Hi Ed!

We did not break down our costs the way Oregon did, so I can't give you a
line-by-line comparison.  For this project we used a Phase One Captureback
and two flatbeds, color images, no PDFs, no bound content, no CDs, and all
metadata creation was automated apart from the EAD.  The latter already
contained description to the item level.  Our project costs *included* the
usability study, consultations with an archivist, web developer staff,
digitization manager, and 3% of my own time.  Additionally, we funded one
full-time staff member for 14 months (with benefits, ~$2718/month) and 2
students (@$9/hour for ~ 1970 hours).

I already had set up a simple PURL redirection service we maintain
locally, to avoid ever having to remediate metadata when changing servers
or delivery software.  It's just MySQL and a script.  Cool URLs are great
if you can foresee all the things your institution's administration are
going to throw your way -- but if you can't, a simple redirection that you
CAN control is a good solution.

The ns2 namespace was used for xlink:
xmlns:ns2="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"

We're still waiting for our administration to approve the release of
Acumen, and we are *very* impatient for this.  I am, especially, since I
was encouraged to promote it.  :-)

Thank you for your interest!

--jody

> Hi Jody,
>
> Thanks for sending along this information about Cabaniss. I'd be
> curious to hear how your per-page costs compare with other projects,
> such as Oregon State [1] (which I just wandered across in Google).
>
> The notes from your project wiki [2] are really interesting. In
> particular the details about linking from the EAD documents to the
> item views using the PURLs struck my eye [3]. Did you have a PURL
> server already set up at your institution, or is this something you
> did as part of this project? Was there a real advantage to doing that
> instead of thoughtfully managing a URL namespace with Cool URLs [4]. I
> know I'm biased, but it sure was nice to see URLs in use instead of
> Handles :-)
>
> I haven't done EAD work in a while, and was wondering what the ns2
> namespace is in the linking example on the wiki, e.g.
>
> <dao id="u0003_0000252_0000002" ns2:title="u0003_0000252_0000002"
> ns2:href="http://purl.lib.ua.edu/148" ns2:actuate="onRequest"
> ns2:show="new"/>
>
> Last of all I was curious about the EAD viewing software you are
> developing to stand in for Acumen. Is this work still underway?
>
> Sorry for all the questions. I guess that's what you get for doing
> interesting stuff :-)
>
> //Ed
>
> [1]
> http://wiki.library.oregonstate.edu/confluence/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=19327
> [2] http://www.lib.ua.edu/wiki/digcoll/
> [3]http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI.html
> [4] http://www.lib.ua.edu/wiki/digcoll/index.php/Scripted_Links_in_EADs
>
> On Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 9:03 PM, Jody DeRidder <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>> (Apologies for cross posting)
>>
>> For Immediate Release
>> Contact Person:  Jody L. DeRidder
>> Email: [log in to unmask]
>> Phone: (205) 348-0511
>>
>> Completed UA Libraries Grant Project Provides Model for Low-Cost
>> Digitization of Cultural Heritage Materials
>>
>> The University of Alabama Libraries has completed a grant project which
>> demonstrates a model of low-cost digitization and web delivery of
>> manuscript materials.  Funded by the National Archives and Records
>> Administration (NARA) National Historical Publications and Records
>> Commission (NHPRC), the project digitized a large and nationally
>> important
>> manuscript collection related to the emancipation of slaves:  the
>> Septimus
>> D. Cabaniss Papers.  This digitization grant (NAR10-RD-10033-10)
>> extended
>> for 14 months (ended February 2011), and has provided online access to
>> 46,663 images for less than $1.50 per page:
>> http://acumen.lib.ua.edu/u0003_0000252.
>>
>> The model is designed to enable institutions to mass-digitize manuscript
>> collections at a minimal cost, leveraging the extensive series
>> descriptions already available in the collection finding aid to provide
>> search and retrieval.  Digitized content for the collection is linked
>> from
>> the finding aid, providing online access to 31.8 linear feet of valuable
>> archival material that otherwise would never be web-available.  We have
>> developed software and workflows to support the process and web delivery
>> of material regardless of the current method of finding aid access.
>>  More
>> information is available on the grant website:
>> http://www.lib.ua.edu/libraries/hoole/cabaniss .
>>
>> The Septimus D. Cabaniss Collection (1815-1889) was selected as
>> exemplary
>> of the legal difficulties encountered in efforts to emancipate slaves in
>> the Deep South. Cabaniss was a prominent southern attorney who served as
>> executor for the estate of the wealthy Samuel Townsend, who sought to
>> manumit and leave property to a selection of his slaves, many of whom
>> were
>> his children.  Samuel Townsend’s open admission to fathering slave
>> children and his willingness to take responsibility for their care,
>> combined with the letters from the former slaves themselves, dated
>> before
>> and after the Civil War, will inform social and racial historians. Legal
>> scholars will be enlightened by Cabaniss' detailing of the sophisticated
>> legal mechanism of using a trust to free slaves. Valuable collections
>> such
>> as this have a promise of open access via the web when the cost of
>> digitization is lowered by avoiding item-level description.
>>
>> Usability testing was included in the grant project, and preliminary
>> results indicate that this method of web delivery is as learnable for
>> novices as access to the digitized materials via item-level
>> descriptions.
>> In addition, provision of web delivery of manuscript content via the
>> finding aid provides the much-needed context preferred by experienced
>> researchers.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Jody DeRidder
>> Digital Services
>> University of Alabama Libraries
>> Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487
>> (205) 348-0511
>> [log in to unmask]
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>


Jody DeRidder
Digital Services
University of Alabama Libraries
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487
(205) 348-0511
[log in to unmask]
[log in to unmask]