David Gwynn

Community connections, community collections: Building partner support for collaborative digitization projects

PurposeThis paper aims to explore library–community collaboration from both a theoretical and practical perspective, highlighting successful collaborative strategies and projects and illustrating important considerations for libraries that are considering community partnerships.Design/methodology/approachThis paper consists of a literature review and several “capsule” case studies of projects completed at one academic library to illustrate principles that can result in successful collaborative projects.FindingsLibrary–community collaboration presents significant benefits if the needs and priorities of all collaborating partners are taken into account. Successful projects will use the strengths of one partner to balance the weaknesses of another, will be based on shared goals, will offer credit to all partners and will result in stronger relationships for all involved.Originality/valueAlthough library–community partnerships are not uncommon, many of these partnerships are housed in public libraries or involve only large, institutional players. This paper explores several non-traditional academic library initiatives involving youth service learning and outreach to smaller community groups that might otherwise be ignored by large university libraries.

Managing Digital Cultural Objects: Analysis, Discovery and Retrieval, Edited by Allen Foster and Pauline Rafferty [book review]

As digital initiatives in galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAMs) have moved beyond simple projects presenting scanned representations of photographs and other two-dimensional objects, the need for resources on a more diverse array of digitization and digital humanities projects has become more and more apparent. Allen Foster and Pauline Rafferty have made a significant contribution addressing this need with Managing Digital Cultural Objects: Analysis, Discovery, and Retrieval, published by Facet Publishing in the United Kingdom and ALA-Neal-Schuman in the United States. This review is based on the U.K. version; the U.S. release has a different cover and a different layout, though the content seems to be identical.

Cultural heritage information: Access and management, edited by Ian Ruthven and G. G. Chowdhury

Digitization of cultural heritage resources and the related discipline of Digital Humanities have been key discussion topics among librarians, archivists, and museum professionals for two decades or more, with issues as diverse as imaging ethics, costs, metadata interoperability, usability, and preservation driving the conversations. With a nod to the specific distinctions between digitized primary source materials and born-digital collections, Ian Ruthven and Gobinda Chowdhury provide background, theoretical context, and a measure of attention to future trends with regard to the creation, presentation, and management of digitized cultural heritage material.

Uncovering Social History: An Interdepartmental Approach to Scrapbook Digitization

In 2011, staff at the University Libraries of the University of North Carolina at Greensboroembarked on a collaborative, cross-departmental project to digitize a large collection ofscrapbooks—a notoriously difficult material type. This article documents challenges, workflows,and lessons learned in the areas of processing, preservation, digitization, and metadata creationfor scrapbooks.