Press Release - $20,000 for Statewide Digitization Project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ann Jenks
December 18, 2008
(701) 328-2668

BISMARCK -- The State Historical Society of North Dakota and the State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB) have been awarded a $20,000 grant for a statewide digitization project. The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) grant project, which will run through November 2009, is designed to provide Internet access to up to 100 images from each of 10 historical organizations throughout the state.

For this digitization grant project 10 local historical societies will be selected to participate. Application forms are available by contacting State Archivist Ann Jenks at (701) 328-2668 or email at ajenks@nd.gov .

The NHPRC project will undertake the scanning and supply of descriptive information (metadata) of selected images from 10 historical societies statewide, ensuring all images maintain the standards already in place for the Digital Horizons partnership. This pilot project will integrate collections from smaller repositories into the consortium enabling wider access to the materials and giving local institutions the opportunity to showcase their collections and attract new users and new donors. The project will lay the groundwork for a broader project to bring in additional repositories and digital images.

The digitization project’s purpose is to provide and promote access and will specifically target use of digital materials by teachers and school librarians. Additionally, contact with the local repositories will be expanded to include conversations on general archival fundamentals such as environmental conditions, preservation, and ownership/copyright documentation.

At the completion of the grant period the SHRAB will be better informed of the statewide historical community needs and the types and quantities of collections at the various repositories. The SHRAB will be able to further promote preservation and access to archival materials in the state by working with and providing assistance to the local institutions. The outcomes will be increased outreach to, and collaboration with, historical institutions statewide; increased awareness by the general population of the importance of preserving cultural heritage; and increased expertise in archival principles at the local historical institutions.

In 2007, North Dakota State University Institute for Regional Studies, Concordia College Archives in Moorhead, Minnesota, Prairie Public Broadcasting, and the State Historical Society of North Dakota entered into a partnership to create a digital repository of the region’s unique and historical resources. They are using the CONTENTdm software to mount the digital items into a publicly searchable database called “Digital Horizons.” To date close to 8,500 images have been added to Digital Horizons including photographs, maps, video, and several editions of the North Dakota Blue Book. New items continue to be loaded on a weekly basis. To view what is currently available go to http://digitalhorizonsonline.org

An additional digitization project, the Chester Fritz Library Digital Collections, began at the University of North Dakota Library in 2005. Thousands of photographs, political cartoons, and newspaper clippings are available for viewing at: http://www.library.und.edu/digital/index.htm

In 2004, the SHRAB conducted a survey of local historical societies, museums, and libraries statewide to determine if they held manuscripts, photographs, organizational records, local government records, audiovisual materials, and oral histories. Forty-eight of the institutions that responded reported they held one or more of these materials. The historical materials exist across the state and this grant project aims to begin to make them widely available. For this digitization project 10 historical societies will be selected to participate in Dakota Horizons.

Criteria for Participation and Selection of Items to be Digitized:

• Participants must be North Dakota organizations and willing to provide images to be uploaded to the Digital Horizons internet site (housed at NDSU) or the Chester Fritz Library Digital Collections internet site (housed at UND)
• The institution must hold property rights to the collection or items and have the right to make them available to the public for research
• Descriptive information about the images should be available
• Images must relate to North Dakota or Dakota Territory
• Images must be unique – not already in the Digital Horizons database or the Chester Fritz Library Digital Collections database
• Images should be of good quality, in focus and with sharp contrast
• Items must have historic significance
• tems can include written documents, sound recordings, moving images, photographic prints, maps and sheet music.

Applicants will be asked to submit photocopies of items they would like to have considered. Once the participating institutions are selected, Digital Project Archivists will assist in the scanning of selected images either brought by the contributors to a centralized scanning center, or will travel to the institution with scanning equipment. The project archivists will provide training and quality control to ensure standardized digital file resolution and size and metadata description practices. They will also work with institution staff in providing the most complete description possible for each image. Each institution will provide preferred contact information for image duplication requests. Each participating institution will receive CDs or DVDs containing the master TIF scans.

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