Newsletter: December 2006
Home Team meeting
December is a short month in academia, but for the Craft Revival project there is ample news. During our monthly Home Team meeting, we discussed the concerns of the interim monitoring team: watermarking, copyright, scan numbers, and search options. We also discussed the pros and cons of having the project’s images loaded individually into World Cat. The advantage of this would be that folks could get to some pretty obscure brochures and that, in finding them, they would discover the project’s site. The down side is whether or not the Hunter Library can support the backing up of added material, although this is something that is routinely done by the Library’s Cataloging Unit.
Advisory meeting
The week after the Home Team meeting, we hosted the largest Advisory meeting that the project has ever had. The group welcomed Bo Taylor, archivist for the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in anticipation of his new role as a Year III Heritage Partner. This meeting had been slated as a “brainstorming” session focused on the future. While we did brainstorm, the focus stayed closer to the present as we discussed the interim site visit and issues raised by the monitoring team. Hal Keiner explained the grant review process from the NC ECHO perspective and we talked about what needs to be in place before the grant application is due (Feb.) and the grant review (April). I will outline major points of the discussion below.
Partners meeting
As always, we followed the Advisory meeting with the working group of Heritage Partners and Library Home Team, to discuss specific issues and problems in depth. The Mountain Heritage Center plans to finish their coverlets and then will begin on scanning/describing hand tools in their collection. The Campbell Folk School plans to complete the Ulmann images and then move on to their Brasstown Carvings. Ada Dudenhoeffer, Southern Highland Craft Guild publicist, requested a spring meeting of Heritage Partner publicity staffers. In tandem with the WCU Public Relations office, we’ve recently communicated with each organization’s publicist to provide them with information about the project to include on their website or mailings. This meeting will be scheduled for later in the spring. Spring will also be the time that we’ll host two Teacher Advisory meetings, including an all-day teacher workshop.
Scan numbers
Scan numbers continue to be an issue, but the tide seems to be turning. As we’ve hit the project’s halfway mark, we are only 1/5 of the way toward our overall database goal numbers. Since the meeting, Michelle submitted a report on behalf of Penland demonstrating her target scan numbers and how she is achieving them. Penland, along with the Guild, are well ahead of their numbers and the database continues to grow. In discussing strategies for improving our numbers, Hal suggested that Partners focus on compound objects. While they are more complicated to create, there is only one data sheet for many scans.
Incoming scans
Just a reminder to all, that when Partners send in a scan, it can’t be uploaded until it is complete. That is, you need on the same DVD a complete set—master, access, thumbnail, and data—for an image to go into the database. If you forgot something and want to go back, please don’t send pieces, just reformat your set and re-burn onto the DVD. It is almost impossible for Melissa to find scans previously sent and match them up with new pieces. And please don’t forget those Scan Logs!
Database
Finally, we seem to have settled upon some rules regarding data entered into Content dm and haven’t had to revisit that issue in awhile. The data is beginning to look rich and the descriptions are consistent enough to present a coherent set of data. One point made by Ginny Daley was the emphasis on what she called the “modern hand.” Any notes or concerns expressed by the archivist can be indicated in square brackets []. This came up in response to David Brose’s question about multiple spellings: Greene vs. Green. Ginny suggested we display both, as “Greene [Green].”
Content
As Project Leader, I’ve been consumed by project management and, along with the Library Home Team, have improved procedures that allow for a cleaner workflow of work on the database. With time apart from the database, I am turning my attention to building the storyboard and have written the first of two biographies and am working on additional content. At the suggestion of the interim visiting team, these new web pages will be more in-depth than the previous and will include footnotes to facilitate further research.
Lesson Plans
Working with the Teacher Liaison and the Teacher Advisory group, grad students Jada Hansen and Patrick Velde finished the first two lesson plans. Mary Jean Herzog, the grad students, and teacher advisors have completed several more lesson plans that will be uploaded in January.
Scene setting
At the meeting, George Frizzell presented a draft of several “scene setting” pages that he and Melissa were working on. George drew from travel guide images to create a driving “tour” of the region as it appeared during the period of the Craft Revival.
Watermark
After much discussion at both meetings about the watermark and the fact that the monitoring team didn’t like it, both Advisory group and Heritage Partners agreed to keep it the way that it is to protect proprietary images. We will be more careful not to obscure important parts of the images; at the same time, we do want the watermark to be centrally located on the image. We discussed adding a statement to indicate the importance of protecting images from mass production in our digital age. This is something we’ll take up with the Teacher Advisory as well.
Year III Partnerships
I have been working closely with undergraduate student Tonya Carroll at Qualla Arts to develop a complete list of what Qualla will want to scan as a Year III Partner. We plan to finish this work with both Qualla and the Cherokee Museum in January, so that both organizations will be ready with the necessary paperwork for the Year III grant application.
January meeting
We will hold our next meeting on January 24th, following the same format with the exception that we’ll begin at 9:30 am. The focus of this meeting will be the grant application—due in February. The afternoon group will talk about how their individual Partner pieces fit into the overall project plan and will strategize on how to complete needed pieces before the grant deadline. Again, please bring your calendars to this meeting as it is much easier to schedule subsequent meetings in person. It is also very helpful if Advisors respond—with a simple yeah or nay—to the student’s first call for lunch orders.
I wish all of you a very Happy Holiday season and Happy New Year.
Anna Fariello
Hunter Library | Library Insider | Last updated: 12/21/06 Melissa Young