Collaborative Digitization Program Strategic Plan, 2003-2006
Note: This document is included for historical purposes only
- Background
- Mission
- Program
- Strategy / Description
- Governance
- Goals and Objectives
- Goal 1
- Goal 2
- Goal 3
- Goal 4
- Goal 5
The Colorado Digitization Project began in the fall, 1998, funded with a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant through the Colorado State Library. During the first year, the Project established the working group infrastructure, which involved representatives from archives, historical societies, libraries and museums which created Best Practice documents or guidelines for metadata and scanning, and a website collection development policy. The CDP website was introduced in January, 1999 and was quickly recognized for its excellent composition and content by such organizations as National Institute of Cultural Heritage (NINCH) and the Berkeley Sunsite . The website hosted a set of resources to assist cultural heritage institution digital resource imaging practitioners in planning digitization projects, provided a set of resources to assist K-12 educators in using digital resources, provided links to all the Colorado cultural heritage institutions with web accessible digital assets. Over the years, the website has grown in both content and purpose, and as a result has been redesigned three times. It is the host site for information on CDP workshops and the workshop presentations. CDP links to many collaborative digitization projects nationally and internationally. With the last redesign CDP changed the domain name to www.cdpheritage.org.
What allowed the CDP to move from a one year project was the awarding by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in 1999 of a National Leadership Grant for Museum-Library Collaboration. This grant provided the funds to put our concepts of collaboration into practice, to build the infrastructure to test our Dublin Core metadata best practices, to create four regional scan centers, to train an initial core of library/museum practitioners and to create an initial 50,000 digital images and associated metadata. Along with a companion Colorado State Library, Library Services and Technology (LSTA) Grant, the CDP and it’s partner organizations the Colorado State Library and the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries, built the Heritage Colorado database, which provides a single point of access to the digital collections of Colorado’s cultural heritage institutions. The Heritage Colorado database is simultaneously accessible via the Colorado Virtual Library www.aclin.org.
Subsequent IMLS grants, Colorado Historical Society State Historical Fund, Colorado State Library and Colorado Regional Library System grants have allowed the CDP to expand the digital content available to the people of the region. With the completion of the 2001 IMLS Western Trails Grant, a new web-accessible collection of digital resources will be available from 5 western states, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming and Utah.
Key to the CDP program has been the development among the cultural heritage institutions of the staff skills associated with digitization, from resource selection to creation of metadata to digital imaging and preservation of digital resources. The CDP has developed a series of workshops that cover the range of topics required to manage a digital asset management project. Since inception more than 1200 individuals have participated in the CDP workshops and seminars nationwide. Training as well as ongoing consulting services are part of the core services provided by the CDP.
Through digitization, the Collaborative Digitization Program, a collaboration of archives, historical societies, libraries and museums of the West, enables access to cultural, historical and scientific heritage collections, thereby increasing understanding of the past and informing future generations.
Program / Strategy / Description
Access to information is becoming increasingly important to all aspects of daily life , including business, education, government and recreation. New technology offers expanded opportunities of accessing information. In the past decade, the region’s information-based historic, scientific and cultural heritage institutions have capitalized on the Internet and the World Wide Web. Information is now being delivered where people work and live. It is now feasible for information seekers to access full text, graphic, audio and video information via the Internet. Since the mid-1990’s cultural heritage institutions have been providing access to the unique and special resources held in the region’s archives, historical societies, libraries and museums by converting these materials to digital format. Because of collaboration across institutions with common interests and goals, the people of the region have access to high quality, easily retrievable resources. Through collaboration, these resources are delivered to the desktop and handheld devise in schools, businesses, and homes. Building on grants from the Colorado State Library, the Institute of Museums and Library Services and other funding agencies, the CDP has established a process for building digital collections created through local collaboration between libraries and archives, museums and historical societies. With training and consultation, an infrastructure of regionally based digital imaging centers, standards and best practices, and a database providing records that describe the digital resources, more than 20% of Colorado’s cultural heritage institutions actively participate in creating and making publicly available digital content. Through the 2001 IMLS Western Trails grants, Wyoming, Kansas and Nebraska have established demonstration collaborative initiatives, trained early adopters, created initial collections on the topic of Western Trails and establishing state databases to support statewide collaboration. With Colorado a 5 state virtual database has been created providing a single point of access to resources on the topic of Western Trails.
The growth and expansion of the efforts must focus on several areas:
Continued creation of digital content by institutions with the capacity to create content.
Continued development of digital expertise among practitioners
Expanded use of the digital collections
Expansion of the CDP collaborative to increase and diversify content and to strengthen and sustain the CDP
Identification of new audiences for digital collection
Expand the capability of sustaining digital collections
Sustainability of the CDP
Monitoring national digitization initiatives to assure creation of quality metadata and digital content; knowledge of interoperability standards; and promote visibility of the CDP as a model collaborative initiative
The CDP began in 1998 as a project, by 2001 it incorporated in Colorado as a not for profit organization as the Collaborative Digitization Program. In 2002, the CDP recognized as a 501c3 organization. These two actions allowed the CDP to establish a membership that would achieve the goals of the organization, recognizing that the knowledge of the West is not bounded by geo-political boundaries and that digitization projects could and would involve partner organizations that would not always be limited to Colorado. The new name—Collaborative Digitization Program— reflects the importance of collaboration, while not limiting the organization to one state allowing the CDP to expand its mission and vision. Since this decision was taken in 2001, the CDP has undertaken a number of projects and grants that involve other states including the four state Western Trails grant and the development of best practices that involved 8 Western states.
To provide online access to digital collections available through cultural heritage institutions
- Objective 1: Increase the access to the resources available through Heritage, reflecting the diversity of resources and collections held by the cultural heritage institutions of the West.
- Objective 2: To provide for interoperability across a variety of collections available through digital collection initiatives
- Objective 3: Contribute to national efforts in developing digital libraries and museums and facilitate collaboration with other regional and statewide digital collaboratives.
- Objective 4: Expand cultural heritage resources beyond the current Heritage database
Increase the capacity of cultural heritage institutions for digital asset management programs.
- Objective 1: Prepare cultural heritage institution practitioners for the creation and use of digital resources through workshops and other learning opportunities
- Objective 2: Encourage digital asset management program funding through a range of funding options, including individual institution investments
- Objective 3: Encourage the preservation of the digital collections at the local institution level.
To encourage, enhance, and expand collaboration among the region's cultural heritage institutions to support the purposes of the members and participants of the CDP
- Objective 1: Provide opportunities for professional networking through working groups, programs and workshops
- Objective 2: Reduce and control costs through variety of resource sharing initiatives
- Objective 3: Utilize strategic partnerships to realize the CDP goals.
- Objective 4: Expand contribution to the Heritage database.
To demonstrate the value of cultural heritage institutions in the digital environment and to increase learning opportunities for educators, museum visitors and library users in collaboration with CDP partners.
- Objective 1: Continue to expose educators in the K-20 and museum community to the use of primary source materials in digital format and the “Teaching with Colorado’s Heritage” grant training materials
- Objective 2: Assist libraries with leading edge projects and trends related to digital resources, enabling libraries to take leadership roles in their academic and community environments.
- Objective 3: Assist cultural heritage organizations with outreach programs directed to lifelong learners, increasing the value of the organization for individual learners.
Assure long term sustainability of the Collaborative Digitization Program
- Objective 1: Diversify the CDP membership base to sustain the program and grow the CDP
- Objective 2: Develop Plans for the Operational sustainability of the CDP
- Objective 3: Creatively utilize technology
