Action for Libraries
Meet the CDP
By Brenda Bailey-Hainer, Executive Director
BCR recently announced that the Collaborative Digitization Program (CDP) will merge into BCR effective April 1. In the past CDP has provided training, consulting and grant opportunities to institutions across the country — often in BCR member states — but many of you may be unfamiliar with the history of CDP and its accomplishments to date.¹
Originally founded in 1999 as the Colorado Digitization Project through an LSTA² grant from the Colorado State Library, CDP quickly gained a following within the state. From the very beginning, projects included libraries working together with museums, historical societies and archives (collectively known as cultural heritage institutions or CHIs). Before any digitization efforts were undertaken, a significant amount of time was spent in careful planning and needs assessment. This ensured that libraries and CHIs, which share many of the same concerns with preserving and making cultural content available, spoke the same language and agreed upon common standards and best practices for their collaborative projects.
Although the CDP began as a project focused on Colorado, it rapidly became a focal point for collaboration between organizations from many other states. A perfect example of their collaborative output is the Western Trails project, funded through an IMLS (Institute for Museum and Library Services) grant in 2001, which was centered on the theme of trails that transcend state boundaries. It included contributed materials from many organizations in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Utah and Wyoming.
CDP has been the successful recipient of many IMLS grants. These include:
- Heritage Colorado (1999)
- Western Trails (2001)
- Teaching with Colorado's Heritage (2001)
- Colorado's Historic Newspaper Collection (2003)
- Sound Model: A Collaborative Infrastructure for Digital Audio (2004)
Once the success of these projects was demonstrated, additional funding for new and continuing programs came from a number of other sources, such as a Colorado Historical Society State Historical Fund grant used for Colorado's Main Streets, which digitized walking tours of historic towns in Colorado. After Colorado's Historic Newspaper Collection was launched (a program now managed by the Colorado State Library), it attracted significant funding from libraries, municipal governments, museums, historical societies and private donors. This additional funding now greatly exceeds the grant funding that originally created the resource.
Sound Model, a recently completed IMLS grant, is one of CDP's most interesting and challenging undertakings so far. The grant made available such diverse audio files as Allen Ginsberg reading from his works at Naropa University, interviews with northern Nevada Paiutes and the reminiscences of a female laborer who worked in the Omaha meat packing industry. These and other audio materials are available through the online exhibit The West Out Loud (www.cdpheritage.org/exhibit/soundModel/index.cfm).
Many school librarians and K-12 teachers have benefited from the workshops CDP offers on incorporating digital primary source materials into curriculum. The numerous lesson plans posted on the CDP Web site offer continued support to teachers striving to make more effective use of technology in the classroom.
One of the biggest factors in CDP's success is the working groups. These groups are populated with representatives from various CDP members or participants in grant projects. Focused on specific tasks, such as reviewing standards for metadata or digital images, these groups meet virtually on a regular basis to help maintain best practices and standards and to create new ones, to provide input into grant project development and to benefit from networking opportunities in these relatively narrow interest areas. The collective knowledge of the working group participants has proved to be invaluable in designing and informing successful grant projects.
The CDP@BCR, as the new merged initiative is called, will continue to embrace the participation of existing CDP members as well as create opportunities for other BCR member institutions that have not participated in the past. Please take a moment to explore the exciting online exhibits available on the CDP Web site as well as the wealth of helpful information such as best practices and standards that are housed there (www.cdpheritage.org/).
²LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) is a program of the Institute for Museum and Libray Services (www.imls.gov/).