Volume 2, Issue 1 (Winter 2009)
The Digital Insider
Digital Information News from the State Library of North Carolina
The Digital Information Management Program (DIMP) works to preserve democracy
by providing freedom of access to North Carolina state government information
Digital Repository i
Gets a Facelift
A redesign of the
State Library's Digi¬
tal Repository is in
the works, as is a
move to the newest
version of the CON-
TENTdm database
software, scheduled
for spring 2009. In
the meantime, take
advantage of our
newest features,
comments and tag- j
ging. Options to add
comments and tags
are located at the
bottom of the Re¬
pository records
under the document
description. Tell us
what you think of a
digital object, or add
a tag to describe
the object in your
own words. On your
next visit, click your j
tag to see if others
have tagged records
the same way.
Tech Tip
Digital preservation
is a real issue for
anyone who uses
email, hosts a web¬
site, scans papers,
creates documents, i
spreadsheets, and
databases on their
computer, or stores I
old files on floppy
disks, CDs, and
DVDS. To learn how
to better manage
your digital informa¬
tion go to http://
tinvurl.com/digpres.
An Era of Progress and Promise Makes Headlines
In 1910, W. N. Hartshorn
published the book, An
Era of Progress and
Promise in which he dis¬
cussed the educational
and religious opportuni¬
ties for African-Americans
after Emancipation. The
book contains profiles of
African-American schools
and biographies of promi¬
nent leaders, ministers
and educators.
Nearly 100 years later,
Hartshorn's book made
headlines when the State
Library of North Carolina
digitized it in its entirety
and made the text fully
searchable through our
digital repository.
View the book here:
http://tinvurl.com/erapp
An Era of Progress and
Promise is prized for its
rich content and its rarity
(only 79 libraries in the
United States own the
volume). As a result, the
project became an instant
success and was featured
in newspapers such as
the News & Observer and
the Charlotte Observer, as
well as on news broad¬
casts such as WRAL
(Raleigh) and WNCT
(Greenville). It was also
mentioned in American
Libraries Direct and dis¬
cussed on blogs across
the country.
Above: An early 20th cen¬
tury kindergarten teacher
and her students
View what has been said
about An Era of Progress
and Promise at: http://
tinvurl.com/dimpera
What is a Digital Preservation Plan? (Part One)
A digital preservation plan
(DPP) is an outline of the
type of information to be
accepted and preserved
within an organizational
unit, as well as providing
guidelines as to how this
will be accomplished. It
outlines the risks of main¬
taining the status quo
and identifies ways to
mitigate these risks
through digital preserva¬
tion activities. It also iden¬
tifies the key participants
in preservation activities
and the factors necessary
for success. The value of
creating a DPP is that it
can be used to obtain
buy-in and create a foun¬
dation for collaboration
between all parties in¬
volved in the preservation
process, including infor¬
mation creators and pub¬
lishers, IT, administration,
and others. Without it,
goals and directions are
unclear, and some staff
will choose to do nothing
at all. However, with a
DPP that spells out the
details of an organiza¬
tion's preservation plan
and which has been ap¬
proved by organizational
leadership, participants
understand institutional
expectations, their roles,
and that they have man¬
agement's support. In
addition, timelines, goals,
objectives, and priorities
are clearly communi¬
cated. In short, a DPP
increases the chance that
preservation activities will
be successfully imple¬
mented and accom¬
plished.
Want to know how to cre¬
ate a DPP? Look for that
in the second installment
of this two-part article in
the next issue of The Digi¬
tal Insider.
Did You Know?
Arts organizations, law
enforcement groups,
libraries, environ¬
mental groups,
education institutions,
and political parties
and candidates
spread the word about
their causes, services,
and activities through
the online community
utility Facebook.
According to Mark
Zuckerberg, Facebook
owner, "150 million
people around the
world are now actively
using Facebook and
almost half of them
are using Facebook
every day. This in¬
cludes people in every
continent— even Ant¬
arctica. If Facebook
were a country, it
would be the eighth
most populated in the
world, just ahead of
Japan, Russia and
Nigeria." Perhaps
state government
should consider mak¬
ing services available
through this tool, as
well? If you are al¬
ready a Facebook
member, you can join
the State Library’s
group to get service
announcements and
updates at
http:/ /tinvurl.com/
facebookehl.
Join our mailing list
to automatically
receive this quarterly
newsletter.
To subscribe, visit
http://tlnvurl.com/5r2krv.
Digital Information Management Program, State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources
