Parks for PeopleChristopher Vinson, MLIS

Clemson University Libraries

FUNDING & PARTNERS

Introduction

Thank youNPS, Southeast Region

Institute of Museum and Library Services

Global Tiger Initiative

THE TEAMIntroduction

Elizabeth BaldwinAssociate Professor, Parks and Conservation Management

Scott Hammel Computer Systems and Operations

Autumn-Lynn Harrison Postdoctoral Research Associate

Joshua MorganDigital Projects Manager

Sandeep SharmaPostdoctoral Research Associate

Chris VinsonHead of Library Technology

David WhiteEnvironmental Informatics

Rachel WittmannNational Parks Metadata Specialist

Brett WrightChair, Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management

Ph.D. StudentsBernard Kitheka Carla MoraAgnes Sirima Dustin Wilson

CU AdvisorsRob BaldwinJim BottumVernon BurtonMathew CookJill GemmillPat LaytonJeff HalloGary MachlisFran MainellaRobert Powell

MISSIONIntroduction

Solutions for ParksThe Open Parks Network (OPN) serves the global parks community by providing information, tools, and solutions to support the stewardship of the natural and cultural assets of protected areas.

ServiceStewardshipTechnologySolutions

What does OPN provide?

Information Discovery

and Dissemination

Training and Capacity Building

Conservation Planning Tools

Communication and Collaboration

Tools

The Repository

WHAT IS IT?repository

re·pos·i·to·ry (n.)A place where a large amount of something is stored

Our repository is…

An online database of images, videos, audio clips, documents, and other digital media

• Publicly accessible

• Searchable

• Downloadable files

• Include a variety of sources

WHAT’S IN IT?repository

Mostly original digitized material

• 318,247 archival objects

• 6,914 bound documents

• 1,452,057 pages

• 7,628 foldouts

Archival content…

• Still images from photos, negatives, slides, scrapbooks (100,849)

• Aerial photographs (14,763)

• Documents and manuscripts (42,551)

• Maps (10,782)

• Stereographs (3,776)

• Newspapers (1,066)

• Plant specimens (639)

• Glass plate negatives (347)

Bound documents…

• Historic Structure Reports

• Annual and Monthly Superintendents Reports

• Land Management Plans

• Environmental Studies

• Water Quality Data

• Conference Proceedings

• Interpretive Literature

• Natural History Handbooks

Other sources…

We do or plan to pull in material from the following: • Internet Archive

(Biodiversity Heritage Lib., Smithsonian)

• Global Tiger Initiative documents

• NPS repositories: Focus, History e-Library, IRMA

WHO CONTRIBUTES CONTENT?repository

Mostly the Southeast Region!• Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHP (139,007)

• Great Smoky Mountains NP (34,260)

• Mammoth Cave NP (12,952)

• Carl Sandburg Home NHS (18,434)

• Kings Mountain NMP (10,133)

• Fort Sumter NM (7,772)

• Congaree NP (7,322)

• SERO Archives (5,304)

• Andersonville NHS (4,763)

• Cowpens NB (3,053)

• Blue Ridge Parkway (1,661)

• Outer Banks Group (1,092)

• Castillo de San Marcos NM (282)

• Timucuan E&HP (495)

• Vicksburg NMP (116)

• Additional bound documents from:

• Everglades NP• Tuskeegee NHS• Cumberland Island NS• Overmountain Victory Trail

…and some other placesNPS outside Southeast

• Yellowstone NP (3,622)

• Denver Service Center (526)

• WASO (4,042)

• Bound documents from:

• Yosemite National Park• Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks• Harpers Ferry Center• Intermountain Region Museum• Saguaro National Park

Beyond NPS

• South Carolina SP (19,581)

• North Carolina SP (23,503)

• Clemson University (15,480)

• Bound documents from:

• University of Georgia• Winthrop University• Furman University• USGS

Major SERO projects so far

Just a small sample:

• Great Smoky Mountains NP Negatives

• Fort Sumter NM, Major Brooks’ Diary on the Siege of Charleston

• Mammoth Cave NP Nitrate Negatives

• Congaree NP Slides

• Blue Ridge Parkway Maps

• Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHP, Lincoln Farm Association Donor Card Collection (more on this one later!)

36 PARTNERS IN ALL

AND STILL COUNTING…

DIGITIZE ALL THAT MATERIAL?how do we

Material brought to our facility in Clemson

• Shipped by park

• Picked up by Clemson

• Dropped off by park

Clemson Digital Imaging LabOpened February 2012

Student techs process & scan materials

Our student workers have extensive training in handling special materials and image capture techniques

• Inventory

• Capture basic metadata (descriptions)

• Scan using equipment that best fits material type

• They are VERY productive:

• 11,000 images/month

• 500/day per student

More students!

Our equipment

Planetary book cradle vacuum easel & phase/one camera

More equipment…Flatbed scanners

Used for photographs, documents, slides, negatives

We also outsource material…

…and hope to do more on-site scanning projects

• Pilot project last fall with Vicksburg NMP

• Scanned fragile glass-plate negatives & aging photographs

• Pilot project this spring with Harpers Ferry NHS

• Want to include other SERO sites in on-site scanning

WHAT IS METADATA?i mentioned metadata earlier…

meta·da·ta (n.)Data about data.

Say that again?

Purpose:

• Identification: description of content, format, or attributes of an item

• Retrieval: allows for searching & browsing of digital items

Formatting & Standards:

• Consistent format metadata fields and use controlled vocabularies allows for interoperability with other repositories & platforms (Digital Public Library of America)

OPN & Metadata

• OPN digitizes materials from NPS Units

• Where does metadata come from?

• Collaboration between OPN & NPS Units

• Park held materials:

• Captions written on envelopes • Finding Aids• Internal databases or reports

• Hired National Parks Metadata Specialist in September 2013

We can put an object onlineonce it has been scanned AND described with a metadata record—lots of groundwork to be done!

Discussion