Volume 2, Issue 4 (Fall 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
Developing Shareable Metadata Standards
Staff from the Government & Heri- house the State Library's Digital "The state Library can provide
tage Library's Metadata & Catalog- Repository— is used by over 1,000 valuable input to the Working
ing Services branch are participating organizations. Using clear, agreed- Group, as our unique role as the
in a new initiative from the Online uP°n standards for creating meta- state publications clearinghouse
Computer Library Center (OCLC) to data for digital materials from these requires us to provide access to
develop guidelines and standards organizations will make that meta- materials that the other group
for shareable metadata in CON- data more shareable and our elec- members aren't working with,”
TENTdm. tronic collections more widely dis- says Kate Kluttz, the Head of
covered by people around the world.
Metadata, or “data about data,”
describes materials so users can
find the items (books, texts, videos,
images, etc.) they are looking for
and identify them accurately. Meta¬
data is "shareable" when it follows
agreed-upon standards that allow it
to be searched in different online
systems, and understood by a wide
variety of users.
OCLC's CONTENTdm product— the
online system currently used to
met -a- da- ta
To create these standards for share¬
able metadata in CONTENTdm,
OCLC has created its Metadata
Working Group (MWG). The MWG is
made up of staff from OCLC and
CONTENTdm customers and infor¬
mation is shared through a group
wiki and online meetings.
Cataloging & Metadata Services at
SLNC and the Library's represen¬
tative on the MWG. ‘‘We're ex¬
cited about being part of this ef¬
fort, and about helping to develop
standards and guidelines that will
aid other libraries in creating their
own high-quality metadata, as well
as ensuring that our own meta¬
data provides the best possible
access to our digital collections.”
See: http://tinvurl.com/oclcmwg
for more information.
North Carolina eNCyclopedia Project
The eNCyclopedia is an online
resource that highlights North
Carolina's unique resources,
people, and culture to enrich,
educate, and inform, and pro¬
vides reliable information about
North Carolina to students, re¬
searchers, and curious individu¬
als.
The North Carolina eNCyclopedia
is being updated to include en¬
hanced web features, new
graphics, updated article
language and citations, and
a search engine accessible
both on the eNCyclopedia
homepage and via WebFeat.
Changes and updates are
being prioritized based on the
results of a user survey con¬
ducted in June 2009. The newly
designed site is expected to
launch in early 2010.
In September, the Government &
Heritage Library invited users to
vote on their favorite logos as
part of early redesign efforts. A
total of 950 votes were cast. The
four most popular choices will be
used in rotation on the revised
and redesigned eNCyclopedia
homepage.
The Government & Heritage
Library sees the process of
updating and redesigning the
eNCyclopedia as a wonderful
opportunity to collaborate with
other divisions, state agencies,
universities, schools, local his¬
tory organizations, and other
public and private institu¬
tions. Contributions and
feedback from these or¬
ganizations will be solic¬
ited to ensure content
within the eNCyclopedia is
accurate and reputable.
4
e Cyclopedia
* STAFFING UPDATE *
In the last issue of the
Dl, we advertised for
several Access to State
Government Informa¬
tion Initiative grant-
funded staff positions
in the DIMP. Well, we've
been lucky to fill all of
them with what we’re
calling the DIMP
DREAM TEAM. Meet:
Dean Farrell, Systems
Integration Librarian,
ASGII
Lisa Gregory, Digital
Projects Liaison, ASGII
Marcellaus Joiner, State
Library Project Man¬
ager. Ensuring Democ¬
racy through Digital
Access
Amber Welch, Digitiza¬
tion Specialist, ASGII
In addition, an internal
hire has allowed us to
fill a position open
since last spring. As of
November 16, Michelle
Czaikowski joins the
DIMP as the Digital
Projects Manager. Most
recently the Outreach
and Training Librarian
in the Information Ser¬
vices Branch of the
GHL, Michelle will head
up the revamp of the
eNCyclopedia, develop
and manage digitization
projects, and manage
the GHL’s web pres¬
ence. Please help us
welcome our new team!
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Digital Information Management Program of the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources
