Digital Collection Road Trip: Activating Museum Collections by Digitizing Rare and Unique Materials from the Library and Archives

In 2012, the Philadelphia Museum of Art Library received a grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation to digitize an important and unique collection of 18th and 19th century European art auction catalogs in the renowned John G. Johnson Collection. More than 1200 masterpieces in the Johnson Collection form the core of the Museum’s European painting holdings. Mr. Johnson’s collection of auction catalogs, which was also donated to the Museum, is of vital importance to our understanding of the history of collecting and connoisseurship in the United States. In many instances, Mr. Johnson’s copies of auction catalogs are the only versions annotated with the prices realized in actual sales and/or information pertaining to the buyers. In addition, one out of every five of Mr. Johnson’s catalogs represents an edition that has never been filmed or digitized. Digitizing these catalogs will make this unique corpus of materials, a total of more than 1,500 titles, widely available to museum curators, art historians and researchers throughout the world as well as the general public via multiple channels, including the Internet Archive, PMA Library’s online catalog, OCLC’s SCIPIO auction catalogue database, and the new Getty Research Portal.

After a brief overview of the collection and the project workflow, the presenters will give a quick walk-through of their cataloging and digitization processes. The webinar will also cover some of the steps and procedures of working with Lyrasis, Internet Archive, Getty Research Institute, and the Library’s system vendor to extract and manipulate the metadata associated with the digitized catalogs. At the end, the presenters will share some interesting aspects of the project and lessons learned.

Date: October 24, 2013

Time: 1:00-2:00 ET

 

Host: Regan Harper

Presenters: Billy Chi-hing Kwan, Assistant Library Director

Ryan McNally, Project Cataloger and Coordinator
Philadelphia Museum of Art Library

For more information and to register, click here.

Representing Reference: Measuring Success - How one institution is determining the impact of bibliographic instruction and what they are doing with the results

As LYRASIS continues to explore assessment of information literacy training in libraries, this month we turn to the efforts of the staff at the William C. Jason Library at Delaware State University. They've developed a tool called Knowledge Check Survey - a survey administered (through LibGuides) to first-year university seminar students. In this presentation, staff of the William C. Jason Library at Delaware State University will present and demonstrate their Knowledge Check Survey and the results it has yielded so far. They'll share how the Knowledge Check Survey was developed and discuss its implementation as an instrument to assess information literacy (IL) sessions taught to First-Year University Seminar students> They'll also preview a new information literacy game, also developed by the librarians at Delaware State. They'll explain how the results are used to help them understand how to improve IL classes for future students.

Host: Eric Zino

Guest Presenters: Jean Charlot, Beverly Charlot, and Rosamond Panda

Date: September 17, 2013

Time: 1:00-2:00 ET

For more information and to register, click here.

LYRASIS Polite Debate Society - Information Literacy Assessment: What Works? What Doesn't?

During the last Polite Debate Society, we addressed Information literacy from the teaching perspective... How to teach the Hard Stuff. In part 2 of the series, panelists from the information literacy community will spend 90 minutes discussing key issues in information literacy assessment. The teaching landscape for IL librarians continues to evolve rapidly. Assessment strategies used previously in the traditional classroom environment are challenging, if not impossible to implement in an educational setting where we use both the physical and virtual classroom, where technology dictates our approach to teaching so heavily, and where many deal with the pressure cooker of the "one shot" class. Still others are learning what kinds of assessment strategies are most effective in the semester long credit bearing information literacy course. In our Polite Debate Society session, our panel will review and critique some common assessment strategies, discuss what works and what doesn't in a variety of settings, and share ideas for best practices in information literacy assessment.

Date: July 19th, 2013
Time: 1:00-2:30 ET

Host: Russell Palmer

Panelists:

Annemarie Roscello, Associate Professor at Bergen Community College in Paramus
Andrea G. Stanfield, Information Literacy Coordinator at the University of West Georgia.

For more information and to register, click here.

LYRASIS 2nd Friday - Resource Sharing Detective Work: Find it and Get it Using Free and Open Access Resources

The digital word is rapidly changing our approach to resource sharing. Institutional repositories, open access resources, and digitization projects are quickly opening doors to previously inaccessible information.

In this free 90 minute 2nd Friday Series session, Russell Palmer, resource sharing and reference specialist at LYRASIS, will share resources, tips, and tricks to help reference and resource sharing staff find and retrieve scholarly articles, newspapers, archival records, maps and other materials that are sometimes challenging to get into the hands of users.

After this session, attendees will be able to:

• Utilize digital resources more effectively as they pursue challenging reference and resource sharing requests
• Decrease the number of unfilled resource sharing requests
• Understand the scope of digital information available in institutional repositories, open access resources, and digital collections

Presenter:  Russell Palmer

Date:  August 9, 2013
Time:  12:30-2:00 ET

For more information and to register, please click here.

LYRASIS 2nd Friday - Graphic Design for Non-Designers: Design and Branding for Libraries and Cultural Heritage Institutions

It is likely that in your work or personal life, you have been asked to create some communication on paper, on-screen, or in some visual presentation. One problem with this is that the only tools that you are given to complete the task are ones like Microsoft Word or PowerPoint or Publisher, which are not dedicated design tools, but rather fill-in-the-blank approaches to design, where your creativity is limited to what the application provides in a pre-packaged way. Another issue is that in our society, we are typically taught reading, writing, and mathematics, but seldom taught even the most basic visual communication concepts.

In this 1.5 hour overview, John LeMasney, Manager of Educational Technology Training at Princeton University, will offer an overview of the foundation of design principles, free tools for design and illustration, and the basics of branding and visual communication that will lead to creating more effective visual messages.

Host:  Regan Harper
Guest Presenter: John LeMasney, Manager of Educational TechnologyTraining,
Princeton University

Date: July 12, 2013

Time: 12:30- 2:00 ET

For more information and to register, click here.

LYRASIS Member Showcase - Preserving the Photographic Legacy of HBCUs: A Project Funded by the Mellon Foundation

In December 2010, LYRASIS received a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to improve the preservation of significant photographic collections held in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Following a survey of the needs of these collections and a Preservation Symposium, ten institutions were selected to receive grants to support preservation demonstration projects, staff training, environmental monitoring, and student internships. The HBCU Photographic Preservation Project has enabled participants to address the needs of their significant at-risk collections ensuring their availability to scholars.

In this session Steve Eberhardt, Project Coordinator, will speak about the structure of the project and the collections involved. Steve received his M.A. in Sociology from Georgia State University in 1993 and has worked on various preservation projects at LYRASIS (formerly SOLINET) since 1994. He served as the Coordinator in the previous Mellon-funded HBCU Photographic Preservation Project.

Host: Regan Harper
Presenter: Steve Eberhardt, Project Coordinator HBCU

Date: Decmeber 5, 2013
Time: 1:00-2:00 ET

For more information and to register, click here.

Digital Collection Road Trip - Mountain West Digital Library: Sharing the Digital Collections of a Region

The Mountain West Digital Library (MWDL) provides a central search portal to over 700,000 digital resources about Utah, Nevada, Idaho, and Arizona. As a program of the Utah Academic Library Consortium for the last twelve years, MWDL brings together more than 60 partners, including academic libraries, public libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, and government agencies to share expertise and resources for digitization, hosting, and aggregated search. As one of the first six service hubs to the Digital Public Library of America, MWDL provides the on-ramp for DPLA participation to memory institutions in the Mountain West. Sandra will talk about how the MWDL network came together and how partners work together across the region. She will also discuss the different perspectives often offered by larger aggregations of digital materials, and increasing open access to digital collections.

Host: Russell Palmer
Presenter: Sandra McIntyre, Program Director, Mountain West Digital Library

Date: Monday, August 26th 2013
Time: 1:00-2:00 ET

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LYRASIS 2nd Friday: Services for the Disabled in our Libraries and Cultural Institutions: Today and Tomorrow

New Date!

Shellie Zeigler, Director of the Blind and Physically Handicapped Library Services of the Mississippi Library Commission,will share her experiences and offer an overview of services available to library users. She will review current technology and services, like the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped , and share how library staff in public, academic and special libraries can help an impaired person find the resources they need. Shellie will also explore and review other resources that may be offered and implemented for the physically and visually impaired. The session will close with a review and reflection upon how our information rich community of cultural institutions can increase access for disabled users in the future, and what the future scope of services for the disabled might be.

After this session, participants will:

• Understand what the Blind and Physically Handicapped Library Services is and what we provide.

• Know more about the National Library Service for the Blind, and how its services can greatly improve a visually or physically impaired person's life Implement ideas for helping the blind and physically disabled in a library (be it public, academic or special) to find what they need Identify other resources and services to offer and implement for the physically and visually impaired Reflect upon how we as an information community will increase the number of disabled users we reach, and what future services might be offered

Host: Russell Palmer

Presenter: Shellie Zeigler, Director of the Blind and Physically Handicapped Library Services of the Mississippi Library Commission

Date: September 13, 2013
Time: 12:30-2:00 ET

For more information and to register, click here.

New Dates Added: Going Digital

We have recently added more dates to our monthly Going Digital webinar series.  We hope that if you are interested in learning more about getting started on a digital project, you will tune in and check it out.  This session is free to LYRASIS members.

Presenters: Leigh Grinstead & Alix Bentrud
Date: 6/17/13 (11:00-12:00) ET

Presenters: Leigh Grinstead & Alix Bentrud
Date: 7/09/13 (11:00-12:00) ET

Presenters: Laurie Arp & Leigh Grinstead
Date: 8/22/13 (2:00-3:00) ET

Presenters: Leigh Grinstead & Alix Bentrud
Date: 9/09/13 (11:00-12:00) ET

Presenters: Laurie Arp & Alix Bentrud
Date: 10/08/13 (2:00-3:00) ET

Presenters: Leigh Grinstead & Alix Bentrud
Date: 11/13/13 (11:00-12:00) ET

Presenters: Laurie Arp & Leigh Grinstead
Date: 12/04/13 (2:00-3:00) ET

For more information and to register click here.

LYRASIS 2nd Friday - Your Hidden Treasures: looking to your records, artifacts, and collections to uncover those rare gems in your institution

Are there stories and history of your community hidden in your collections? Are there details to be found in photographs, letters and scrapbooks in your agencies records?  In this session we will talk about strategies for searching out these hidden items.  

Host:  Russell Palmer
Guest Presenter:  Alix Bentrud

Date:  Friday June 14th, 2013
Time:  12:30-2:00 ET

Seats currently available. 

For more information and to Register, click here.

LYRASIS 2nd Friday Series: Services for the Disabled in our Libraries and Cultural Institutions -Today and Tomorrow

Shellie Zeigler, Director of the Blind and Physically Handicapped Library Services of the Mississippi Library Commission,  will share her experiences and offer an overview of services available to library users. She will review current technology and services, like the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped , and share how library staff in public, academic and special libraries can help an impaired person find the resources they need. Shellie will also explore and review other resources that may be offered and implemented for the physically and visually impaired. The session will close with a review and reflection upon how our information rich community of cultural institutions can increase access for disabled users in the future, and what the future scope of services for the disabled might be.

After this session, participants will:

• Understand what the Blind and Physically Handicapped Library Services is and what we provide.

• Know more about the National Library Service for the Blind, and how its services can greatly improve a visually or physically impaired person's life Implement ideas for helping the blind and physically disabled in a library (be it public, academic or special) to find what they need Identify other resources and services to offer and implement for the physically and visually impaired Reflect upon how we as an information community will increase the number of disabled users we reach, and what future services might be offered

Host:  Russell Palmer

Presenter:  Shellie Zeigler, Director of the Blind and Physically Handicapped Library Services of the Mississippi Library Commission

Date:  June 14, 2013
Time:  12:30-2:00 ET

 
For more information and to register, click here.

Representing Reference - Making the most of your database subscriptions: a SciFinder Scholar example

Electronic resources present libraries with many challenges. Among them are the challenges that can be viewed as obstacles to use by our patrons, obstacles such as registration before use, complicated search tools, required knowledge of research methods, and more. These obstacles make resources like Google seem even more attractive to the user looking for shortcuts. Ensuring a database’s use is especially important as costs for databases and content escalate and pressures on budgets grow. So how can libraries get the most out of such database investments? Especially costly resources, or resources that support accreditation of vital programs? Join Eric Zino as he hosts the first in our Representing Reference member program series. He will be joined by librarians from Rider University and an organic chemistry faculty member at Rider who have worked together to develop a series of tutorials for one such complex and vital e-resource: SciFinder Scholar. They’ll share with you about their inspiration, plan, and the results of their approach to the issue of getting the most out of a vital and complex e-resource.


Host: Eric Zino
Presenters: Librarians and faculty from Rider University

Date: Thursday April 25th, 2013
Time: 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm ET

Seats available. For more information and to register, click here.

OCLC and LYRASIS Present: The Future of Resource Sharing

The resource sharing environment is constantly shifting.

In recent years, resource sharing practitioners have experienced changes in staffing patterns, trying financial times, and significant changes in technology. Access to digital materials has increased-- in the form of archival collections online and institutional repositories. A trend toward open access publishing increases access to published information.

At the same time, the cost of collections is rising—scholarly journals are increasingly more expensive, and book budgets are slashed, creating a need for us to share resources more creatively and effectively. The “buy vs. borrow” idea has started to enter into our thinking and practice, and the time for more options, more data and more utility from our systems is here.
 

In Person Event:
Join us for this full-day conference at Mercer University in Macon, GA, where we will explore ideas with speakers and resource sharing practitioners from around the community.

Our agenda includes Alisa Whitt and Mike Constentino from OCLC on the transition from WorldCat Resource Sharing to WorldShare ILL, Russell Palmer from LYRASIS on information resources for ILL staff, and resource sharing experts from around the state presenting best practices and great ideas.

Cost: Free

Location:

Mercer University
Jack Tarver Library
Macon, GA

http://libraries.mercer.edu/tarver/about

And as an added bonus, a continental breakfast and lunch will be provided.

Registration:  To register for this event, click here.

LYRASIS Member Showcase - The Engaged Library: Information Literacy Instruction and the First-Year Experience at Washburn University

Washburn University is an open-admissions medium sized public university in Topeka, Kansas, whose University Libraries, by 2007, were increasing irrelevant to the campus community of learning. Indeed, like many other similar sized libraries, the Washburn Libraries had to answer the question of their relevancy in the age of Google. Now, as 2013 begins, the Washburn University Libraries have returned to their historic position at the center of the University community of learning and this presentation will detail how this occurred during a period of fiscal austerity. This discussion will examine a five-year plan that saw the Washburn Libraries engage the campus community in effective and transformative ways through Information Literacy instruction and as a key partner in developing the institution's new First-Year Experience program.

Presenter: Alan Bearman, Dean of Libraries - Washburn University
Cost: $0

Date: Wednesday, March 27 2013
Time: 1:00-2:00 ET

Seats are available. For more information and to register, click here.

Digital Collections Road Trip: Preserving and Digitizing the Architectural History of St. Augustine, Florida

Two grant-funded projects at the University of Florida are digitizing architectural drawings and related materials documenting the historical buildings of St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest permanently occupied European settlement in the continental United States. The Saving St. Augustine’s Architectural Treasures project, which was completed in 2012, preserved and digitized architectural drawings of Hotel Ponce de Leon and the Memorial Presbyterian Church, created by Henry Flagler during the height of the Gilded Age and designed by the prestigious Carrère & Hastings firm. The Unearthing St. Augustine’s Colonial Heritage project, which started in 2012, is digitizing maps, drawings, photographs and other materials documenting the city’s Spanish and British Colonial periods. This project is particularly exciting because it unites resources from the fields of architecture, archaeology, historic preservation, geography and history. Researchers will be able to discover digital objects using a new map-based search system as well as traditional search options.

Presenter: John Nemmers, Archivist
Cost: $0

Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Time: 1:00pm-2:00pm ET

Seats available. For more information and to register for this free session, click here.

Making a Difference: Introduction to LYRASIS Membership for Non-Members (Live Online)

Like its members, LYRASIS is active and engaged, a consortium striving to advance knowledge by harnessing the collaborative spirit of all types of libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, and other cultural heritage organizations.  Could your organization benefit from membership in LYRASIS? 

If your organization is not currently a member of LYRASIS*, attend our free, monthly, hour-long interactive session “Making a Difference” for an overview of LYRASIS’ mission, programs, and services -- including the recently announced LYRASIS Digital initiative.  Learn what membership in LYRASIS could mean for your organization.  We’ll provide information on LYRASIS ‘ extensive educational programming; partnerships and projects at the national and international levels; membership dues; governance;  and the simple and quick steps your organization can take to become a LYRASIS member. 

*If your organization is already a member of LYRASIS, attend the free, quarterly Latest from LYRASIS update webinars or contact membership@lyrasis.org for more information.

Presenters:  Timothy Cherubini and Regan Harper
Cost:  $0

Dates:
     March 27, 1:00-2:00 ET
     April 16,  1:30-2:30  ET
     May 17,   12:30-1:30  ET
     June 12,   1:30-2:30  ET

Seats are available.  For more information and to register, click here.

 

Going Digital (Live Online)

Are you curious about all of the moving parts of getting a digitization project off the ground? Could you use a basic foundation of what is involved in this kind of endeavor? Then we have just the webinar for you.

Join LYRASIS Digital staff for a 1 hour free webinar that briefly introduces the critical components of digital content creation and collection development.

Cost: $0

Dates/Times:

February 20th 2:00-3:00 ET

Presenters: Laurie Arp & Alix Bentrud

March 15th 11:00-12:00 ET

Presenters: Leigh Grinstead & Tom Clareson

April 12th 9:30-10:30 ET

Presenters:  Laurie Arp & Alix Bentrud

May 20th 5:00-6:00 ET

Presenters: Leigh Grinstead & Alix Bentrud/Tom Clareson

June 17th 11:00-12:00 ET

Presenters: Leigh Grinstead & Alix Bentrud

 

Seats are available.  For more information and to register, click here.

Latest from LYRASIS (Live Online)

Join LYRASIS Regional Director for this informal overview and discussion of the latest programs and offerings from LYRASIS. This quarterly webinar series provides you an opportunity to take full advantage of the benefits that LYRASIS membership provides, and learn about new initiatives and programs that are coming your way.

Presenter:  Timothy Cherubini

Cost:  $0

Dates/Times:  All times are in Eastern Time

Coming Soon!

Seats are available!  For more information and to register, click here.

Digitization Collaborative Information Session (Live Online)

Learn about the LYRASIS Digitization Collaborative! If you are thinking about participating in the collaborative, please attend this session. This one hour interactive session will provide an overview of the project, including partners, roles and participant guidelines. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions about participating in the project.

Lyrasis' Digitization Collaborative offers members the opportunity to contribute materials to a regional mass digitization project. Lyrasis facilitates the process by selecting vendors and developing a collaborative collection development policy, guidelines, standards, and workflows. The Collaborative is funded by the Lyrasis membership and supported in part through a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Presented by Laurie Gemmill Arp, Digital Collaborative Program Manager - LYRASIS
 
Dates/Times:  All times are in Eastern Time
     February 21   (10:00 - 11:00)
     March 12   (2:00 - 3:00)

     March 21   (10:00 - 11:00)

     April 10   (10:00 - 11:00)

     April 25   (2:00 - 3:00)
     May 8   (10:00 - 11:00)
     May 23  (2:00 - 3:00)
     June 6   (10:00 - 11:00)
     June18   (2:00 - 3:00)

For more information and to register, click here.

 

2nd Friday Series: Introduction to the Semantic Web: BIBFRAME, RDA, FRBR & Linked Data (Live Online)

In this one and one half hour 2nd Friday Series session, Robin Fay, Head of Database Maintenance at the University of Georgia and co-author of the book Semantic Web Technologies and Social Searching for Librarians, will introduce the concept of the semantic web, a movement founded by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in an effort to offer a common framework for shared data. She will review principles of linked data, RDA, FRBR, & BIBFRAME, including an overview of basics concepts and terminology

Presented by Robin Fay, Head of Database Maintenance at University of Georgia

Date:  March 8, 2013

Time: 12:30 - 2:00 (ET)

Fee: Free for LYRASIS members, $25.00 for non members

Seats are available! Visit us online for more information and to register!