The procedures currently followed by library staff members adding digital objects using CONTENTdm are presented in two PowerPoint presentations entitled, "Building CONTENTdm Projects using version 4 of the Acquisition Station" and "Building CONTENTdm Projects using the version 4 Web Interface".

For those projects following Special Collections image scanning procedures, these instructions are provided.

For those projects that involve JPEG2000 compression, these instructions assist in the use of the JPEG2000 plug-in for Photoshop.

For those projects that store tiffs on the archival server, these instructions assist in DFS configuration on your desktop.  For those folks mapping their drives from outside the library, remember to map your drives to \\contentdm.library.unr.edu\[projectname]

For those projects that use banded images, these Special Collections instructions OR campus images project instructions should be followed to configure the image banding.

CONTENTdm's implementation of Dublin Core is very interesting, and I have written a brief summary of it entitled, "Metadata and CONTENTdm".  The University of Oregon has built a very useful crosswalk between the VRA Core and CONTENTdm's implementation of Dublin Core.

UNR follows the WSDSG/DIWG* Digital Imaging Best Practices (v.2.0, June 2008) and CDP/MWG** Dublin Core Metadata Best Practices (v.2.1.1, September 2006).

The Western States Dublin Core Metadata Element Set is used to create basic object cataloging with CONTENTdm software providing a flexible template which is customized for each collection. Collection specific fields are mapped to Dublin Core using a required fields checklist to enable participation in the Mountain West Digital Library. You can view the "crosswalks" (see above) that have been formulated for these projects, along with the Library of Congress cataloging tools used (see below).  The Getty's metadata standards crosswalk between 9 standards is used for project planning.

Metadata Examples for MWDL Contributors: Applying CDP Metadata Best Practices to Digital Objects was proposed in April of 2006 as a specialized tool for assisting metadata keyers in their creation of CONTENTdm records that will eventually be harvested into the MWDL.

The Nevada subject headings, created by a statewide group, is used in the Images of Lake Tahoe project.  Nevada and California place names, extracted from on the GNIS, is also used in the Images of Lake Tahoe project.  Only the Nevada place names controlled vocabulary was used in the Sagebrush Vernacular project.  An Excel version of the Nevada place names, sorted by county, is freely made available here for others' use.

* WSDSG/DIWG = Western States Digital Standards Group/Digital Imaging Working Group
**CDP/MWG = Collaborative Digitization Group/Metadata Working Group (formerly known as the Western States Digital Standards Group/Metadata Working Group)

METADATA CLEANUP

Lists of commonly misspelled words to use in metadata cleanup work:
• Misspellings, High and Moderate Probability
• Bill can't spell
• 100 words most often mispelled misspelled words in the English language
• Typographical Errors in Library Databases

1. Install Terry Reese's toc.php extension to CONTENTdm.
2. Invoke the toc.php file against your controlled vocabularies for a given collection.
3. Detect instances of duplication of headings or misspellings in the toc.php displays. 
4. Since CONTENTdm "normalizes" displays, it will try to "help" pretty up the display of a heading that has an extra space in it.  Export the metadata, and search for the errant headings in the exported metadata.
5. Go back into CONTENTdm and edit the errant headings.
6. Re-invoke the toc.php file to make sure you've fixed all your problems.  Voila!  Cleaned up metadata!

ADMINISTERING CONTROLLED VOCABULARIES

REGISTERING CONTENTdm COLLECTIONS WITH WORLDCAT AND DiMeMa's COLLECTION OF COLLECTIONS

UNR has registered most of its CONTENTdm collections with both WorldCat and DiMeMa's Collection of Collections by following these procedures.

PREPARING DUBLIN CORE METADATA FOR OAI-PMH HARVESTING

Site Technology

The collections on this site all utilize the CONTENTdm Software Suite, a product of DiMeMa, Inc. The CONTENTdm software provides tools for digital collection management that allow us to store, search, and disseminate our digital objects.   We are using version 4.1.   For more information about CONTENTdm, visit http://CONTENTdm.com.
 

As mentioned above, you might enjoy reviewing the "CONTENTdm Success Stories" presentation that I gave at ALA in New Orleans in June 2006, in which I mention some of the site technology tweaks in place here at UNR.  NOTE: Some of the information is outdated because it pertains to version 4.1 of CONTENTdm.

To help others with CONTENTdm web template customizations, I created this graphical worksheet to quickly ascertain which variables are which in the style files.

 

Space Planning

I have submitted two brief space planning documents for reference for the architects, as they plan the new Knowledge Center.  One spells out requirements for the digital projects coordinator's office and the other does so for the digital projects work area.  They are both best viewed using a plain text editor, such as TextPad.

Contact Us

For issues related to this web site, please contact the digital projects coordinator, Glee Willis at willis at unr.edu.  Sometimes I receive enquiries about my position description, so I have posted it here.

Here is the self-archived version of "From Drawer To Digital: A Statewide Collaboration for Building Digital Historic Map Collections", an article written by Peter Michel, Linda Newman, Kathy Rankin, Vicki Toy-Smith, and Glee Willis, that was published on pages 63-69 of the Fall 2005 issue (no.52) of Cartographic Perspectives. The authors describe the criteria that were used to select maps to be digitized; provide insight into some of the scanning issues and how they were resolved; discuss technical considerations in using CONTENTdm™; and talk about metadata issues in the collaborative effort.

Amalia Beisler wrote a very helpful article about our campus images collection, entitled: From Hanging Files to Digital Collection: Growing a Controlled Vocabulary for Sdded Functionality in the Online World that appeared in Journal of Library Metadata.

You may want to read an article about our digital collections written by Susan Skorupa, entitled, "Thousands of Nevada images and documents are … Just a click away" that appeared in the Reno Gazette-Journal on February 17, 2007. Another interesting article appeared in our internal newsletter that summarizes our appreciation of CONTENTdm's flexibility and sophistication.

A keynote address I gave at the 2008 Midwest CONTENTdm Users Group Meeting covered several innovative approaches to engaging users in their interaction with digital collections.

Another article written about our collections is entitled, "Exploring New Frontiers to Promote Digital Collections" and it appeared in the Summer 2008 issue of OCLC Western Trek.

The slides for the "Customization 101" Califa webinar I gave to the LHDRP in May of 2010 might be of interest to some of you.

For contact and use information about specific images see the individual record for that image.

How You Can Help

If you have suggestions for topics for future digital projects, if you are interested in financially supporting digital projects at the UNR Libraries, or if you have an interest in volunteering with our digital projects, please contact the digital projects librarian, Glee Willis at willis at unr.edu. Volunteering with us would be a fun way for you to learn more about using computers!