The Digitization Project

This year the digitization group (Judith Wild, chair; Marianne LaBatto, Anthony Cucchiara, Alex Rudshteyn) focused on assessing the work done to date and planning for next steps.
A review of the selection criteria suggested that we continue with Brooklyn College photographs, yearbooks, newspapers, scrapbooks, clipping files, and commencement programs, as well as the Midwood campus construction records.
We continue to work on issues related to the Read Family Papers (1875-1948), which describe the life and times of a Flatbush family. This was our first digitization effort, selected because it includes a wide range of material types (photos, a scrapbook, a sketchbook, a wedding album, family correspondence, a travel diary).
The Read Family Papers project revealed a number of issues with Artesia’s TEAMS, our digital assets management system, which have yet to be resolved; some of these issues involve server privileges that ITS is unwilling to confer on project staff.
We are considering a switch from TEAMS to OCLC’s Content DM, a less sophisticated system but one which eliminates many of the issues now holding us back.
Marianne LaBatto and Alex Rudshteyn collaborated on a successful METRO grant proposal which is providing just over $8,000 to digitize a small collection of Brooklyn political materials. For the duration of the grant period, the awardees will have access to OCLC’s digital collection management software, CONTENTdm. It is hoped that CUNY will license this product for use in all libraries.
Under the guidance of Associate Archivist Marianne LaBatto, a manual containing digitization guidelines that meet archival standards was developed.