SPARK 4 NASHVILLE Public library Digital collections LAURA E. SHOUSE
The Special Collections Division of the Nashville Public Library has put together the following collections: Albert Hadley Interior Design Collection ABOUT The collection Flood 2010 Collection Veterans History Project Collection Charles Warterfield Architectural Collection Nashville Banner Archives Historic Nashville Photograph Collection Civil Rights Collection Nashville City Cemetery Picturing Nashville in Rotogravure Collection Wilson Limited Editions Metro Archives
Administrative aspects
mission: 4 Inspire reading, advance learning and connect our community.
VISION: 5 All members of our diverse community are empowered through limitless learning opportunities to enrich their lives.
GOALS Library administrators and the community have to define what value they ascribe to their services (Closter, 2015). 6 GOAL I Goal iv Be an Essen(al Resource and a Valued Community Partner Provide Extraordinary Customer Service Experiences Goal ii Deliver Learning Opportuni(es Through Programs and Services That Meet the Needs and interests of Goal v Lead the Library Profession in Developing and Implemen(ng the Prac(ces in Leadership, Administra(on and Stewardship. Nashvillians at Every Stage of Life. Goal iii Promote an The Nashville Public Library has defined this by developing their strategic plan located here: Organiza(onal Culture that Embraces Our Values hfps://issuu.com/nashvillepubliclibrary/docs/strategic_plan_proof
Community and users 7 Z! 4! W! NASHVILLE/Davidson county RESIDENTS NPL Digital collecvons primarily serve the residents of Metro Nashville (Davidson County). Students and researchers Students and researchers can also benefit from the collecvon. Anyone with an interest in the subject matter Being that the collecvon is public, anyone with an internet connecvon and a desire to learn about the subject mafer can access the collecvon.
GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE INFO 8 Collection management Digital CollecVons at the Nashville Public Library are managed and run by library staff. Specifically, Stephanie Rodriguez, Interim Assistant Director for CollecVons & Technology and her team. No partnerships or affiliated insvtuvons are listed on the website, but the Civil Rights collecvon is referenced in the Library of Congress American Folklife Center and items from the collecvon are used in the Civil Rights Digital Library. No publicavons with the excepvon of finding aids are associated with these digital collecvons. c! FUNDING The digital collecvons are funded by grants and donors. Most of the items have been donated to the library and are held in their special collecvons department. d! availability Materials in the digital collecvons of have been made available online since the early 2000 s. The Civil Rights collecvon began in 2001 and the Veterans History Project in 2002. Many of the collecvons were made available to the public in person much earlier.
Collection content
10 Collection content There is a collecvon development policy posted online, but it is a general, overarching document that pertains to the envre library collecvon, not just the digital collecvon. Digital collecvon items are not addressed specifically in the collecvon development policy document. The scope of the collecvon is below: Military Civil rights education Downtown nashville Nashville banner Arts & entertainment transportation architecture Community life Local business Early NASHVILLE
Information organization
CONTENTdm Most content is organized using the CONTENTdm system. There is a landing page with access to all of the digital collecvons available ( hfp://digital.library.nashville.org/). No metadata standard is stated on the website, but it appears that Dublin Core is the chosen standard based on available metadata on items in the collecvon. It appears as though the library uvlizes controlled vocabulary for names and subjects (Library of Congress) and dates (possibly W3C). One excepvon is the Nashville Banner CollecVon. The Nashville Banner archives are an excepvon, as that collecvon uses a system from WALDO, which is, quite frankly, confusing.
Collection storage & preservation
COLLECTION STORAGE Most of the collecvons made available by the Nashville Public Library contained digivzied objects that are stored and preserved in closed stacks at the library s main branch in downtown Nashville. I have seen no evidence in my searching (although I admit that I did not have Vme to search every single item in the collecvon) of born digital objects. Most objects appear to be digivzed from the physical medium. Images are typically saved as TIFF or JPEG files and audio files as MP3. No digivzavon procedures were found on the library website.
Collection access
COLLECTION ACCESS 16 Whereas original/physical content is housed at the library, the digital soiware and content is housed externally through the use of both proprietary and open source soiware. The proprietary soiware used is CONTENTdm, WALDO s collecvon management soiware (which I m assuming is proprietary since you have to be a member of the consorvum. There is no info on cost of membership, but informavon on WALDO can be found here: hfp://www.waldolib.org/ default.asp. The open source soiware used is Flickr.
USABILITY Most of the Vme the interface is user-friendly. CONTENTdm has always felt a lifle cumbersome to me, but you are able to figure it out eventually. As menvoned before, the WALDO system they use to house the Nashville Banner archive is very confusing and difficult to navigate. The best in terms of being user-friendly are their Flickr albums. The photos are arranged into albums and I even spied a few collecvons that I hadn t seen before, such as the amazing Travel Photos from the McClanahan and Weakley families of Nashville. According to Dallas Long, usability tesvng is an integral part of library assessment (Long, 2014). It is clear by clicking through and using these collecvons that the Nashville Public Library could have benefifed from some sort of usability tesvng. 4! SEARCH RESULTS Searching The landing page, hfp:// nashville.contentdm.oclc.org/ cdm/, gives a list of digital collecvons. Once you click on that collecvon, all items are displayed. You can search within the collecvon using the search bar, or narrow results by Creator, Date, Format and Subject. B! Search results are displayed with a thumbnail (essenvally useless unless it s a photograph), Title, DescripVon, the name of the CollecVon and the Format. Records are displayed in typical CONTENTdm style. See next slide for example. reuse Elizabeth Kelly menvons the concept of reuse in her literature review (Kelly, 2014). It is clear through browsing the collecvon, images and materials are reused in different collecvons and across to the Flickr site.
EXAMPLE RECORD: 18
privacy A privacy novce is available on the library website: hfps://library.nashville.org/privacy-novce The library and its vendors track what websites are being used most frequently. Cookies and Google AnalyVcs are used as well. It seems as though everyone from the NSA to universives are tracking data and user informavon (Kim, 2016). The Nashville Public Library seems to be no different. Kim asserts that libraries should be advocates for privacy both online and off (Kim, 2016). The Nashville Public Library s privacy policy is easy to find and they are transparent about their collecvon of data and informavon. They are not the advocates for user privacy that Kim suggests.
According to Stephanie Smith, disabled patrons increasingly rely on the Internet and digital collecvons for their access to informavon (Smith, 2014). The statements regarding ADA AccomodaVons can be found here: hfps://library.nashville.org/ada-accommodavons accessibility The Main Library branch (where most special collecvons are housed) is also the headquarters for the TN Deaf Library. hfps://tndeaflibrary.nashville.gov/ There is also the Nashville Talking Library: hfps://library.nashville.org/locavons/nashville-talking-library Given the library s commitment to accessibility, disabled patrons will have no problems accessing the informavon that they need.
TECHNICAL & SERVICE aspects
While there is nothing specifically labeled Access Policy on the library website, several policies with regard to PC Use, Internet Safety, Rules of Conduct and ExhibiVon can be found on the website on the ABOUT page: hfps://library.nashville.org/about access The collecvon is mostly open access, the excepvon being that some items must be directly handled by the special collecvons librarian. Digital CollecVons are completely open to all users regardless of physical locavon. To see collecvons in person is possible, but the user must request access from the Special CollecVons Staff as some items may be restricted.
ASSISTANCE 23 Finding aids Librarian chat on website In person help in special collections department SAVING/DOWNLOADS Only images are able to be saved in the digital collecvons on CONTENTdm. All photos on Flickr are able to be downloaded and saved.
COPYRIGHT Rights informavon is clearly displayed on each collecvon s webpage, as well as in the records on CONTENTdm. Library Access/RestricVons statement: All digital images and recordings are property of the Nashville Public Library. For informavon about their use, please contact Special CollecVons. Physical copies of all materials are available for in library use only in the Special CollecVons Division during regular library hours. Some materials may be protected by copyright (Title 17 US Code). Some materials may be restricted. Please inquire with Special CollecVons Division staff for more informavon about specific items.
CONCLUSION 25 The triptych method described by Norbert Fuhr, et. al. begins at the user, and measures the usability of the system, the usefulness of the content and the performance as a whole (Furh, 2007). Using this method, the digital collecvons at the Nashville Public Library are useful and mostly usable. It s difficult to get a read on the overall performance without specific usage stavsvcs, but it would appear that the collecvon is on solid ground. There is room for improvement in certain areas, but overall, the Music City s public library digital collecvons are sound.
Bohyun Kim1, b. (2016). Cybersecurity and digital surveillance versus usability and privacy Why libraries need to advocate for online privacy. College & Research Libraries News, 77(9), 442-451. Closter, M. (2015). Public Library EvaluaVon: A RetrospecVve on the EvoluVon of Measurement Systems. Public Library Quarterly, 34(2), 107-123. Fuhr, N., Tsakonas, G., Aalberg, T., AgosV, M., Hansen, P., Kapidakis, S., &... Sølvberg, I. (2007). EvaluaVon of digital libraries. Interna>onal Journal On Digital Libraries, 8(1), 21-38. references Kelly, E. J. (2014). Assessment of DigiVzed Library and Archives Materials: A Literature Review. Journal Of Web Librarianship, 8(4), 384-403. Long, D. (2014). Assessment and EvaluaVon Methods for Access Services. Journal Of Access Services, 11(3), 206-217. MaaFa Smith, S. L. (2014). Web Accessibility Assessment of Urban Public Library Websites. Public Library Quarterly, 33(3), 187-204. Nashville Public Library. (n.d.). Retrieved November 02, 2016, from hqps:// library.nashville.org/ Photos: Library Photo from: hfp://www.nashvilledowntown.com/go/nashville-public-library All other photos from the Nashville Public Library website or from their digital collecvons.
Thank you