Projects
DSC has taken on a number of projects to grow the OAC, Calisphere, and UC Shared Images collections; bring on new contributors; explore opportunities for developing and implementing new technologies; and much more.
Current projects
Supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, this multi-year project aims to integrate Archon and the Archivists' Toolkit (AT) into a next-generation open-source archives management system. The project is a collaboration between the libraries of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (which developed Archon), and UC San Diego and New York University (which co-developed AT). The CDL’s role in this project is to provide independent alpha-testing and "build and release" support, to facilitate the validation and deployment of the ArchivesSpace software. To do so, we will be leveraging our experience with hosting the AT and Archon for OAC contributors. ArchivesSpace will capitalize on the functional strengths of AT and Archon, both of which were released in 2006. The system will provide broad, integrated support for managing archival records and manuscript collections, including tracking collection workflow information; describing materials within collections, including digitized objects; generating finding aids (that can be published through systems such as the OAC); and more.
Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC) Project
In collaboration with the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities at the University of Virginia (project lead) and the School of Information at UC Berkeley, this project will explore the potential for archival authority records to improve access to cultural resources in libraries, archives, and museums. SNAC builds on the recent release of an archival authority control standard (Encoded Archival Context – Corporate bodies, Persons, and Families [EAC-CPF]) to "unlock" descriptions of people from descriptions of their records and link them together in new ways. Our collaborators will derive archival authority records from existing archival descriptions and enhance them through matching and merging with existing records and thesauri. CDL’s role is to create a prototype access system that links the creator records to each other and to related resources in a "historical social network." The SNAC Project has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities from 2010-2012. Data for the research will be provided by the Library of Congress, Getty Vocabulary Program, Virginia Heritage, Northwest Digital Archive (NWDA), Online Archive of California, OCLC, and the Virtual International Authority File (VIAF).
Uncovering California's Environmental Collections
This is a multi-institutional project to catalog thirty-three previously inaccessible collections of documents, photographs, and other rich archival material related to California's environmental history. The two-year project is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by the Council for Library and Information Resources.
Past projects
Audio/Visual Working Group
This working group identified and documented "best practices" for creating durable, long-term A/V file formats; these are now documented in the CDL Digital File Format Recommendations. The group also developed functional requirements for delivering those file formats in the OAC and Calisphere. Members of the group include DSC and Digital Preservation Program staff, in addition to two consultants from the UC libraries: Gary Handman (UC Berkeley) and David Seubert (UC Santa Barbara).
Local History Digital Resources Project
Supported by a Library Services and Technology Act grant administered by the California State Library and coordinated by the Califa Library Group, this multi-year project has provided a "solution in a box" for public, academic, and specialized libraries seeking to become conversant with developing digital primary resource collections. From 2001-2012, funded libraries have selected, scanned, and cataloged approximately 200 items each for publication through the OAC, Calisphere, and local websites. The digital assets are also maintained for the long-term in the CDL-managed Digital Preservation Repository. Over 90 institutions have participated in the LHDRP, and nearly 30,000 digital objects have been made publicly available and preserved for the long-term.
In July 2009, DSC released a total redesign of the OAC interface informed by user feedback and community input. The new site helps researchers navigate the collections, contains several new features, and aggregates MARC and EAD records in the same system.
California Cultures is a curated collection in Calisphere. It was created in response to H.R. 1905, an appropriation from the US Congress through Library of Congress’s American Memory program, which made funds available to digitize materials relating to the state’s ethnic groups. The collection is drawn from Calisphere’s content and also features more than 20,000 specially digitized primary sources from charter contributors. It documents California’s rich history of diversity and multicultural contributions.
“New Frontiers in the Digital Library: Social and Ecological Diversity of the American West” was a multi-year, grant funded project to create a virtual collection drawing from the resources of major libraries, archives, and museums. The collection was assembled and a prototype site created. In addition, research into automation of clustering and classification was conducted, a date normalization utility created, and an OAI harvesting structure implemented for the CDL.
The Japanese American Relocation Archive (JARDA) is a digital thematic collection in Calisphere that documents the experience of Japanese Americans in World War II internment camps. Starting in 1998, the University of California has digitized thousands of images and documents on this subject, providing a single, easy-to-use entry point for anyone interested in this material.
Counting California
The Counting California web site provided users with a single interface for accessing a variety of data and statistics about California from local, state, and federal government agencies. It was decommissioned June 5, 2008.
Image Service Demonstrator Project
The Demonstrator Project was a development initiative and precursor to UC Shared Images. Using Luna Insight software, it built a demonstrator online service for the purpose of supporting research and teaching in the arts, humanities, and other disciplines that use surrogate images of works in architectural and the visual arts.
Museums and the Online Archive of California (MOAC)
In 1997, several California museums approached CDL with the idea of integrating access to collections of art, historical artifacts, photography, and manuscripts from museums, archives, and libraries throughout the state. With support from the Institute for Museum Library Services, the MOAC collaboration addressed several goals: testing the use of EAD for museum metadata to provide access to museum objects, integrating primary source materials access across institution types (libraries, archives and museums), and integrating item level description with collection level description.
