Imagining the Northwest

A Digital Library Partnership in Oregon

Corey Harper, Nathan Georgitis and Carol HixsonCatalog Department, University of Oregon Libraries

Presented October 1, 2003 at:

DC-2003: Supporting Communities of Discourse and Practice- Metadata Research & Applications

What we’ll be covering… Introduction to the collection and the project Cultural perspectives and descriptive metadata Development and application of controlled

vocabularies Managing metadata in CONTENTdm CONTENTdm, OAI and Interoperability Future work

The Moorhouse Collection

Government agent and amateur photographer

8,000 glass plate negatives, ca. 1880s – 1920s

Ceremonies, events and landscapes

Persons and artifacts from many tribes

Some posed, some not

The Moorhouse Collection

Government agent and amateur photographer

8,000 glass plate negatives, ca. 1880s – 1920s

Ceremonies, events and landscapes

Persons and artifacts from many tribes

Some posed, some not

The Moorhouse Collection

Government agent and amateur photographer

8,000 glass plate negatives, ca. 1880s – 1920s

Ceremonies, events and landscapes

Persons and artifacts from many tribes

Some posed, some not

The Project ParticipantsWithin the UO Libraries Catalog Department University Archives &

Special Collections Image Services Metadata Implementation

Group

Project Goal Make the images available in

a culturally sensitive context

Independent Partners

WICHE (Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education)

TCI (Tamástslikt Cultural Institute) of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla

NWACC (Northwest Academic Computing Consortium

Review of Existing MetadataTCI database Image descriptions, names, class terms, subject terms Classification: People / Regalia / Interior Photograph Subjects with subdivisions: Moccasins, Beaded – Floral Terms like Wickiup and Capote Coat reveal cultural

perspective

UO Libraries database and WPA index Titles, brief descriptions, names, dates and subject terms Terms like Indian village and Indian costume reveal

cultural perspective

Descriptive Metadata

UO Libraries fields

UO Title Names Date in Photo Place Subject General Notes Type Sub Type

TCI fields TCI Terms

TCI Class

TCI Notes

TCI Notes: An outside photograph of a rock formation commonly referred to as Elephant Rock. This photograph is taken facing the north side of the formation. This rock formation is significant in Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) oral history and acts as part of the northeast boundary of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

TCI Terms: Elephant Rock TCI Classes: Outside Photograph; Native American Folklore

Subject: Rocks; Rock formations; Landscape Place: Elephant Rock (Geographic feature), Gibbon, Oregon General Notes: Photograph of Elephant Rock near Gibbon, Oregon

The Results

Development of Controlled Vocabulary Began with TCI subject and class terms Terms searched in TGM, then LCSH Equivalent terms, x-references, and sources noted If no equivalent found, term retained New terms suggested at time of cataloging Sources tracked in separate document

Application of Subject Terms and Description of Images Followed accepted principles and best practices Sara Shatford, “Analyzing the Subject of a Picture” Generic and Specific: Indians of North America and

Cayuse Indians Of and About: Indians of North America and Employment Three levels of meaning: description, analysis,

interpretation Meet the needs of the Target Audience

Technical MetadataSource Format

Glass-plate negative

Source Dimensions

6.81 X 5.09 inches

Source Condition

Format image/jpg

Image (File) Size

155.372 kb

Image Width

851 pixels

Image Height

636 pixels

Color Space 256-level Greyscale

More Technical MetadataCapture Date

2003-04-16

Capture Method

Scanned in TWAIN 32 negative mode on UMAX PowerLook III flatbed scanner

Resolution 125 dpi

Digitization History

Adobe Photoshop used to adjust levels from 0 - 1.00 - 255 to 0 - 1.16 - 255. Images saved in greyscale. JPEG compressed from greyscale tiff at 125 dpi with quality settings at 6 of 12.

Additional Formats Held by UO

PH036_2229.tif -- Original RGB scan -- 4085 X 3051 pixels -- 600 dpi -- 36,523 KB // PH036_2229ag.tif -- Greyscale tiff -- 4085 X 3051 pixels -- 600 dpi -- 12,197 KB //

Administrative Metadata New Subject Terms New CrossReferences Metadata Creator Image Scanner Image Editor Checksum Review Needed Cataloger's Notes Scanning Pass

CONTENTdm Overview Standards Support:

DC, OAI-PMH, XML Customization:

Application Profiles / Data Dictionaries Templates Search Interfaces (example)

Metadata Customization Field Label Dublin Core Mapping

Qualified or Simple Data Types Search and Display options Controlled Vocabularies for individual

fields

Vocabulary Implementation

CONTENTdm: Import list and Add/Delete terms Create from contents of a field X-refs such as: teepees USE tipis

CONTENTdm Usability Global Update User-Friendly client Default values for fields Challenging Java-based Administrative

Web Interface

CONTENTdm / DC Challenges Dumb Down Principle

Not available unless searching multiple collections

Element Repeatability One field for each, separated by delimiters

(i.e. semi-colons) Optional vs. Mandatory Fields

Title Element is Mandatory!

Interoperability OAI-PMH

Generally, support seems limited to oai_dc format (unqualified)

CONTENTdm only exports fields that are mapped to some DC element, and only in the unqualified format

Use of XSLT

Future Work Continue collaborating with TCI on this

and other projects Continue with other photograph collections

using CONTENTdm. Interoperability

XML OAI Z39.50