The Cultural Gateway Project. My apologies for not being able to attend in person today. Hopefully, this presentation should show you the main features.

The Cultural Gateway Project

My apologies for not being able to attend in person today. Hopefully, this presentation should show you the main features of the project. I’ve put some additional explanatory text in italics. If you have any questions, please feel free to ring or email me. I’ll put my contact details at the end. Thanks

Mike

Background• Lincolnshire Archives using CALM cataloguing

software since 2002, but not available online.• National Archives pressure to put searchable

catalogues online.• Best Value audit inspection of Cultural Services

highlighted poor online presence.• Emerging Sustainable Community Strategy for

Lincolnshire – themes include connections & online access.

Aim

• Create an online portal for the collections of Culture and Adult Education (CAE).

= Access

Phase 1: Cultural Collections

http://culturalcollections.lincolnshire.gov.uk

Website launched 1 August 2009.

Cross-searchable catalogues of LCC Museums, Libraries and Archives.

Contents

Over half a million catalogue entries:

• Museum and Gallery catalogues, and some images.

• Archive catalogues.

• Stamford Mercury index.

• Tennyson Research Centre catalogues.

• Non-fiction Library catalogues.

Some screen captures follow, which show the look and feel of the website, main search screens, hit lists, catalogue entries and images.

Results to Date

• Over 2 million web hits.

• Favourable comments.

• Increased access to catalogues.

• Increased visits/enquiries.

• However…– Very much a quick fix.– Not fully developed or sustainable in long run.

050000

100000150000200000250000300000350000400000450000500000550000600000650000

Web Hits

Month

Web Hits per Month

The peak was probably the result of trawling by Google.

Cultural Collections has bought us time to develop something much more sophisticated…

Phase 2:

“Lincs to the Past”

What is it about?

• Major digitisation project.• Corporate funding.• Builds on the existing catalogues to display

selected content of our collections.• Several hundred thousand images.• Searchable by names, words, dates, timelines• Themed on-line exhibitions/educational

materials.• Widening Access

Outline Timetable

• Spring-Dec 2009: research & planning.

• Jan 2010- : detailed design: infrastructure, website, and specs for scanning.

• Summer 2010: tender process.

• Sep-Dec 2010: on-site scanning and off site microfilm conversion, and rekeying.

• Feb-Mar 2011: testing.

• 1 April 2011: public launch.

Personnel

• Project Board: senior managers from across the County Council and our private sector partners, Mouchel.

• Executive Project Team:

Mark McCree, Collections Manager

Mike Rogers, Collections Team Leader

Simon Oliver / Angela Driver, CAE projects team

Peter Marshall / Elaine Atkin, Mouchel• Project Team – representatives from across CAE, and

corporate webteam, used late 2009 for detailed research into aspects of the project…

Workstrands• Branding• Cataloguing• Charging Approach• Collections Care• Communications• Content• Creation of Digital

Content• Engagement and

Learning• External Funding

• Implementation• Infrastructure• Intellectual Property

Rights• Procurement• Searching and Access• Stakeholders• Standards• Strategy Development• Website Design

Access Model

• Free access to:• Catalogues• Watermarked images• On-line exhibitions • Educational content

• Charging model for high quality images.

Contents• Parish Registers, 1538-(1912) [c300,000 images]• Probate Inventories, 1504-1853 [c75,000 items]• Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest• Highlights of the Arms & Armour collection• Tennyson’s “In Memoriam” and “Charge of the Light Brigade”

manuscripts• Proofs to Illustrations of Tennyson’s poems, 1857• Photographs by Julia Margaret Cameron• Extracts from the Illustrations Index• Medieval Painted Cloths • Nattes Drawings (Lincolnshire Churches)• Regimental Rolls• Valuation Office 25” Ordnance Survey Maps, 1910 • Data from the Cultural Collections and HEMSoP websites• Online exhibitions (e.g. Episcopal Rolls & Registers, Asylum Case

Books, Archaeology ...)• Historic Environment Record data

New scans at 400dpi where possible

Examples of Tennyson Material

Example of a Probate Inventory

Example Regimental Roll

Existing images: Museum Objects and Artworks

• Considerably more ambitous than most comparable websites, given the cross-sector content.

• So how were we going to make all these images and catalogues available? Needed to:– Combine several existing databases and

datasets.– Be able to export data and images to other

sites.

• It was decided not to seek a proprietary solution [webteam had problems with .exe files which ruled out DS/Axiell products].

• Needed to design and link:– Infrastructure to store data– Web-based search engine– Payments module– Staff functions

CALM MODES Website GALAXY

Historic Staff AdminEnvironment Record Printouts

New content MuBu

HEMSoP Culture 24 Existing Images

Any future digitisation projects

?

Data Output

Which standards to use? The Metadata Universe

“Choose a standard then adapt it to your own needs”

• Dublin Core chosen as most suitable standard.

• Similar fields from component databases mapped across.

• Infrastructure designed around data and output.

The basic design for the infrastructure and functionality was mapped out by a Project Team member with an IT background. Unfortunately, he then left, but luckily we have a very capable developer on board at Mouchel who came up with…

Website

“look and feel”:

The public face

of the project.

• The preceding image is of the front page.

• The look and functionality of other pages has been designed but needs to be approved by the Board later this month.

• The main features are facetted searching, a timeline and “mega drop downs” [see the new LCC website for these].

“Zoomify” is used for magnification and watermarking of images

• Zoomify breaks down images into small fragments, and only downloads those you need to see, so it is very fast.

• You can navigate around the image and choose your scale.

• The quality of the images is excellent.

• Watermarks are automatically overlaid to encourage purchases and protect IPR.

Where are we now?

• Finalising the infrastructure build.

• Gathering together images and xml files

• Preparing catalogues (validation, new fields, tags)

• Creating online exhibitions…

Ready to put it all together in the New Year.

The Future

• Even before “Lincs to the Past” is launched we are looking at what next.

• The infrastructure has been designed so that future projects can be added easily.

• Currently seeking funding for digitising:– Tennyson drafts and correspondence– Asylum Case Books

What have we learned so far?

• Digitisation projects can be highly complex and very time-consuming.

• Specialist knowledge is required either in-house, or paid for.

• Such projects are not cheap.

Aspects to Consider if you are planning to digitise collections…

• Content – what do you want to digitise?• Audience – who are you aiming the

resource at?• Access – how will you make the content

available?• Searching – how will users find content?• Storage – how will you store the images

etc ?

Aspects to Consider… (cont)

• Sustainability – how will you make sure the content remains accessible given changes in technology?

• Standards – what resolution of images, file formats etc should you use?

• Funding – how much money have you got or want to apply for, and from where?

Aspects to Consider… (cont)

• Metadata – what will you need and who will create it?

• Digitisation – who will carry out the actual work – in-house or commercial scanning bureaux and photographers?

• Partnership – can you use the resources of commercial undertakings such as Ancestry?

Aspects to Consider… (cont)

• Volunteers – is there scope for using their enthusiasm and knowledge?

• Timescale – how long do you think the project will take?

• Intellectual Property Rights – are you really entitled to digitise your intended content? What can you do to avoid being sued?

Aspects to Consider… (cont)

• Promotion – how will you market your resource?

• Future developments – is it a one-off or a platform for future projects?

Any questions?

Please contact:

[email protected]

Tel. 01522 567137