Western Trails

Western Trails explored the adaptability/adoptability of the Colorado Digitization Project model for collaboration among cultural heritage institutions, focusing digitization efforts on a statewide basis. The State Libraries of Wyoming, Nebraska, and Kansas led these explorations.

Western Trails was a multi-state themed digitization project with cultural heritage institutions from four states on the topic of Western trails. A total of 20,000 new images were created through the initiative. The development of a web exhibit provided themed exhibits, incorporating content from the full range of participating institutions. Best practices for the multi-state initiative in the area of metadata and scanning were updated to include other Western States. A virtual catalog provides access to the digital metadata created through the project using Z39.50 technology. Training partner archivists, curators and librarians in the digital library technology required of the project was planned throughout. Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming also created state databases to hold the metadata and support the interoperability required for Western Trails.