm™ client software on the organization’s computer.
- Commit your staff for training at SENYLRC and at your organization on CONTENTdmtm and basic metadata creation according the region’s metadata style guide. This training is provided by Jennifer Palmentiero.
- Your staff will work with SENYLRC staff to create the organization’s unique collections page.
- Create the digital image in TIFF format according to SENYLRC’s scanning guideline.
- Using the CONTENTdmtm client software, upload digital image (in JPEG format) and create the accompanying metadata.
- Through the entire process, the project administrator is to perform quality control and check for accuracy.
- Upload the digital object (i.e. the digital image and the accompanying metadata) to the HRVH server.
- Project administrator performs a final approval before the digital object is actually included in your HRVH collection.
- Promote the digital collection to your community of users.
No project is too big or too small. SENYLRC currently has a license with DiMeMa (the company that owns CONTENTdm™) for 50,000 images, to be used by all participating organizations, and 50 client software stations.
If your collection is less than thirty items, you may want to consider outsourcing the project, especially if you don’t have the staff trained in digitization already and you don’t plan to contribute any additional collections. If your collection contains less than thirty items you may not want to join SENYLRC as a dues paying affiliate member and go through the necessary training and consulting. SENYLRC, or another HRVH contributing organization, may be able to create the digital objects on your behalf.
If you have selected a large collection to digitize, it is recommended that you digitize a sample of approximately 5 to 25 digital objects to determine the amount of time that it takes to digitize items and the workflow for your organization. We also recommend that you begin with a format that is straightforward, like postcards or photographs. You may consider additional collections over a period of time. SENYLRC encourages you to contribute according to your timeframe and resources.
Board members may be concerned about the effort required to contribute items, or about the possibility of actually reducing the number of visitors to the organization if the collection is accessible online. In an attempt to alleviate these concerns SENYLRC has developed a brochure that further articulates the potential benefits to the organization. Please contact SENYLRC for copies to distribute to your board/decision makers. The title is Artifact - Image – Access Contribute to a Digitized, Accessible, and Searchable Resource. It may be also possible to talk to a staff member from a current contributing organization. Again, contact SENYLRC for such a reference. Finally, SENYLRC staff is available to make a presentation about HRVH benefits and project related issues to your organization’s decision makers and/or staff. Email Tessa Killian (or call 845-883-9065 x14).
The Digital Advisory Committee agreed to the following broad criteria for contributing collections to HRVH:
- are historical in nature,
- have an enduring research and educational value, and
- are housed by an organization in the Southeastern region of New York.
For further information, see SENYLRC’s HRVH website, General Collection Criteria Guidelines for HRVH.
If you can create a digital file for the item in your collection and you own the item, and the copyright for the item, and it fits in the criteria stated above, it can be included in HRVH. CONTENTdm™, the software platform for HRVH, supports a wide range of material types, including audio and video, images, documents, two-sided objects, six-sided objects and monographs (from CONTENTdm™ site). Computer formats include JPEG, GIF, TIFF images, WAV or MP3 audio, AVI or MPEG video, PDF and URL’s.
Newspapers can be incorporated in HRVH, but require special attention than other types of items. Copyright is an issue, but normally pre-1923 newspaper titles may be included without obtaining permission. Several organizations may own the same newspaper title so it is difficult to “tie” one newspaper to one particular organization. Also, the quality of the scanned image (and the resulting displayed image) depends on the quality of the original or the microfilmed original. Therefore, it is important to locate the best copy of the title in the region (print original or microfilm) or from the NYS Library. Each page of the newspaper must go through the OCR (optical character recognition) process in order for the text of the newspaper to be searchable. The success of this process depends on the “clarity” of the digitized typeface characters. There are many challenges in creating a digital newspaper that will display well and is searchable. Finally, this entire process is more costly than digitizing other format types. Because of these and other issues, it is necessary to outsource the newspaper digitizing and OCR process to vendors like iArchives (Salt Lake City, Utah), Hudson Microimaging (Port Ewen, NY) or OCLC Preservation (Bethlehem, PA). SENYLRC will explore grant options to digitize select historic newspapers from the region. However, if an organization is interested in contributing “historic” runs of its local community newspaper, contact Judy Fischetti at SENYLRC (845-883-9065 x15).
For projects to be successful – images are appropriately scanned for proper display from the HRVH website and attention is paid to completing the metadata fields appropriately and correctly – staff must be adequately trained. Beginning in the Fall, 2006, training opportunities will be available in group settings at SENYLRC’s training room and supplemented with on-site training (up to 28 hours) in the first year of membership. Training will focus on project management, scanning, metadata creation, ownership/copyright, and using the CONTENTdm™ software to load images and metadata. It is anticipated that training will involve several group sessions consisting of half and full days. Depending on the number of new contributing organizations, the training series will be offered periodically throughout the year. Staff from new contributing organizations will not be permitted to contribute items until fully trained.
A certain level of computer hardware, software and internet connectivity (beyond dial-up access) is required. Once your staff has been trained, SENYLRC staff will install the needed CONTENTdm™ client software that will reside on your computer at your organization. This computer must also be connected to a high speed internet connection (e.g. DSL, cable modem or T-1) in order to effectively transfer the digitized files (that are large files) and metadata using the client software to the HRVH server located at the SENYLRC office.
The minimum hardware and software configuration is:
- Desktop or laptop computer with Intel Pentium 4 processor;
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP;
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0;
- A minimum of 512 MB RAM (Random Access Memory);
- 5 Gigs of available hard disk space;
- A CD or DVD with read/write capabilities;
- A monitor with a minimum display resolution of 1024x768;
- Acrobat 7.0 or later;
- Scanner with at least 32 bit depth;
- Image editing software (e.g. Photoshop CS or Photoshop elements) to edit your scanned images.
Contact Zack Spalding at SENYLRC for further details at 845-883-9065 x13 (or email Zack).
Organizations that use Macintosh computers should contact Zack.
SENYLRC has a digital lab equipped with a computer, scanner, and high speed Internet access. Any contributing HRVH organization may schedule to use this equipment at SENYLRC.
SENYLRC also has two laptop computers (with the CONTENTdm™ client software) and one scanner that are loaned on a temporary basis (maximum of 12 weeks) to contributing organizations. The staff completes an Equipment Software Release Form [Equipment and Software Release Form.doc] prior to borrowing the equipment and is responsible for any loss or damage to the hardware and/or software.
We anticipate that organizations who contribute will keep their images in HRVH (even if the organization withdraws from SENYLRC membership), unless copyright or ownership issues arise that require a collection or an image to be withdrawn. Because each image and collection contributes to the overall regional value of HRVH, SENYLRC does not intend to remove any image or collection unless required to do so for legal reasons. However, SENYLRC does not require exclusive storage rights to the images; the contributing organization may also decide to mount them on their own website or even with other 3rd party organizations.
SENYLRC will store, retain and “serve up” from the CONTENTdm™ server the lower resolution format (e.g. JPEG) of the digital object. The contributing organization is encouraged to retain and store the original higher quality file (e.g. TIFF) through the digitizing process. These can be stored by the organization on a CD, DVD, and a computer hard drive or outsourced for storage through a third party. If a researcher requests a high quality copy of an image the organization may provide a print or digital version from this higher quality TIFF format. The organization sets its own fee policy for such a service if appropriate.
The goal for this service is to allow the digital images to be available to users. This service is not intended to be repository for the organization’s digital preservation purposes. However, digital preservation is an essential part of digitization projects. Digitizing fragile items from your collection reduces the amount of times when the original will be handled. In order for digitization to be a form of preservation, organizations must take care to preserve the digital files. We encourage all contributing organizations to create higher resolution TIFF files (also called master files or archival files), however SENYLRC will only host the lower resolution JPEG or GIF files on the CONTENTdm™ server. SENYLRC is committed to maintaining the server where the lower resolution files are stored ensuring long term access to your items. It is important for the contributing organizations to know that maintaining the archival TIFFs over the long term requires some time, effort and money. Technological obsolescence is a real threat to digital files. Make sure that you plan for and budget for migration of these to ensure that the files do not end up in the digital graveyard. Good documentation about how the item was digitized will help organizations maintain their master files into the future.
As stated earlier in this document, digital conversion companies may be used to create the digital format of the original item. However, these vendors can only create some of the technical metadata associated with the newly digitized image. Staff from the contributing organization – those that are knowledgeable about the collection - need to create the descriptive metadata (information) about the items. SENYLRC is not positioned to create the digital image and/or metadata on behalf of an organization. However, SENYLRC may consider alternatives to add very small collections of items with unique historical significance.
COSTS
The commitment to join SENYLRC as a governing or affiliate member is one cost. If the organization intends to create digital images and metadata in-house, the costs are staff time (paid or volunteer). A very rough estimate of time per item (scanning and metadata creation) is a minimum of 30 to 45 minutes. There is also the time commitment for the staff to attend training sessions at SENYLRC (estimated to be a total of 15 to 20 hours, not including travel to/from SENYLRC in Highland). If the organization intends to contract with a company to create the digital images, the project cost will vary depending on type and quantity of the collection. The outsourcing company will provide a custom quote for each project. Finally, it is important to set aside time to promote the organization’s HRVH initiative to its community of users.
The Research Libraries Group has an extensive worksheet available online that can be used as a guide for the budgeting and preparation for digital projects.
Possibly. It is the responsibility of the organization to search and apply for grant or foundation moneys.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
The technical support is provided by the SENYLRC staff. Jennifer Palmentiero (contact Jennifer) is the primary support person for project implementation, metadata, scanning, and standards. Zack Spalding (contact Zack) is the primary contact person for hardware and software issues and concerns.
CONTENTdm™ is a digital management, access, and software solution that consists of three main elements: The Acquisition Station where data and images are imported or added by the contributing organizations; The CONTENTdm Server where data and images are stored at SENYLRC; and the customizable Web-based search client, which is HRVH.
DiMeMa Inc. (Digital Media Management) was formed in early 2001 to provide support for the community of CONTENTdm users. DiMeMa's corporate objective is to provide leading software tools for content management for professional archivists.
Creating the digital files is the responsibility of contributing organizations. You can create the digital images at your organization or you can borrow a scanner from SENYLRC or use SENYLRC’s digital lab at our office. SENYLRC’s digital lab is equipped with a PC and a MicroTek 9800XL scanner (11 x 17 in scanning surface, media transparency adapter included). If you are interested in using SENYLRC’s lab, call SENYLRC to make arrangements (845-883-9065).
Another option for creating digital files is to outsource the work to a digital imaging vendor. Here is some information about working with vendors on digitization projects from the Northeast Document Conservation Center.
The simplest definition of metadata is “data about data.” It is any information associated with a resource (the digitized item) that allows the resource to be discovered, manipulated, sorted or managed. HRVH has a recommended set of metadata elements based on the Dublin Core Metadata Element set.
The person(s) most knowledgeable about the collection – most likely a person in your organization creates the descriptive metadata. They will be trained by SENYLRC on how to create the metadata and what to include in each field of the Dublin Core metadata format. You may already have information about the original resource in some other location like a library online catalog or an archive automated system like the PastPerfect museum software. This information may be a starting place to build your metadata records for your collection. Whether you have information already in hand or you are describing items for the first time, CONTENTdm™ will help you create your Dublin Core metadata records. If you have data in a format that can be exported into a tab-delimited file (such as from PastPerfect), you can import that file into CONTENTdm™. If you do not have a file, then you can create your records using the CONTENTdm™’s metadata editor. It provides templates and other tools that allow you to create consistent metadata quickly.
Yes, metadata can be created right at your desk from your organization. SENYLRC will provide you with the CONTENTdmtm Acquisition Station (client) software where you can import, catalog, and upload your items to your HRVH collection. All you need is a PC with a fast Internet connection (see above).
Yes. Just as you can import data into CONTENTdmtm, you can also export your full Dublin Core records. You can export them as a tab-delimited file or as an XML file.
JPEG2000 is a standard file format that uses a type of compression based on wavelet technology. Compared to a JPEG file, the JPEG2000 offers higher compression without compromising quality. Large documents, such as maps, or photographs with a considerable amount of detail can be saved as JPEG2000 files in order to zoom in on the details of the item. SENYLRC has two licenses for saving files as JPEG2000. Contact Jennifer Palmentiero at SENYLRC if you are interested in JPEG2000 files. Here is a sample of an image saved as JPEG2000.
RIGHTS MANAGEMENT
Whenever possible, the holding institution or repository provides all known information about copyright owners and other restrictions in the information, or metadata, associated with digital items. The holding institution provides this information to assist users in determining the copyright status of an item. The HRVH Web site also provides general copyright information for users.
The nature of historical, archival and manuscript collections often make it difficult to determine the exact copyright status of an item. There are many issues related to copyright. There are several resources on the Internet that can help you to determine the copyright status of the materials in your collections:
Copyright Issues for Libraries When Digitizing Materials for the Web
From the Michigan Library Consortium. This site includes a simple workform
for determining if a work is protected by copyright or is in the public
domain.
Library Digitization
Projects and Copyright
By Mary Minow, JD, A.M.L.S. This is an extensive
site that can assist you in determining when a work passes into the public
domain.
Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States
By Peter
B. Hirtle, Cornell University. A chart listing the dates for copyright
and public domain.
WHEN U.S. WORKS PASS INTO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
By Lolly Gasaway, University of
North. Carolina A chart listing when works pass into the public domain.
MARKETING
SENYLRC staff recommends promoting your digital collections once they are complete. Promoting your organization's collections will increase the usage of your collections and positive exposure to your organization.
SENYLRC staff created a template of a press release for organizations contributing to HRVH for your use (MS Word doc).
SENYLRC also has a brochure called Artifact-Image-Access: Contributor to a Digitized, Accessible, and Searchable Resource that is directed to potential contributors to HRVH. This brochure can also be used as a promotional tool when discussing HRVH with a Board of Trustees or other decision makers. Please contact Tessa Killian for copies of the brochure.
We recommend that people at organizations with collections in HRVH communicate with the decision makers at their organizations and in their communities such as Board of Trustees, Friends groups, faculty members, government officials, legislators, and the public in order to make them aware of this valuable service.
