Forward through our past. http://wisconsinheritage.org

Images from Shawano City-County Library, McMillan Memorial Library, UW-La Crosse

What is WHO?• A statewide collaborative

of public libraries, academic libraries, archives, museums and historical societies.

• A shared set of guidelines and standards for digitization.

• A resource network providing training and support to cultural heritage institutions engaged in digital projects.

• A public research portal providing access to digital collections of Wisconsin history and culture.

South Wood County Historical Corporation

WHO Partners

WHO Members: Academic Libraries• Alverno College• Beloit College• Cardinal Stritch University• Carroll University• Carthage College• College of Menominee Nation• Concordia University• Edgewood College• Lawrence University• Marian University • Marquette University• Medical College of Wisconsin• Nashota House

• Nicolet Area Technical College• Ripon College• Sacred Heart School of

Theology• Silver Lake College• St. Norbert College• UW-Green Bay• UW-Madison• UW-Milwaukee• UW-Oshkosh• UW-Parkside• UW-Platteville• UW-River Falls• UW-Whitewater• Viterbo University

WHO Members:Public Libraries & Regional Systems

• Brown County Library• Central Wisconsin Digitization Project

(incl. Marathon County Public Library, T. B. Scott Free Library, and Tomahawk Public Library)

• L. E. Phillips Memorial Public Library• La Crosse Public Library• McMillan Memorial Library• Milwaukee Public Library• Nicolet Federated Library System• Oshkosh Public Library• Outagamie Waupaca Library System• South Central Library System• Whitefish Bay Public Library• Wisconsin Valley Library Service

WHO Members:Historical Societies & Museums• Blanchardville Historical Society• Buffalo County Historical Society• Charles Allis & Villa Terrace

Museums• Fort Winnebago Surgeons’

Quarters• Hales Corners Historical Society• Iowa County Historical Society• La Crosse County Historical

Society• Langlade County Historical Society• Milwaukee Public Museum• Mineral Point Historical Society• Neville Public Museum• New Berlin Historical Society• Old Main Historic Center• Portage Historical Society• Preservation Racine, Inc.• Richland County History Room• South Wood County Historical

Corp.• Stone Lake Area Historical Society• Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery

Center

WHO’s GenesisWisconsin Digital Library: Bringing the Pieces

Together• Begin discussion on coordinating access to

Wisconsin’s digitized historical resources.• Identify options for linking of various digital

library collections within the state. • Discuss methods for promoting broad public

awareness of digital resources and for attracting future funding.

Discussion Questions• What is the best way to facilitate collaboration

across the state – within the library community and within the wider community of cultural institutions?

• How do we avoid duplication in digital projects? • How can we assure best practices in capturing

content and creating metadata? • How do we make sure that digitized content is

readily available and easy to find for the typical information seeker?

Digital Exploratory CommitteeJoshua Ranger, UW OshkoshKen Frazier, UW MadisonMichael Edmonds,

Wisconsin Historical Society

Phyllis Christensen, Central Wisconsin Digitization Project

Janice Dibble, Oshkosh Public Library

Paula Kiely, Milwaukee Public Library

Cynthia Lynch, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design

Peter Gilbert, Lawrence University

Sally Drew, DLTCLLinda Gruber,

Milwaukee Public Museum

Kathy Schneider, WiLS

Information gathering areas• Establishing contact with potential partners;

drafting vision and mission statements. • Identifying options for structure of a statewide

digital initiative• Identifying technology options • Identifying existing digital projects in Wisconsin

Digital Summit 2005• Exploratory

Committee morphed into the Planning Committee

• Working Groups determined and volunteers signed up

• Well over 100 people attended this meeting

WHO Planning CommitteeEarly Committee• Kathy Schneider, WiLS• Peter Gilbert, Lawrence University• Josh Ranger, UW-Oshkosh• Michael Edmonds, WHS• Janice Dibble, Oshkosh Public Library• Sally Drew, DLTCL• Ken Frazier, UW-Madison Libraries• Paula Kiely, Milwaukee Public Library• Linda Gruber, Milwaukee Public Museum• Rita Magno, Viterbo University • James Lowery, Marquette University• Ewa Barczyk, UW-Milwaukee• Cathy Markwiese, Milwaukee Public

Library• Nolan Pope, UW-Madison Libraries• Pat Wilkinson, UW-Oshkosh• Paul Hedges, WHS

Current Board• Josh Ranger, UW- Oshkosh• Matt Blessing, Marquette University• Cathy Markwiese, Milwaukee Public

Library• Peter Gilbert, Lawrence University• Linda Gruber. Milwaukee Public Museum• Ewa Barczyk, UW-Milwaukee• Louise Pfotenhauer, Neville Public

Museum• Jonathan Hinck, Viterbo University • Mary Rieder, Wisconsin State Genealogical

Society• Philip Brown, South Wood County

Historical Society• Kelly Herold, Buffalo County Historical

SocietySally Drew, DLTCL

• Lee Konrad, UW-Madison Libraries• Debbie Cardinal, WiLS

Working Groups

• Preservation• Metadata• Scanning• Collection

Development• Outreach• Future Directions• Technology• Museum

• Josh Ranger• Steve Miller• Krystyna Matusiak• Julie Schneider• Janice Dibble• Cathy Markwiese• Linda Gruber• Abbie Norderhaug

Early Projects• Shawano City-County

Library• Central Wisconsin

Digitization Project

Why digitize?

• Go where your audience is--the web is the first place students, genealogists, and other researchers look for information.

• Improve access to “invisible” materials.

• Protect fragile or heavily used materials.

• Learn more about your collections.

• Contribute to our collective knowledge.UW-Milwaukee

Bringing digital collections togetherhttp://wisconsinheritage.org

• In order to be harvested into the WHO portal, content must be stored on an OAI-PMH compliant server

• Collection in local CMS, i.e. CONTENTdm

• Public libraries have worked with UWDCC via LSTA grants; materials added to State of Wisconsin Collection

• Collection hosted in Milwaukee Public Library’s CONTENTdm server

• Portal content is always growing. New collections and updates to existing collections are harvested monthly.

Waterford Public Library/University of Wisconsin Digital Collections

System CollaborationInfoSoup Memory Project

• Outagamie Waupaca Library System staff provide centralized training for member libraries (OWLS and Nicolet Federated Library System)

• Collections are hosted in CONTENTdm by OWLS

• Materials are digitized and cataloged to WHO standards and harvested into the WHO portal

• Participants so far include Clintonville, Door County and Kaukauna public libraries

• http://memory.infosoup.org/

Multitype CollaborationCentral Wisconsin Digitization Project

• Partners include UW-Marathon County, Marathon County Historical Society, Marathon County Public Library, T. B. Scott Free Library, Merrill Historical Society, Wisconsin Valley Library Service

• Volunteer railroad buffs provided detailed metadata

• Library staff loads data and images to CONTENTdm collection hosted by WHS

• Next project: history of tourism in Rib Lake

• http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cwdp

Community/Academic CollaborationA. J. Kingsbury Photograph Collection

• Postcards and photographs of Menominee and Ojibwe Indians by A. J. Kingsbury, from Langlade County Historical Society

• LCHS volunteer did scanning and basic metadata

• Students in TLAM course at UW-Madison SLIS researched approaches and improved metadata

• Tribal Historic Preservation Officers provided information on people and places in the photos

• http://content.mpl.org/langlade

Thank you!Debbie Cardinal

Program Managercardinal@wils.wisc.edu

Emily PfotenhauerOutreach Specialist

epfotenhauer@wils.wisc.edu608-265-2138

http://wisconsinheritage.org