PRDLA

Herding Tigers: Digital Proliferation and Management

29-31 October 2008

Singapore Management University, Li Ka Shing Library

co-hosted by National University of Singapore Libraries

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Additional photos shared by NUS

The four main focus areas were:

• Mass digitization (e.g. library projects, national projects, open access issues)
• Digitization collaborations (e.g. PRDLA member or other collaborative digital projects)
• Digital rights management (e.g. standards, copyright/intellectual property rights)
• Digitization within the context of collection development (e.g. library collection program, priorities, and policies)

PRDLA Business Meeting Presentation (PDF)

PRDLA Business Meeting Narrative (PDF) (.docx)

PRDLA Archive Presentation (PDF)

Pacific Rim Library (PRDLA Archive) Report (PDF) (.docx)

Program

The closing keynote for PRDLA 2008 takes a data-centric look at the history of scholarly communication, and uses the Australian National Data Service as a case study.

Presentation (PDF)

In April 2008, the University of California, San Diego sent its first shipment of books to be digitized as part of the Google Book Search Library Project, a global effort launched in 2004 to digitize collections from the world’s top universities and libraries to make them searchable and discoverable online. The UC San Diego Libraries will contribute thousands of volumes from its East Asia collection and from its International Relations & Pacific Studies Library, in such diverse subject areas as history, literature, political science, public policy and economics. Speakers will discuss the project background, estimated future impacts, local processes, applied standards, technical features, and lessons learned.

Presentation (PDF)

This paper explores the principles that underpin the the digital library program at UCLA, examples of collections being digitized, and the partnerships being developed to enhance the digital library collections, including discussion of the collaborative nature of creating metadata, joint projects, and collaborative agreements.  The paper also addresses the UCLA role in both the Google digitization and Open Content Alliance projects.  These discussions are in the context of the emerging UCLA collection management plan.

Presentation (PDF)

ODiL began with a request for US$50,000 to digitize items from the libraries of the University of Auckland, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and the University of California, San Diego as a starting point for the collaborative creation of an “Oceania Digital Library” (ODiL).  The project goal is creation of a single point of access for researchers seeking information about the cultures and history of Oceania (Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia). The digitization request was approved by the PRDLA Steering Committee at the PRDLA 2007 Membership Meeting, University of California, Berkeley on16 October 2007. The project website is: http://odldev.lbr.auckland.ac.nz/. Presenters will also discuss next steps regarding the creation of the ODiL portal and share the list of additional materials they hope to digitize in the future.

U. of Auckland Presentation (PDF)

U. of Hawaii Presentation (PowerPoint)

UC San Diego Presentation (PDF)

The paper will briefly describe digitization projects in Hong Kong. More in-depth description and problems encountered at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)will be discussed. At CUHK, not only paper and microform formats, but also audio and visual materials are digitized or converted into electronic format. The paper will try to forecast what will happen after massive digitization has taken place either in Hong Kong and in greater China.

Presentation (PDF)

Presentation (PDF)

The University of Hong Kong Libraries has begun two initiatives this year employing IT to improve its services to readers:

Rare Book Digitisation Project. The Libraries have allowed the iGroup to set up a scanning shop in its Main Library. Initially it will be used to scan 4,000 western language monographs in its rare book collection dealing mainly with China. It will then be used for other special collections projects. Ultimately it is expected that this shop will be used to create e-books for other libraries in Hong Kong and southeast Asia. In this presentation examples of books scanned and the types of products which will then be produced from these images will be included.

RFID: The Libraries have partnered with the university’s own E-Business Technology Institute (ETI), IBM, and Tagsys to employ RFID technology in 1.3 million volumes in its Main Library. In this presentation information will be given on the challenges which have been overcome in this project and the benefits we hope to achieve from this significant expenditure of funding.

Presentation (PDF)

The Repository of Special Collections (RSC) is a sub-project of China Academic Library & Information System (CALIS) during China’s tenth Five-years Plan. It is headed by Wuhan University Library and follows unified Digital Library standards and protocols such as Metadata Standards, OAI Protocol, OpenURL and METS. Fifty-two academic libraries have joined the project. Within three years of development, 58 of 63 sub-projects passed the peer review of Project Expert Board in 2007 and began to serve the public.

The presentation will give a comprehensive introduction to this digital library project,
including the following issues:  1) principles, methods & contents, 2) project management & organization, 3) project implementation, 4) project achievement, and 5) further work

Presentation (PDF)

Abstract

Recently one of my history colleagues and I completed the digitization of the Register of Chinese Immigrants to Canada from 1885 to 1949.  The list includes just under 100,000 names of individual immigrants, most of whom paid an entry tax designed to limit immigration from China to Canada.  The purpose of the legislation on which this policy was based was clearly discriminatory.  Immigrants of Chinese origin are the only group ever to have been charged an entry fee on arrival in Canada.  The register lists the names, ages, sexes, village origins, occupations, means of arrival, and destinations in Canada of all immigrants, as well as noting a physical description of each individual that includes height measured on arrival.  My colleague and I are using this information to examine the migration process and the welfare of the immigrant population, but the list has many other possible uses, among them genealogical.  Our intent has always been to allow public access to this information for research purposes, and to this end we have entered into a partnership with Library and Archives Canada that now allows the database to be used for genealogical research.  While I began this project as an historian, when I started my work in the UBC Library I could see new opportunities for collaboration with librarians and, by extension, similar collaborative opportunities for many faculty members in the social sciences and humanities.  My presentation outlines the nature of the research project, identify some of its preliminary findings, and comments on the possibilities for new forms of collaboration.

Presentation (PDF)

Abstract

The Chinese Library of NUS Libraries has a growing unique collection of historical documents on Chinese in Southeast Asia.  To preserve and share this research collection of primary and secondary materials with scholars worldwide, NUS Libraries had undertaken a project in 2004, to digitize the documents in our collection, as well as those in other organizations.  Access to this collection is via the website, Historical Documents of Chinese in Southeast Asia.

The project not only achieved the primary aims of preservation and sharing of a special collection with international scholars, but also, to our surprise, provided the much needed publicity to attract potential donors from the public and the scholarly community.  Viewing the collection online had prompted some to offer their personal collections to us voluntarily. It also made it easier when persuading others to donate their personal works or loan their collections for digitization. Most importantly, it helped attract donors to offer monies to help fund our acquisitions efforts in this area. This paper will provide a description of the website and our experiences in digitizing the collection.  We will also share how our collection development efforts benefited from the launch of this website to the public.

Presentation (PDF)