Teaching with Data Collections and Primary Sources: Digital Collections - Info

A digital collection consists of digital objects that are selected and organized to facilitate their discovery, access, and use. Objects, metadata, and the user interface together create the user experience of a collection.

Adapted from A Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections: A NISO Recommended Practice. 3rd ed. National Information Standards Organization: Baltimore, December 2007.

provided by the Center for Digital Initiatives (The University of Vermont Libraries)

"A digital collection is any set of documents or multimedia pieces (e.g., images, audio files, videos, etc.) gathered and presented online for the purpose of exchanging resources and ideas."

from "Models of Digital Collection Use in a University"

broader  
may include a number of collections

Digital Library at the Smithsonian
HathiTrust Digital Library
ARTStor

• sound recordings e.g. radio broadcasts, interviews, music, nature sounds
• images e.g. photographs, posters, fan art, postcards
• documents e.g. newspapers, diaries, pamphlets, recipes

from Ad*Access, "Our Government Says Don't Waste Food"
from Ladies' Home Journal (Visking Corporation)

"Diverse Forms of Snow Crystals"
Wilson A. Benley Snowflakes from
Special Collections,
Rebecca Crown Library, Dominican University

Digital Collections tend to be focused around a specific subject such as an

• event
• person
• organization
• time period

Examples:

One way to see how a collection is organized is to look for a Browse feature.  This often shows categories.

• by taxonomy e.g. the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Macaulay Library, divides the collection into Birds, Mammals, Reptiles etc.
• by format e.g. the Grateful Dead Archive Online includes Media and Fan Art (as well as Artists)
• by type e.g. in the National Jukebox, one may browse sound recordings which are Vocal, Instrumental, Spoken, Instrumental with vocal refrain
• by other useful metadata e.g. in AdViews (television commercials), objects are tagged with Company, Title, and Subject

Collections also offer Search functionality.  Metadata (data about data) assigned to a specific item will also offer information about how the collection is organized.

image from home page of the Grateful Dead Archive

Availability

• Digital = Online
• Many collections are FREE!  Other collections are subscription based and may be available through your academic institution.

Access

• Organizations and institutions are providing web access.  Some are also making digital objects available in iTunes U and YouTube. 
• Diamonstein-Speilvogel Video Archive
• Duke University Libraries - Digital Collections YouTube Channel

Using / Saving

• Often the digital objects are available for download. e.g. right click, Save Image As
• Sometimes you can only use a screenshot or html code to link to or embed the image. e.g. See image at right.

Terms of Use

• tend to be favorable for research and teaching uses
• proper attribution is required
• look for Copyright, Usage, Permissions, or Terms of Use information
• sample Copyright Information (Duke)
• post-1923 content is copyrighted (some exceptions); Digital Copyright Slider
• Fair Use Analysis (Purdue University)
• Fair Use, consider 4 Factors: purpose and character of the use (e.g. commercial vs. nonprofit education), nature of the copyrighted work, amount and substantiality used, effect of use on potential market

Morella, Caroon, and the Cherry
from NYPL Collection
Nature Illustrates: Flowers, Plants,
and Trees, 1550-1900

Web

Since there is so much content freely available, searching the web is valuable.

1) Search using a phrase such as "digital collections" with a subject, person, or event.

Example: "civil war" "digital collection" in Google

"Digital Collections" is common but is not the only phrase used.  Consider using some of these additional terms.

"digital archive" | online | digital | "virtual museum" | "online exhibit" | "digital library"

2) In Google Advanced search, you can choose Any of these words.

Example: farming california "digital archive" OR "digital collection"

3) Consider limiting your search to .edu sites.  Many of these collections are provided by academic institutions.  Other domains that may useful include .gov and .org

Example: "digital collection" "john muir" site:.edu in Google

Academic Institutions

4) Check your local library's list of databases.

• Databases > By Format > Images
• Databases > By Format > Primary Sources

5) If you know an area or school is known for a specific area of study, its library may be providing digital collections on that topic.  Look for content at that institution's web site.

On Display > Special Collections

• Henry O. Nightingale Civil War Diaries
• Chinese Seals Online
• The Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture Collection

Content:
enhance a lecture, illustrate a concept, start a discussion, use as a writing prompt

• e.g. Gender, fashion, hair, beauty (historical ad)
• e.g. Art & Architecture (ink and wash drawing, Mission building)
• e.g. Biology (Buccal cavity of a frog)
• e.g. Communication (speech delivery - Martin Luther King Jr.)

Check for Understanding

• e.g. concept in Biomechanics
• e.g. filming techniques, interviewing techniques
  

Concepts re: Research (being a Scholar)

• e.g. What are primary sources?
• e.g. What is credible information?
• e.g. How is information organized in digital collections in contrast to other types of materials e.g. books, journals?
• e.g. What are ethical uses of information?

Require Sources from Digital Collections

• e.g. Ask students to incorporate digital sources into assignments.

Conduct Research around Digital Objects

• e.g. locate an historical object (HIST 100 "The Historian's Craft")
• e.g. inspiration from A Global History, Told Through '100 Objects'
• e.g. investigate author/artist e.g. C.J. Rollinus

Use Digital Objects to create another Digital Project

• Dr. Ruth Mostern - Teaching Silk Road History (focus on Google Earth)
• World War II Poster Project (Bucknell University, 2006) research and presentation on a poster from WWI

Corner view of San Fernando Rey Mission building,California
by Harry Fenn
from UC Berkeley,
Bancroft Library
available in Calisphere