Alan Cornish
Systems Librarian
Washington State University
Robert H. McDonald
Information Technology & Digital Projects Librarian
Auburn University
Catherine M. Jannik
Digital Projects Working Group Coordinator
Auburn University
Gathering the resources and people needed to create complex digital libraries often requires intimate collaboration between two or more institutions. This session offers briefings on two such collaborations: one creating a digital library of historical maps in Washington state and another developing a research portal for Civil Rights documents in Alabama.
The Early Washington Maps online collection (http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/holland/masc/xmaps.html) was built jointly by the Washington State University Libraries and the University of Washington Libraries. The core software package used to support this project, CONTENTdm, enables institutions to develop image, sound, and video collections in a collaborative manner. This session will present additional tools employed to build this digital library and some of the challenges faced by project participants.
The Transforming America Project (http://www.transformingamerica.org/) is a subject specific primary source research portal of Civil Rights collections in the state of Alabama. The project provides a one stop search for primary source Civil Rights documentation by creating a virtual repository of distributed archival finding aids and museum collection guides using hypermedia, XML, and Dublin Core-based descriptive metadata. The collaborative effort includes libraries, archives, and museums throughout the state. Participants include Auburn University Libraries, University of South Alabama, Trenholm State Technical College, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, University of Alabama Libraries, Troy State University-Dothan, Rosa Parks Library and Museum, and the Birmingham Public Library.
