NGIN Northwest Government Information Network Minutes: April 28, 2003

Individuals Present:

President Robin Clausen, President-Elect Jan Jorgensen, Past President Carlos Diaz, Treasurer Marilyn Von Seggern, Sue Selmer, Thomas Yeh, Lily Wai, Jean Marie Clemmons, Lorena O’English, Marlys Rudeen, Mary Nofsinger.

I. Program Presentations

Program Theme: Digitizing Documents

Guest Speakers:
Trevor Bond, WSU Special Collections
Al Cornish, WSU Library Systems and
Marlys Rudeen, Washington State Library

Marilyn Von Seggern introduced Virginia Steel, Washington State University Library Director. Virginia Steel welcomed everyone to WSU and highlighted the significant role documents librarians play in making information available and accessible.

Marilyn introduced presenters Al Cornish, from WSU Library Systems, and Trevor Bond, from WSU Special Collections, and briefly described their involvement with the Early Washington Maps Digitization Project.

Al Cornish presented information on the selection of software and metadata used for the Early Washington Maps project.

• CONTENTdm Software Suite, http://contentdm.com/, was the chosen software. CONTENTdm allowed WSU and UW the option of setting-up fifty acquisition licenses, enabling faculty members to easily add new resources to the database. The software package also permitted digital materials to be presented in multiple ways and displayed to a screen without first loading items onto a hard drive.
• Fifteen core elements were selected for the metadata sets. Software allowed for the selection of searchable fields and the input of local vocabulary. A draft of the data dictionary used for the project is available at http://www.lib.washington.edu/msd/mig/datadicts/wamaps.html
• Mr. Sid imaging was used, http://www.lizardtech.com/, to create tiff files that allow the maps to be manipulated. The file compression ratio of 12 to 1 provided the necessary detail for reproduction. JPEG 2000 software, soon to be released, is another option for digitization projects. It is not proprietary software and it can be easily manipulate data. More information is available at http://www.aware.com/products/compression/jpeg2000.html.

Trevor Bond presented information on how the digitization for the Early Washington Map project was performed, and demonstrated various methods for accessing and using digital collections.

• The best clarity was achieved through the in house scanning of maps. Photographic images had the advantage of not being pieced together, but scanned images that had been pieced together provided better clarity than photographs.
• Innovative Interfaces allows the imbedding of an image into a bibliographic record, using the Media Management module, http://www.iii.com/products/millennium/digitalcollections.shtml. This function works with local records only, and is not accessible through Cascade.
• “Historical Map Collection” was entered in the 710 (corporate author) field of MARC records for materials in the Early Washington Maps digital collection.
• Users seem to prefer software products that allow the immediate viewing of documents online, such as SID or JPEG 2000. Downloading is still an option, but the needs of most users can be met by providing onscreen viewing.
• Photographs are generally signed over to the library as a “deed of gift”, allowing digitization and avoiding the violation of copyright laws.

Marlys Rudeen presented information on the Census Digitizing Project being conducted at the Washington State Library. This project includes both digitizing original census pages and the entering of information included on these pages into searchable fields.

• The Census Digitizing Project combines records held by the Washington State Archives and the Washington State Library, and utilizes not only census data, but also naturalization records, and other data that provides genealogical information.
• The earliest census data for Washington State was collected in 1851. In 1853, Washington Territory was established, Isaac Stevens was appointed Territorial Governor and the first census of Washington Territory was completed by U.S. Marshal J. Patton. Anderson. Beginning in 1877, census data was collected every two years by the County Assessors for the purpose of registering voters and collecting taxes. The decennial census conducted by the federal government provides additional information. All of these information and data resources are being compiled into a single database that includes digitized images. See http://www.secstate.wa.gov/history/search.aspx

Indexing [entering metadata] for the Census Project is being performed by volunteers. The censuses conducted by County Assessors do not have a standard format, so the questions asked and the amount of information gathered varies widely from county to county. There are also many problems caused by variations in the spelling of place names and personal names, and illegible handwriting. All of the information goes through a proofreading after the initial entry of data. Users can zoom in and out on the images and print copies.

• Other digitizing projects at the Washington State Library include: Thurston County Pioneers Before 1870, a collection with digital images and biographical information (http://digitalwa.statelib.wa.gov/pioneer/index.htm); a Newspaper Project that will create a database identifying the history and geography of newspapers published in Washington State, and the Territorial Collection, digitizing Washington Territory records published from 1520 to 1853.

Links to Washington State Digital Collections are maintained at http://digitalwa.statelib.wa.gov/wscollections.htm

Lorena O'English, Political Science Subject Specialist and Reference Librarian and Cheryl Gunselman, Manuscripts Librarian provided a tour of the Foley Collection, and a behind the scenes view of WSU’s special library collections and preservation program.

II. NGIN Meeting

President Robin Clausen called the meeting to order at 2:15 p.m.

1. Reports from Spring 2003 Depository Library Council Meeting

Lily Wai provided a written summary and verbal report on issues discussed during a GPO / regional depository librarian’s conference call she participated in on April 2, 2003. Issues discussed included: setting up “super-regional libraries”, transforming the role of depository inspectors so that they perform consulting and training services for depository libraries, developing a National Collection of federal depository documents at GPO.

A report on issues discussed at the Depository Library Council Meeting, held in Reno Nevada April 6-9, 2003, was provided by participants: Lily, Jean Marie, Carlos, Robin and Marilyn.

The new Public Printer, Bruce R. James, attended the entire DLC Meeting. Many suggestions regarding changes in the federal depository library program were discussed.

The issue of Administrative Notes published May 1, 2003 includes presentations and responses to the recommendations: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/adnotes/ad050103.html.

Minutes from DLC meetings are located at: http://ngin.askcarlos.com/minutes.html

2. NGIN Business

Minutes from the last NGIN Business Meeting, October 28, 2002 at Washington State Library in Tumwater, Washington, were approved.

Treasurer Marilyn Von Seggern reported that a balance of $534.00 was currently available in the treasury. Members were reminded that annual dues would be collected in July.

NGIN members briefly discussed how financial difficulties experienced by GPO, Washington State Library, universities, and public libraries effected depository libraries. Until more information regarding budgets is released and administrative decisions are finalized, the future of depository libraries in Washington State can’t be conclusively determined.

During a previous meeting, NGIN members had discussed the idea of offering a program and/or maintaining a booth at statewide library conferences. This concept was revisited, and members agreed that advertising the resources and services we have available in depository libraries would be valuable. NGIN has enough money in the treasury to cover any expenses incurred. Robin will obtain information regarding the cost and deadline for submitting a program for the WLA conference next spring.

The next NGIN meeting should be held during October 2003. Members discussed potential sites, and decided that this meeting would provide a good opportunity to see the new UW Law Library. Jan Jorgensen will contact NGIN members at UW to determine possible dates and topics for a meeting at this location.

The meeting adjourned at 3:35 p.m.