Newsletter: April 2009
Contentdm migration
Our database host, Contentdm is upgrading its service, and has been working closely with the project's Metadata Librarian, Anna Craft, to make a smooth transition from the older system to the new. The migration is taking place as we speak and, we hope, you will notice little in the way of unintended effects. We opted not to put a notice on our website that the change was taking place with the hope that the transition will be smooth enough that visitors will not notice.
Uploads to the database
The project team continues to upload new items to the database. This month there are 27 new basket and basket maker photographs from Qualla with new artists represented, including Elsie Watty and Minda Wolfe. We've uploaded four 1940s Cherokee Indian fair programs from the Museum of the Cherokee, a map from the Folk School, and three documents from Penland.
Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual
Lucas Rogers photographed the first batch of white oak baskets (included in the upload above) using a new setup that includes a backdrop and mini computer. The system is working well and allows for immediate feedback to determine if additional photographs are needed. Anna F. made a presentation about the Hunter Library and the Craft Revival project to Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual Board of Directors earlier this month, explaining the project, roles of individual partners, and goals. Through closer contact with individual craftsmen, we hope to gather data on some of the Craft Revival-era figures.
New on the website
A new biography of Lizzie and Edmund Youngbird is on the site.
http://www.wcu.edu/craftrevival/people/youngbird.html
Note also the new links on every page that direct visitors to an off-site survey.see next.
Evaluation
The project team evaluation project-led by Jason Woolf-has created and linked two surveys to the project website to gather information for an overall evaluation of the project. Our Home Team is working with R & L Consulting to help interpret the data. A. J. Rhodes helped us create 2 surveys, one for teachers and one for the general public. She will be writing up an evaluation of the site based on data gathered from the surveys and from feedback at the project launch.
Project Launch
Hunter Library is hosting a region-wide event to launch its online digital collection. Headlined by author Jeff Biggers, and featuring an interactive workshop, the event begins Friday, May 22nd at 6:30 p.m. at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville. Jeff Biggers is author of the popular history text, United States of Appalachia. Biggers and Craft Revival Director, Anna Fariello will use the website to demonstrate Biggers' thesis that Appalachia was a think tank for many of the nation's newest ideas, rather than a backward and isolated region.
The Saturday Interactive Workshop will allow visitors to use the Craft Revival website as a research tool. Staffed interactive workstations will provide opportunities for participants to try out the website in a variety of ways. These include a K-12 teacher station to facilitate the use of lesson plans and educational resources; a Research station using the website to identify objects; a Digital station to outline basic scanning techniques; and a Scavenger hunt station where participants will solve research questions.
Registration for the Interactive Workshop begins Saturday, May 23rd at 9 a.m. Both events are free and open to the public. Teachers who wish to receive CEU credit should pre-register by contacting HandMade in America's Norma Bradley at 828-298-8555 or normabradley@mindspring.com. A flyer is attached.
Other outreach activities
Kate Carter and Jason Woolf set up display boards at various events to spread the word about the project. Information about the project and native dye plants-with images and documents taken from the digital collection-were shown at several spring festivals. Kate reports: On Saturday, April 18th, the Craft Revival Project presented a natural dyeing demonstration at the 2nd Annual Appalachian Growers Fair at Monteith Park in Dillsboro. The presentation included a tabletop exhibit about natural dyes that featured text panels and photographs explaining how cotton and flax were processed and how indigo and black walnut bark were used to dye textiles. Reprints of two historic dye books were available for visitors to look at, and many marveled at the wide variety of common, but little-known, dyestuffs that were used to dye textiles. Approximately 125 visitors throughout the day came by to watch the demonstration, ask about the display and dyes, and take information about the Craft Revival project. The following Saturday, the same display was set up at the Town of Sylva's "Greening up the Mountains" festival, and many visitors stopped by. There was a great deal of interest in the reproduction dye booklets, and many visitors asked about the possibility of purchasing copies. They were delighted to learn that all the dye recipes are available at no charge from our database, and many visitors took rack cards and said they intended to visit the website.
Craft Revival in the news
The Craft Revival project launch flyer was included in April and May's Museums in Partnership newsletter. We have extended a special invitation to museum professionals to attend the launch.
Professional travel: Anna C.
Anna C. attended the Digital Curation conference in Chapel Hill and reported back to the team. Anna thought that conference sessions were valuable, and the Hunter was glad to have her representing our digital project. She did note, however, that for the most part, the sessions were aimed at much larger institutions. At our Home Team meeting, we have talked about developing our project as a model for small to mid-sized institutions.
Professional travel: Anna F.
Anna F. was one of 30 Appalachian scholars invited to meet with the staff of the Appalachian Regional Commission, a federal agency. The goal of the get-together was to help provide a blueprint for positive growth in the region. While in Washington, Anna was able to visit the National Museum of American Indian.
Metadata fields
The Home Team has been discussing site navigation and searches. We hope to make some improvements before the end of the project year. Our main interest is in the addition of a LC Subject Heading that would capture the "subject" of the digital file. Right now, for example, you can find baskets by Rowena Bradley by clicking on her name in the Creator field, but to find photographs of her, one has to depend on a key word search that often turns up extraneous images.
Preservation copies and backups
Over the course of the past year, the project provided external hard drives to partners. Many partners requested this because their computer hard drives were filling up with very large, uncompressed tiff images. Here in the library, we have added the same hard drives to the project's computers. Jason and Kate are in the process of transferring images from the master CDs onto the hard drives. We will continue maintain the preservation copy CDs-Kate indexes those that have been uploaded-we plan to have several full sets of master images stored on the external hard drives as well.
Staff changes
The Hunter Library has hired Joel Marchesoni as part of its Systems Unit. Joel is taking Melissa Young's place on the project as web support. Robin Hitch will continue to provide other technical support as well. We are fortunate to have both Joel and Robin working with us. Many thanks to Melissa for her 4 years of work on the project. Melissa brought good ideas to the team and her web expertise is legendary. Our best to you, Melissa.
LSTA/ECHO site visit
A team from the State Library of NC will be coming to talk with us. We hope that all of our project Partners can come to talk about their experiences with the project. Advisors are welcome. The meeting will be held on Friday, July 10th in Qualla Arts and Crafts main gallery in Cherokee. Please save this date and join us. I will pass on additional information to you as it comes to me.
Anna
Hunter Library | Library Insider | Last updated: 5/4/2009 Joel Marchesoni