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USU Home > USU Library > USU Digital Library 

 

About Utah State University Digital Library, June 2006
Who we are | What we do | Want to help | Our Digital Tool Box | Collections

 

 

Who we are:

 

Cheryl Walters, Head of Digital Library

Cheryl.Walters@usu.edu ; (435) 797-2623

 

Heather Leary, Digital Library Assistant

Heather.Leary@usu.edu ; (435) 797-2650

 

CONTENTdm & server support by: USU Merrill-Cazier Library Systems

 

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What we do, in a nutshell

The USU Digital Library digitizes materials owned by Utah State University Libraries and hosts them on the web.  We select materials based upon their uniqueness, research merit, potential for curriculum support, and appeal.  Copyright restrictions, condition of the materials, and extent of data available to describe the materials factor into material selection also. Typically collections spotlight historical photographs, journals, old newspapers, letters, and other interesting items from our Special Collections and Archives. By digitizing these one-of-a-kind or rare materials, the Digital Library opens them up to users everywhere, enhances access by subject and keyword searching, and reduces wear and tear on the originals. 

Digital Library staff draw on expertise from all over the Library in creating digital collections. Most notably, the Digital Library Advisory Committee , composed of members from each library department, advises us on collection selection, helps us develop policies, and serves as a sounding board.  Special Collections and Archives staff frequently work with us in developing project ideas, co-writing and administering grants, selecting materials for digitization, and creating web pages.  The Library's Systems Department helps with web page construction provides technical support of our CONTENTdm software and our Linux server. The University's FACT ( Faculty Assistance Center for Teaching) Department generously lends its staff and equipment as needed to design web graphics, convert audio files, and provide other technical assistance.

 

Mountain West Digital Library

Utah State University 's Digital Library also functions as a regional hub for the Mountain West Digital Library , a collaborative project digitizing and/or hosting digital collections from regional cultural heritage institutions (libraries, museums, historical societies, etc.).  We are one of four hosting institutions, each running a CONTENTdm server supporting its own digital collections and supporting partner institutions by providing scanning and hosting services. Interested in partnering with us?  Drop us a line at USUDigital@ngw.lib.usu.edu

 

Mission statement

The USU Digital Library supports the teaching, learning, and research activities of Utah State University , a land grant university, and serves the public through learning, discovery, and engagement.  We create, organize, and maintain open access to digital resources that reflect USU's curriculum, research, unique resources, and achievements.  Individually and in collaboration with other educational and cultural heritage institutions, we contribute to the pool of scholarly digital resources accessible to users worldwide.

Collection development policy

The USU Digital Library digitizes, presents, and archives materials according to the following content and selection criteria:

Content Criteria
Material should fall under one or more of the following content categories to be considered for inclusion in the digital library.

•  USU Library or campus analog resources that are unique, rare, and/or of special regional interest and are deemed to warrant conversion to digital format

•  Materials that support USU teaching or research

•  Materials that support desirable collaborative projects such as the Mountain West Digital Library, GWLA Western Waters Project, etc.

Selection criteria

Once material is judged to meet content criteria, it is further evaluated to determine its need, suitability, and priority for digitization.  Considerations include:

•  Is material already digitally available via other collections or services?

•  Is material free of any copyright or use restrictions; if not, can clearance from such be easily obtained?

•  Does material already have sufficient information for metadata creation?

•  Does material have a satisfactory record of provenance and/or authenticity?

•  Does material lend itself to digitization without damaging the original?

•  Would digitization of material meet a desired preservation outcome, such as:

•  reduce handling of fragile materials

•  protect from theft, misuse, or mutilation

•  be digitized as part of an overall conservation plan

•  Would digitization provide added value over the original format, such as:

•  enhance access by addition of hyperlinks, finding aids

•  enhance searching and optimize use via database manipulation, search engines, image or data comparisons, etc.

•  Would digitization generate institutional prestige?

•  Would digitization create opportunities for a revenue stream?

•  Would this material complement or complete existing digital resources, either  inside or outside USU?

•  Would digitization create opportunities for desired collaboration?

•  Would digitization eliminate significant limitations in access or use of the originals?

•  Would a funding agency be likely to support digitization of this material?

•  Does USU Digital Library have sufficient resources (financial, staff, hardware, software, time) to digitize in an efficacious and timely manner?

•  Would digitization create desirable opportunities for staff training and development?

 

 

Want to help?

 

Tell us how we can improve our digital collections:

Volunteer to read and correct our transcribed historical newspapers.

An automated program transcribed our old Logan newspapers using optical character recognition (OCR). But, quite frankly, it did a lousy job because the print in these very old newspapers is difficult to read. People can actually perform better than the computer in this situation because they can use context and common sense to figure out illegible or missing words. If you would like to help us decipher the old text and send in corrected transcripts, click here for more information. You’ll absorb some history along the way and we will list you as a transcriber in the record.

Contribute

Contribute to the Digital Library by financially sponsoring creation of an entire collection or sending in smaller amounts to help us digitize and host more materials. Contact us at USUDigital@ngw.lib.usu.edu or write to Cheryl Walters, Utah State University, Digital Library, UMC 3000, Logan, UT 84321-3000.

 

Our Digital Toolbox

 

Standards we adhere to:

Equipment:

• CONTENTdm - Digital Media Management Software3

   CONTENTdm is a software suite that allows us to organize, store, and present our digitized files via the World-Wide Web. For

   more information contact DiMeMa Inc.

 

 

Collections:

 

Most collections have printed inventories or finding aids, many of which are on the web.  Copyright questions may be addressed to the curator listed for each collection.

 

  Current Collections:

• Bear River Watershed Historical Digital Collection

Materials drawn from various collections and archives

 

• Death Valley Region Photographs

Inventory: http://library.usu.edu/Specol/photoarchive/p0126.html

Curated by: Daniel Davis, dandav@ngw.lib.usu.edu

 

• Facing the Color Line: Race and Ethnicity in Cache Valley

Materials drawn from various collections and archives

 

• Fife Folklore Slides of Western U.S. Vernacular Architecture

Inventory: http://library.usu.edu/Folklo/folkarchive/fife.html

Curated by: Randy Williams, ranwil@cc.usu.edu

 

• Grouse Creek Cultural Survey, 1985: Mormon Buckeroo Territory

Inventory: http://library.usu.edu/folklo/folkarchive/FolkColl21.html

Curated by: Randy Williams, ranwil@cc.usu.edu

 

• Logan Historical Newspapers

Pre-1900 predecessors to Herald Journal, newspaper from Logan , Utah

Part of the larger Utah Digital Newspaper Collection at:  h ttp://www.lib.utah.edu/digital/unews/

 

• Ridgway Brothers: Scientists, Explorers, Illustrators

Inventory: http://library.usu.edu/Specol/manuscript/caine8.html

Curated by:  Steve Sturgeon, Stephen.Sturgeon@usu.edu   & Rose Milovich, Rose.Milovich @usu.edu

 

• Topaz Japanese-American Relocation Center Digital Collection

Inventory: http://library.usu.edu/Specol/manuscript/collms170.html

Curated by:  Steve Sturgeon, Stephen.Sturgeon@usu.edu  

 

• Utah State University Historical Photographs

Inventory: http://library.usu.edu/Specol/photoarchive/USUboards.html

Curated by: Daniel Davis, dandav@ngw.lib.usu.edu