Thursday, December 20, 2012

Congratulations, Stephanie!

It is with great pleasure I announce that Stephanie Wolff has been promoted to Assistant Conservator. A major responsibility of this new position is to be the conservation digital liaison, which will manage workflow and treatment assessment for conservation work needed in response to digital projects. In addition Stephanie will be further integrated into the evaluation and treatment of special collections material.

Stephanie joined Preservation Services full time in May of 2006. Since then she has trained numerous students to perform routine conservation treatments and has treated extensively, items from special collections. In 2011 she received her MALS degree from Dartmouth, with her studies focusing on “the book”. In addition to her preservation duties, she is an instructor in the Book Arts Workshop.

Please join me in congratulating Stephanie.
Written by Deborah Howe.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

To Great Teamwork


Almost ten years ago John Cocklin, Economics and Social Science Data Librarian, was contacted by Readex (a division of NewsBank Corporation) to borrow a small number of volumes from the U. S. Congressional Serial Set. They were digitizing their microfilm edition of the Serial Set and wanted to scan color images from our printed copies in order to enhance the product they were developing. On the success of that initial loan, Readex approached John about a collaboration of a much greater scope. A full color digital edition of the American State Papers (1789-1838) and the U. S. Congressional Serial Set from 1817-1980 using Dartmouth’s paper copy.

(See The U.S. Congressional Serial Set Project for a summary)

This would be a major undertaking and involve collecting, conserving, transporting, and re-shelving over 14,000 volumes. The joint venture began in 2005 and was projected to be completed in 4 years. For a variety of reasons, including expanding the project to include other publications and staffing ebb and flow, it has (happily from our view) doubled in duration so that we are in the 8th and final year.

Scholars have benefited from the digitized Serial Set, and the ability to search the full-text of the contents has led to new discoveries. An example is the number of women who served as men in the War of 1812 and the Civil War. The Serial Set contains a larger number of petitions to Congress for pensions from these women, indicating the practice was more prevalent than previous research had indicated.

The success of the joint project is in large part due to teamwork. In the early stages, there were almost daily emails or phone calls between the project managers and key project staff. As the normal rhythm took over, the need for daily communication lessened but is still there. Readex staff might identify a missing scan and Dartmouth staff will track it down in the stacks to verify if it exists. If a Dartmouth patron needs to borrow a volume that is at Readex, we know they will have it back in Hanover within twenty-four hours.

Every year the project team members gather to talk about what is working, what could be improved, and what we see happening in the coming months. We’ve gotten into the habit of each taking turns hosting the event. When the Readex team comes to Dartmouth they are able to check on the physical volumes and double check the item count in order to adjust their benchmarks. When we visit Readex we are able to touch base with the scan operators and provide training updates on book handling. As the Library’s digital program has taken shape, we have learned useful project management tips from our Readex colleagues. Our last project meeting was at Readex in Chester, VT and focused on winding down the project sometime in April 2013.

Teamwork – something to celebrate.

Written by Barbara Sagraves.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Digital Production: Tools of the Trade

Today I'd like to highlight the Digital Production Unit, a cozy corner of Baker Library where we, along with the crucial help of many other library departments and staff, help to bring digital content to the Dartmouth community.

Baker 02: where the magic happens

Any good workshop needs the right tools for the job, and ours is no different. As I mentioned in my post about Optical Character Recognition, the Digital Production Unit deals with a very wide variety of library materials, from 18th century manuscripts to an audio lecture by J. Robert Oppenheimer and related materials. It is a simple fact that Dartmouth Library's Special Collections have a fantastic variety of useful scholarly objects, and it behooves us to be as versatile and efficient as possible in bringing these into digital space.

Scanning workstations

Our most commonly used pieces of equipment are our two flatbed scanners: the Epson Perfection V750-Pro and the Epson Expression 10000XL.

Epson Perfection V750-Pro

The Perfection V750 is an excellent consumer-level machine. It's small, relatively inexpensive, and perfectly able to create high quality images up to our standards. Most importantly, this scanner has a considerable speed advantage when compared to...

...the Epson Expression 10000XL

The Epson Expression XL is, first and foremost, a significant upgrade from the Perfection in terms of scanning area, which is over twice as large as the Perfection's. It is also a very versatile machine, with attachments for scanning photographic negatives in addition to the usual capabilities. In terms of scanning quality the two Epson scanners are roughly equal, however, due to the Expression's larger scan area, it has a significantly slower scanning speed, which can become problematic on time-sensitive items.

Kodak PS810

The other crucial piece of equipment in our lab is the Kodak Picture Saving Scanner System PS810. This scanner has a much more specific function than the Epsons. Its strength is speed; the feed tray can pull through and scan several photos per-minute, indeed, hundreds in a single operation. This is incredibly useful in dealing with our biggest project yet: the Dartmouth Photographic Files, an impressively large collection spanning back to the very beginnings of the College's photographic records.

While this scanner excels at scanning many documents quickly, it is even more limited in scanning area than the Epson Perfection. Not only that, but items must be under a certain thickness in order to pass through the feed safely. Additionally, it can only scan at 24-bit color (as opposed to the Epson scanners' 48-bit colors), which renders it ineligible for many projects. While these drawbacks make it somewhat limited in applications, it performs very well when properly maintained (our procedures have it cleaned daily, and sometimes more often than that).

In addition to the equipment in Baker 02, we also have been known to occasionally borrow other library resources in accomplishing our goals.

The Indus Color Book Scanner 5002

This overhead-style scanner is exceptional for scanning entire books, as its adjustable platform can accommodate different-sized spines. Another advantage is speed; this scanner works similar to a camera, snapping a single digital picture and transferring it to the computer. The biggest disadvantage is image quality; like the Kodak scanner, its limited to 24-bit color.

The Vidar HD4230

Finally, for oversize documents we've had occasion to coordinate with the Evans Map Room and make use of their feed-scanner, the Vidar HD4230. This scanner creates very high quality images by feeding larger documents through it, rather than passing lamps over stationary documents, like a flatbed scanner does. The speed of scanning is relatively slow, and must be done carefully to insure the document's safety. However, for many projects such as the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of New Hampshire, this scanner is the only option to ensure the quality of images over a certain size.

Using these tools, and with the invaluable support of many library staff, we've been able to adapt to the myriad challenges in Digital Production. Personally, I look forward to what further challenges await.
Written by Ryland Ianelli.