Digital Library Services

In Digital Library Services, we are currently coordinating or consulting on more than 40 digital projects in various states of production. To ensure that these projects actually come to fruition during all parties’ lifetimes we must take a project-based approach to our work. This means insisting on project planning, setting target dates, and establishing checkpoints. This also means we must call or attend countless meetings. To my mind, there is not greater work-related torture than sitting through a poorly-run meeting. I say that knowing that I still have plenty to learn about running a tight meeting myself. But during the American Library Association Midwinter Conference in Philadelphia earlier this month, I attended a one-day seminar by Pat Wagner called, “Mission Impossible: Practical Project Management,” that provided some great project meeting techniques. Here are just a few of my faves from Wagner, a consultant, trainer, and co-owner of Pattern Research, Inc.:

With his expertise in video art, Bryan Stusse was a natural fit to digitize selections from the Artists’ Television Network, a subset of Special Collections’ Alternative Traditions in the Contemporary Arts materials. But although equipped for the curatorial tasks of selecting from hundreds of original works by visual and performing artists broadcast on New York public access stations in the late 1970s and early 1980s, he wasn’t prepared for the many and varied technical problems involved in digitizing a variety of obsolete media formats. Thanks to his persistence and creative thinking, as well as assistance from the Libraries’ Preservation Department, these issues have mostly been resolved. We’re pleased that Bryan will be able to extend his time in DLS next semester to build on his progress towards making these artworks available online.

Name: Bryan Stusse
Hometown:  Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Pre-SLIS education: University of Iowa - B.F.A. in Intermedia;  School of the Art Institute of Chicago - M.F.A. in Visual Art
DLS Project: Artists’ Television Network
Why did you choose this project?  I wanted to work on the ATN project because it allowed me to pursue my interests in preservation and digital libraries, while making use of my knowledge of the content subject.
Most enjoyable project experience?  Watching back-to-back episodes of the Golden Girls on Lifetime at midnight every weeknight.  Also, knowing that the work towards the ATN Digital Collection focused enough attention on the collection to generate funding for preservation of the content.
Most difficult/challenging experience?  The most challenging part of the project was overcoming the technical and preservation needs for digitization of the ATN collection.
What did you learn about digital library work that surprised you? I had no idea how complex and difficult the development of a digital collection project could be.  Orchestrating resources and efforts across departments requires much greater and more focused efforts than I had anticipated.
Favorite item in the collection? My favorite object currently online is an excerpt from a performance at the Nayatt School.  We know very little about the performance.  This small excerpt is incredible, with subtle gestures it offers a poetic encounter with human frailty and the emltional and psychological barriers we build.

Fellow Shawn Averkamp got more than she bargained for when she signed on for our African American student history project. Unlike other DLS fellows who were culling from only one archival collection, Shawn was working from a scholarly article listing primary source materials in a variety of collections drawn from the Iowa Women’s Archives and the University Archives, as well as borrowed from the Iowa City and Des Moines branches of the state historical society. The result of her hard work and perseverence was both a rich digital collection of interconnected materials documenting an important part of the University’s past, as well as a more accurate experience of the multi-tasking nature of digital librarianship.

Name: Shawn Averkamp
Hometown: Dubuque, Iowa
Pre-SLIS education: Luther College - B.A. in Music
DLS Project: African American Women Students at the University of Iowa, 1910-1960
Why did you choose this project? I’m interested in women’s history and wanted to work with artifacts from the Iowa Women’s Archives.
Most enjoyable project experience? The trust and support from the DLS staff.  Everyone was always willing to help with any problems, no matter how trivial.
Most difficult/challenging experience? Learning the metadata rules for the different types of artifacts.
What did you learn about digital library work that surprised you? The fact that “digital library work” is still not a clearly defined field.
Favorite item in the collection?
This dance card is one of a collection from Esther Walls’ college days. Besides being one of the only artifacts in this digital collection that actually belonged to one of the subjects, it references a Daily Iowan photo that I found in the University Archives vertical files. Also, the black ink on black paper [pages 2-3] is intriguing. Was it a secret message or a poor choice of pen?  We may never know…