Goals for Ball State University Libraries' Digital Initiative

As the availability of digital content grows and expectations of the users of digital resources increase, the need for careful planning for the growth and development of the University Libraries’ digital initiatives is vital.

It is incumbent upon librarians, archivists, and information technology specialists involved in developing the digital future, or the Next Generation Digital, to build on achievements, continue current projects, and prepare strategies for accomplishing new and expanded initiatives.

The University Libraries’ digital initiative goals include:

· Providing global access to an ever-widening range of digital resources to enhance and enrich learning, teaching, and research
· Increasing the number and range of digital resources available for Ball State students and faculty
· Creating signature digital collections to meet the diverse needs and expectations of the Ball State community and scholars around the world
· Promoting and supporting the scholarly use of digital content by Ball State students and faculty

Libraries’ Current and Continuing Initiatives

Already, the University Libraries have come a long way in developing the digital resources to support these goals. Examples of current and continuing digital initiatives include:

· Cardinal Scholar: institutional repository to support the University’s research and publication distribution strategies by making faculty and student intellectual property globally accessible and searchable via the Internet
· Conferences: focusing on various aspects of digital activities, CONTENTdm, and initiatives dealing with issues relative to specific types of digital content (audio, video, newspapers, etc.)
· Digital Commons: providing access to thousands of digital resources, including signature collections of other institutions, videos, e-journals, Web sites, and other assets via the Internet
· Digital Media Repository: over 102,000 digital objects now accessible to support teaching, learning, and research
· Digitization Center and Mobile Digitization Unit: digital processing area and mobile digital equipment to allow off-site digitizing of materials from partner institutions
· e-Archives: providing access to the University’s records
· Grant-Funded Projects: Three Library Services and Technology Act digitization grants have been received; two LSTA grant applications have been sent out for this year; Institute of Museum and Library Services grant pending.
· Publications and Professional Outreach: articles in a forthcoming book on Digital Scholarship; conference presentations and papers on digital topics by University Libraries’ personnel
· University Libraries’ Second Life Project: ongoing development of Middletown Digital Library and Archives and a virtual interactive Middletown (Muncie) in the 1920s
· Virtual Press: digital online publishing of Ball State products by students, faculty, alumni, and others
· Workshops for librarians, archivists, and other information professionals on digital management topics

Exciting Future Directions for the Digital Initiatives

Plans for the future development of the University Libraries’ digital initiatives will include the expansion of these important activities. Future directions include development in the following areas:

· 3D Modeling and Data Capture: Second Life project; What Middletown Read project; 3D modeling to support instruction, simulation, and educational gaming
· Data Acquisition Technologies: expanding Cardinal Scholar as a data acquisition tool
· Development of Digital Media for Comodification of Cultural Heritage: transformation of cultural heritage artifacts into an educational commodity through digitization; packaging analog information and traditional paper-based documentation in digital format as a potential revenue generator
· Digital Visual and Oral History Project: expansion of this signature program for the University Libraries’ Digital Initiatives
· e-Learning Using Resources of the Digital Media Repository: online tutorials, lesson plans, workshops and other outreach activities to align digital resources with curriculum, academic disciplines, instruction, and classroom use
· Multimedia, Data Management and Archiving: acquisition and management of digital video in the Digital Media Repository
· Virtual Reality Applications: further development of Second Life and other virtual reality projects

For more information, contact John B. Straw, Ball State University Libraries’ Assistant Dean for Digital Initiatives and Special Collections, JStraw@bsu.edu, 765-285-5078.

Vice President O'Neal Smitherman to Leave Ball State

O’Neal Smitherman, Ph.D., has announced that he will leave Ball State University at the end of October, 2007 to accept the position of Executive Vice President for the Hudson Alpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, Alabama.

For the past six years, Dr. Smitherman, in his capacity as Vice President for Technology, Chief Information Officer (CIO), and Executive Assistant to the President, has served as the head of Ball State’s Office of Information Technology. This is the administrative group to which the University Computing Services (UCS), University Libraries, and University Teleplex report.

During his tenure, the University Libraries benefited from Dr. Smitherman’s support and vision. In speaking about his legacy for the University Libraries, Arthur W. Hafner, Dean of University Libraries, said, “Under Dr. Smitherman’s leadership, the University Libraries successfully integrated substantial additional technology into all of our programs and services for students and faculty.”

Dr. Hafner identified a few of the significant accomplishments during the past five years:
· Modernization of the Libraries’ infrastructure to grow from 125 to 350 public workstations
· Early deployment of high-speed wireless connectivity throughout the University Libraries
· Creation of a digital repository to support student academic success and faculty teaching and research
· The University Libraries’ development of Cardinal Scholar, Ball State’s institutional repository as an integral element of the University’s research publishing distribution strategies
· Modernization and streamlining of the Libraries’ business operations through technology
· Completion of a Program Review that documented the importance and value of having a Library Information Technology Services unit within the Libraries

Dr. Hafner added that another important part of Dr. Smitherman’s legacy was his work to increase the Libraries’ base funding. In 2002, an additional $200,000 in recurring funding was added to the base allocation. More recently, in August 2006, President Jo Ann Gora added another $200,000 in recurring funding. The first moneys were used to purchase core curriculum materials for undergraduates, and the second allocation is used to purchase books recommended by faculty for upper level students, graduates, and faculty research. These additional funds, and the other enhancements to the University Libraries, have helped to increase the role of the Libraries in the academic life of the campus.

Doll Collection is Newest Addition to Ball State Libraries' Digital Media Repository

The Ball State University Libraries’ Doll Collection is the newest addition to the Digital Media Repository (DMR). Students, faculty, and researchers can view the dolls and other CONTENTdm-based DMR collections to discover a wide variety of surprising materials in the Libraries’ collections. This collection can be viewed at http://libx.bsu.edu/collection.php?CISOROOT=%2FDolCol

or browse the Educational Resources Collections at http://libx.bsu.edu.

Digital photographs taken from several angles and 3-D rotating videos were packaged together to represent the wide assortment of dolls available for checkout for two-week loan, with option for renewal, in the Libraries’ Educational Resources Collections.

As in other DMR collections, like the Musical Instruments and Miniature Furniture, QuickTime Virtual Reality movies present the viewer with a comprehensive view of an object that allows them to zoom in and manipulate the image as desired.

Many of the dolls in the collection represent characters, both fictional and historical, that we know and love. In that respect, these dolls would be instrumental in bringing a book or history lesson to life. Among others, Sherlock Holmes, Alice in Wonderland, Ben Franklin, and Martha Washington are depicted by these dolls, in assorted material, color, and size.

The dolls range in date from the 1930s to 1990s. Some of the oldest dolls, like many in the collection, represent a wide range of cultures and native costumes. This is a valuable resource to researchers who are interested in a particular culture and their ethnic dress. Some examples are the Polish peasant, Welsh doll, and Eskimo doll.

To discover the physical location and availability of a doll, click on the “Locate This Item in CardCat” link in the document description view in the DMR. Patrons can also borrow doll stands in order to easily display the object.

For more information about the Doll Collection in the DMR, contact Amanda A. Hurford, Ball State University’s Digital Initiatives Multimedia Developer, AAHurford@bsu.edu, (765) 285-3349.

Oral Histories with Muncie Labor Leaders Available Online through the University Libraries’ Digital Media Repository

Students and scholars can now access oral history interviews that document the history of organized labor in Muncie, Indiana through the Ball State University Libraries’ Digital Media Repository. The Muncie Labor Oral History Project Collection includes 15 interviews with prominent labor leaders from the Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections’ Muncie Labor Archives.

Inspired by former Indiana state legislator and union leader Hurley Goodall, these interviews were conducted as part of the Center for Middletown Studies’ effort to document recent economic changes and the history of labor unions in Muncie. Participants from all the major unions in Muncie were interviewed by C. Warren Vander Hill between December 2005 and February 2006.

The digital collection consists of recordings, transcripts, and photographs. Representatives from major employers, such as Chevrolet-Muncie, the Ball Corporation, and the Borg Warner Corporation were interviewed. Topics discussed include union activities, the importance of unions in the lives of workers, and the future of unions.

The collection can be accessed in the Digital Media Repository, http://libx.bsu.edu/, under the “Middletown Digital Oral History Collections.”

For more information, contact Maren L. Read, Assistant Archivist for Manuscript Collections, Ball State University Libraries, MLRead@bsu.edu, (765) 285-5078.

The University Libraries Contribute to Indiana’s Digital Memory

Indiana Memory is a collaborative project of Indiana libraries, museums, archives, and other related institutions to provide digital access to the state’s unique cultural and historical heritage. The development of this state-wide digital library by the Indiana State Library is intended to serve Indiana citizens, students, lifelong learners, scholars, researchers, state and federal government, businesses, and others.

Through the continuing growth of the Ball State University Digital Media Repository, http://libx.bsu.edu/, the University Libraries are well positioned to make a significant contribution to Indiana’s long-term digital memory. Many current collections provide digital windows into the lives, history, and culture of past and present residents of East Central Indiana. Several planned and anticipated future collections will also have an Indiana focus.

The two past Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant projects completed by the University Libraries had Indiana themes.

Created by the 2005-2006 LSTA grant, The Digital Repository of U.S. Civil War Resources from East Central Indiana, provides a rich source of handwritten letters, diaries, photographs, artifacts, and other research materials that document the involvement of Indiana soldiers and civilians during the War Between the States.

The recently completed 2006-2007 LSTA grant project focused on providing access to digital audio and transcripts of oral histories with African-American, Jewish, and Catholic citizens of Muncie, Indiana, in the Middletown Digital Oral History Collection.

The current LSTA grant project for 2007-2008 will provide access to another Indiana historical resource, The Muncie Post-Democrat newspaper. This anti-Ku Klux Klan paper from the 1920s through the 1950s is being digitized and will be accessible and searchable through the Digital Media Repository in mid-2008.

Other collections in the Digital Media Repository that preserve Indiana’s digital memory include:
· More than 5,000 historical photographs in the Middletown Digital Archives, including the Otto Sellers, W. A. Swift, Spurgeon-Greene, and Other Side of Middletown collections
· 380 issues of The Muncie Times, an African-American newspaper
· 568 photographs of Indiana courthouses in the Daniel W. Hartwig Collection
· 87 photographs of covered bridges in Indiana in the Alvin W. Holmes Collection
· 167 broadcasts of Indiana Public Radio’s Indiana ArtsDesk program dedicated to fostering awareness, appreciation, and participation in the arts in East Central Indiana
· 629 digital videos of NewsLink Indiana news briefs produced by Ball State University
· WIPB videos on Ed Ball’s Century and Gene Stratton Porter: Voice of the Limberlost
· Video, photographs, and other documentation of Robert F. Kennedy’s speech at Ball State University in 1968
· Video, photographs, and other documentation of The Man Haters, an historic 1915 silent movie filmed in Muncie, Indiana, featuring local residents in the cast

Additional Indiana-focused digital resources in the Digital Media Repository are slides of Indiana architecture in the Architecture Images Collection, Ball State campus photographs and building plans, and films by Ball State students.

As the Indiana Memory project moves forward, the digital collections being created by the Ball State University Libraries, especially through partnerships with other community, educational, cultural, and historical institutions, will provide a rich resource representing the lives, culture, history, and contributions of the citizens of East Central Indiana.

For more information on the Indiana Memory project, visit the State Library’s Web page at http://www.statelib.in.us/.
For more information about Ball State University Libraries’ Digital Media Repository, contact John B. Straw, JStraw@bsu.edu, (765) 285-5078.