We have conceived of a process through which Middlebury College community members can propose LIS resources for digitization, and also conceptualized a committee that would evaluate those proposals and prioritize projects.

The first step is the nomination of a project.  This can be done by a curator of a collection or any faculty or staff member or student who feels an LIS resource should be digitized.   The form for nominating such a project is here and we would like to get feedback on it from anyone who has it to offer.  The final version would presumably be a web-based form, but this would be up to the committee.

Here are the guidelines we suggest the committee use to evaluate nominated projects.  Numerical points (on a scale to be established by the committee) would be assigned to each element.  (The guidelines will be made available to nominators so they are aware of the judging criteria when they fill out their nomination form.)

Please pass along your thoughts either in a comment here or email me at holzapfe AT midd….

Our charge:
develop and promulgate digitization standards; to create a process for prioritizing digitization efforts; to create workflows to allow for effective scanning, storage, cataloging, and archiving; to provide access to digital collections through various means.

Our priorities:
* Develop a policy for approving and prioritizing new projects – 12/2009
* Review of existing projects (standards and relevance) – 5/2010
* Work with Collection Management to integrate metadata creation for digital projects into CM workflow – 5/2010
* Investigate best practices for digital preservation actions – 5/2010

And our ‘vision’:

* What you want to accomplish and why

The Digital Archives team will recommend strategies that expand the vision of a digital library and develop policies that best utilize staff expertise to deliver relevant digital resources to the scholarly community.

* “What’s in it for me” for those affected

For collection curators:

* collections will be organized, described, managed and made accessible in alignment with LIS standards and priorities

* established work flows will ensure that projects are prioritized, planned for and completed
* there will be ongoing assessment of collection practices and policies

For scholarly researchers:

o you will have access to valuable materials that have been consistently described

For LIS:

* LIS staff and resources will be used judiciously
* consolidation of material and location of material
* collections will be managed and preserved for the long-term
* you will know why you are working on a particular collection
* projects will typically be completed before moving on
* projects will be seen as belonging to LIS rather than to individuals
* decisions will be based on clearly defined policies and priorities

French Summer School Play – 1941

Bread Loaf School of English-hiking trip in 1929

Bread Loaf School of English play from 1932

Google has recently announced a searchable collection of photographs from the LIFE photo archives. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.

From time to time we will be posting photos from Middlebury’s archives. Many thanks to Danielle for scouring our digital resources for interesting photographs!