Created Content Committee meeting: September 23, 2014

CONFERENCE CALL

Members present: Howard Carter (Southern Illinois University Carbondale), Ellen Corrigan (Eastern Illinois University), Alice Creason (Lewis University), Nicole Finzer (Northwestern University), Paul Go, Chair (Illinois Institute of Technology), Margaret Heller (Loyola University Chicago), Mary Rose (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville), Anne Shelley (Illinois State University), Adam Strohm, (Illinois Institute of Technology)

Members absent: None

CARLI staff present: Amy Maroso (CARLI staff liaison)

1. Confirmed Anne as minutes taker.
2. August 26 minutes approved with corrections.
3. Welcome to Nicole Finzer. She will be taking over a committee seat from Benn Joseph.

Discussion of Current Committee Activities

Book of the month

Former committee member, Julia Thompson, was doing these posts and no one has taken them over so far. Discussion about difference between two postings – clarification that Book Image of the Month should focus on Internet Archive content and Featured Image focuses on CARLI Digital Collections. Question about looking at view statistics and how to identify content on IA that is CARLI-related – consensus is that one would have to search IA by institution. Amy suggested doing a themed or topical post instead of monthly – finals, football, homecoming – depending on time in the semester. Margaret is interested in doing a topical post and will write a draft and send to the committee. Ellen is also interested but feels over-committed at the moment. Amy will find instructions for posting and will send to the committee. Will revisit at next month's meeting.​

Featured Image

Scheduled through the rest of this semester, every 2 weeks. Schedule is posted on the committee wiki. Current writers are Ellen, Alice, Mary, and Anne.

PODCASTS

Podcast 3 has had no progress to date. Paul and Mary will work on it and report at next meeting. Margaret and Adam asked if they are supposed to be working on Podcast 4, perhaps related to the Chicago Collections Consortium. Margaret mentioned that the topic is relevant for this fall because of upcoming events; November was suggested as possible post date.

SURVEY SPREADSHEET

Most of the spreadsheet is done. Adam, Anne, and Paul will complete the spreadsheet. Paul asked for ideas on next steps: survey? Discussion as to what an analysis of this spreadsheet will accomplish. Group noted that many institutions just link to Sanborn maps and Saskia collection. Margaret suggested maybe there needs to be more education about what content is in CARLI Digital Collections. Mary: should we analyze correlations between systems institutions have? Should we use this info to publicize CARLI digital collections? Suggestion to try to identify themes that came up in the notes field of the spreadsheet. Adam noted that people used the Notes field very differently but that it could be worth sorting out that information and seeing if any trends arise. Paul: if we are going to do a survey, do we want to start working on questions before the next meeting? Alice: noticing a couple universities have collections in CARLI but don’t provide a link to them on their own websites is something to ask of institution. Discussion about creating one survey with branching questions or creating multiple surveys targeted toward particular types of institutions. Discussion about excluding certain institutions because of their scope/focus or creating tiers (A list, B list) for different institutions.

Other Business

Mary – is there an update on the CONTENTdm upgrade? Amy said CARLI is hoping to have information in the next week or so from the third party programmer. Should have an update from systems team and can provide that information next month.

Mary – how involved is everyone in digital humanities at their institutions? Margaret – involved a fair amount at Loyola, some collections, analysis of historical library catalogue, a lot of faculty who do DH are involved in the repository. Library’s role is not as focused in analysis, but more technical help, archiving projects, informal discussion and advisory role. Paul – library works closely with DH but only providing services, joint learning space that houses equipment. Have in the past assisted with selecting and analyzing software. Margaret mentioned DH Colloquium on October 23-24 in Chicago – she has gone the past 4 years and says it is a good place to meet other librarians working on DH projects. Adam seconded the endorsement.