Digital Collections Users’ Group Meeting: January 16, 2013

Members present: Ellen Corrigan (Eastern Illinois University); Chris Day, Chair, (School of the Art Institute of Chicago); Benn Joseph (Northwestern University); Mary Rose (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville); Laurie Sauer (Knox College); Adam Strohm (Newberry Library)

Members absent:  David Levinson (Lake Forest College); Julia Thompson (Western Illinois University)

CARLI staff present: Jessica Gibson; Amy Maroso (CARLI liaison to DCUG)

Confirmed Strohm as minutes taker.

December minutes were approved with corrections.

Day thanked outgoing member Peter Hepburn for his service to the Digital Collections Users’ Group. Due to the upcoming restructuring of all CARLI committees, it has been decided that DCUG shall proceed as currently comprised for the rest of the term. Hepburn’s spot will be filled when the call for volunteers goes out in Spring 2013.

New CARLI Digital Collections topics

Two new CARLI Digital Collections “browse by topic” terms have been suggested: Women’s Studies and Feminism. Sauer suggested the less academic sounding Women, rather than Women’s Studies. The committee agreed that Women’s Studies is not an overly academic term, given existing topics in use.Corrigan’s suggestion of Gender Studies was considered, but Day proposed that CARLI move forward with Women’s Studies, with the option to change or add additional terms should future collections warrant it. Feminism will not be added, as it was agreed that Women’s Studies was sufficient.Maroso will add the new topic and alertCONTENTdmusers should they desire to use it for any existing collections.

Project updates

Digital preservation joint subcommitte: Sauer reported on the progress in planning the Library of Congress DPOE “train-the-trainer” workshop. The workshop will take place during the week of July 8, 2013, in Champaign. A call for applications will go out next month, with applications accepted February 15 through March 15, 2013. Eighteen applicants will be accepted, and each trainer will be required to complete two training sessions with other CARLI members in the next year.

Featured Collections: Strohm and Day reported that further development of questions and formats has taken place, with an emphasis on keeping the feature short and applicable to both general readers and those involved in project planning at CARLI institutions.

Flickr account: Since Hepburn has left DCUG and Thompson was absent, Day proposed that discussion of the Flickr account be tabled until future meetings. Day requested that any DCUG members interested in joining the project contact him.

Documentation: Day proposed that the documentation projects be tabled, with an option for returning to them at a later date. Committee members were in agreement.

Google Analytics: Day reported that the 2011/2012 statistics have been finished and will be posted to the CARLI website once the redesigned website is made live.. Project members will meet in the coming week to discuss the future of the Google Analytics project, with an aim toward identifying what information is the most important to communicate, and how to best provide this information.

Featured Image: Corrigan and Rose reported that work continues on this project, with posts having resumed after a short break for the holidays. An invitation to other interested committee members was extended, and Sauer expressed interest.Corrigan inquired as to a way to identify new CARLI collections. Maroso will email DCUG when a new collection is published. Rose offered to keep a running list of new collections to ensure that the Featured Image project is promoting them. Blog post titles will all end with “CARLI Digital Collections Featured Image…” to ensure consistency.

Twitter: Joseph reported that he is using Twitter to announce new Featured Image posts, but has not been tweeting about other subjects. He expressed that he could begin to tweet about new collections as they appear.

Project inventory/planning

Day proposed a discussion of which projects might be in need of a new direction, or which should be put on hold at the current time.

Corrigan observed that the committee’s more free-form organization with a lack of subcommittees has possibly led to members taking on too many projects, and a lack of efficiency and reporting structure. Day responded with a desire to make continuing and upcoming projects easier, to assist current members in moving current projects forward, and to create frameworks for the restructured committee to consider when planning their goals and projects.

Documentation: The documentation projects will be put on hiatus.

Twitter: Despite a small number of followers and the account’s minimal use, Joseph expressed a desire to continue to use the account. The account will need a new handle when the new Created Content committee starts in 2013.

Featured Image: This has been a success, and will continue.

Digital preservation joint subcommittee: The current subcommittee will likely disband once the DPOE Train-the-Trainer workshop planning is complete.

Featured collections: Day proposed that work on this project focus on planning and developing a framework to be discussed and possibly implemented by the new iteration of the committee next year. Sauer expressed interest in joining the planning process. Maroso proposed that this project possibly take the form of a webinar that would allow 10-15 minute opportunities for CARLI members to engage in a “show and tell” of their new projects and discuss the successes they achieved and challenges that the encountered in building the collection. This idea will be discussed further.

Flickr: This project was identified as a large one, with no volunteers to join the discussion moving forward due to the scope of the project. Maroso proposed that the project could be re-envisioned as a webinar to show libraries how to use Flickr to promote their collections, rather than an ongoing project that would have to be continued by the Created Content Committee. Day will discuss this possibility with Thompson with an eye towards wrapping up the planning work and what form the final product will take.

New Business/Conference Reports

There was no new business and no conference reports were made.