Also before this project, we had never before taken on a project in which the chronological order of the publication of the original materials was important. This element proved to be a bit more of a problem to solve. CONTENT 2.3, our current digital asset management system, arranges all items alphabetically by title, normally a fine idea. Our project, however, followed the aftermath of an event over time, so it is desirable to allow the users to find articles about the event in the order in which they were published. Users should be able to do this not only by searching on the publication date, but also by article title. Our solution was to artificially arrange them to preserve the true historical order of events. Since we did not want to alter the titles of the articles, we added numbers to the beginning of the title metadata in each record to effectively order them chronologically. To the user, they appear to be double-numbered, but it does keep our collection in order.

The grant period expired before comprehensive tests of the economics of oversize digital printing could be accomplished. One of our goals was to test the feasibility of providing users with (in-house) print-from-digital reproductions of large format materials. We did have the time and resources to test the legibility of each of the formats as rendered through the scanning and print process. While posters, graphics and maps were reproduced legibly, the resolution demanded in the scanning and printing of oversized newspapers was too high for the equipment at hand. Further usability testing and costing research is needed in order to determine whether there exists viable fee-for-service potential with these materials.

We are very pleased with the fact that we were able to complete the collection-building portion of our project in less than 230 hours, and we had no unexpected budget needs. Undoubtedly the fact that our staff was already experienced in creating digital databases helped us to make the deadline.

To other institutions looking to create digital databases, we recommend a thorough examination of the range of materials held and desired to be scanned. Use this knowledge to specify, test and lease or buy equipment accordingly. An example would be to purchase an overhead high-resolution scanner if oversized, bound materials are selected (and of course only if unbinding is out of the question). Create and test a workflow in advance; train staff thoroughly in the use of the equipment, keeping the workflow in mind.

Only after this is done should the specific items to be digitized be selected. If final selection is done before the background is complete, there is a risk of having material selected that is more difficult to digitize that the staff can handle. Of course, if a collection is to be digitized in its entirety, the range of formats and sizes may mandate using a mixed model for scanning-outsourcing some components such as microfilm, etc, while scanning single printed sheets in house.

Here follow the July progress report:

July 14, 2000
To: Gayle Palmer
From: Geri Bunker Ingram
RE: Photographs and newspaper text relating to the November, 1916 massacre in Everett, WA

General status
The project has been named "Pacific Northwest Labor Archive" because we view it as a "seed" project for an ongoing regional initiative. There are other databases in production and in development that supplement and complement the labor-related material, including some of the other pilot sites' work.

The Everett Massacre materials have all been selected, scanned, optimized, tested for speed, size and legibility, and cataloged at the item-level using the Dublin Core. The collection exists at http://content-dev.lib.washington.edu/ under the name Pacific Northwest Labor Archive in the listing at the bottom of the screen. The entire project is approximately 80% completed and we expect to be fully complete by August 31st. The front-matter, although written, remains to be formatted. The printer purchased to test feasibility of printing for resale has been installed and tested.

Benefits
In general, the digitization of a very interesting set of print resources has proven to be an extremely engaging and worthwhile endeavor. The project team has learned many new technical and organizational skills, and overall have enjoyed their experiences with the project. In fact, some of the (former) copy-cataloging staff hopes to make collaborative digitization projects their central focus. Being involved with the process from selection, through research and digitization, to usability testing has brought out new confidence and competencies in our staff.

Staff found that learning new equipment and skills, creating a chronological arrangement of materials and keeping the user's needs in mind to be new and positive challenges. [Within the service contract arena, the trainers found training in CONTENT to be another positive experience.] Learning that at least a sample of Seattle's public institutions enjoy fast Internet connection

Speeds (T1 for Seattle Public Library branches) was another positive discovery.