Newsletter: December 2008
Advisory meeting
We wrapped up 2008 with an all-day meeting and workshop for the project’s Advisors and Partners. This was the largest attendance we have ever had at one of our quarterly meetings. We shared lots of information and had many lively discussions. Much of morning meeting time was spent discussing new workflow procedures, in which the Hunter has assumed more of the responsibilities for creating metadata and uploading scanned items. The Home Team carefully outlined how we arrived at this point, beginning with the scrambled metadata problem we’ve encountered with CONTENTdm. The HL project team can now monitor the database much more closely with limited input. We shared the new metadata Word template with the group and several Partners reported that the new form was not difficult to use and that they had made the transition to using it without any problems. Several reported that the form was easier to use than the original CONTENTdm upload procedure.
Partner submissions
We discussed work that needs to be completed before the expiration of this year’s State Library grant period. Half of the project’s Partners—Hunter Library Special Collections, Mountain Heritage Center, and the Campbell Folk School—have met their target numbers and have exhausted Craft-Revival-era-related work in their collections. Partners will continue with enhancements; the Mountain Heritage Center will create 360° rotations of particular artifacts and Special Collections will continue to work on two additional travelogues. The Southern Highland Craft Guild has been sending in images from 1940s and 1950s Craftsman’s Fairs; the Guild will next turn their attention to adding images of weaving patterns. In December Penland photographed a number of craft objects in the PSC collection and Kate Carter has scanned programs from the annual Cherokee fairs in the Museum of the Cherokee collection. At Qualla, we continue to focus on baskets and basket makers. Several Partners are working on finding aids.
Search page
Probably the biggest change to the project this month has been a simplification of the Search page. From the outset, the project assigned Library of Congress Subject Headings to individual database entries; however, these were not being applied evenly. Rather than confuse searchers using the LCSH terms, we’ve taken these off the Search page temporarily. Anna Craft and Tim Carstens are working on a plan to re-examine how these terms are applied to individual items. As a team, we will review the use of the search terms and establish rules for usage before adding the LCSH terms back onto the Search page. In the meantime, the Search page is much clearer and searches are cleaner and more consistent. See the new look at:
http://craftrevival.wcu.edu/advancedsearch.html
New on the website
We have added the first of a series of Cherokee basket weavers’ biographies to the site. Eva Wolfe was one of Cherokee’s finest. You can read about her at:
http://craftrevival.wcu.edu/people/evawolfe.html
We have several other basket weavers biographies and images in the pipeline. Lucas Rogers has scanned folders from Qualla Arts and Crafts Archive including those of Lottie Stamper, Martha Ross, Emma Taylor, Julia Taylor, and Julia Taylor’s daughters, Rachel Taylor and Sally Ann Wade. Anna F. is working on the descriptive metadata.
New on the database
This month we have new images from the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, John C. Campbell Folk School, and the Southern Highland Craft Guild. From the Museum of the Cherokee, we have added scans of photographs taken by scholar Sarah H. Hill, documenting Cherokee baskets. However, due to the poor quality of these photographs, we are considering simply making new photographs and replacing these with better images. From the Folk School, there are new images of Olive Campbell, Granny Donaldson, and Louise Pitman. From the Guild, we have scans of historical photographs taken at the Craftsman's Fair of the Southern Highlands. These photos document fairs from 1948 to 1953, and include shots of Lawrence Boone, Oscar Cantrell, Goingback Chiltoskey, Emma Conley, Allen Eaton, A. Ben Hall, Jack Hall, and Ralph and Lucy Morgan. If you would like to see any of these items, type the name into the Search box at:
http://craftrevival.wcu.edu/advancedsearch.html
Training
Tim, Anna C., and Serenity Richards participated in a 3-hour web seminar on CONTENTdm 5. They learned about upgrades and changes in the new version. Along with other members of the Cataloging Unit, they also took part in an in-house training session on controlled vocabulary. This focused on the form of personal names used in the Library of Congress Authority file and its application to the Craft Revival project Creator and Contributor fields.
Evaluations
Anna has been working with R&L Consulting, an Asheville group that specializes in museum project evaluations. With R&L, we will be using an “outcomes-based evaluation” approach as is recommended by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Hilary Perez, of the State Library, has contacted Anna F. about the State Library’s end-of-year evaluation. No dates have been set for either of these activities, but we are aiming to complete them in April or May.
Partners workshop
At the Advisory meeting, we discussed having a spring Advisory/Partner meeting, probably in March. At that time, we plan to host a workshop for Partners on Final Cut, a video-editing program. We also talked about reviewing database items as a group to select certain items for 360° rotations.
Basket makers workshop
Anna’s been talking with Vicki Cruz at the Qualla co-op about hosting a workshop with contemporary basket weavers to gather their input and corrections to the documentation of baskets and basket weavers.
Project launch
In discussing plans for a project “launch,” several Partners were interested in participating. Anna will be discussing the launch further with Guild librarian Deb Schillo and HandMade in America’s Jenny Moore. We are talking about holding the launch in Asheville at the Guild’s Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Cherokee Preservation Foundation
On December 1st, the Hunter Library submitted a grant to the Cherokee Preservation Foundation to continue working with Qualla Arts and Crafts and the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. This grant will fund the second phase of Cherokee crafts documentation. A booklet on pottery will be produced as part of the From the Hands of our Elders series.
Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Hunter is also working on a Library and Museum Collaboration Grant to be submitted to the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The proposed project is a collaboration between the Hunter and two of its current project partners, Qualla Arts and Crafts and the Museum of the Cherokee. The project focuses on preservation issues that face collecting institutions, but are critical to smaller organizations that may not have the staff or tools to care for important cultural works in their care. The project is focused on workflow, professional development, and capacity building as necessary to collections care and first steps in preparation for digital projects. The grant will be submitted on Feb. 1st.
Anna Fariello
Hunter Library | Library Insider | Last updated: 1/9/09 Melissa Young