The Creation of the Digital Archive

 By Talia Hofacker

The process of creating digitized records is often fraught with challenges and problems that are unique to each collection. The best way to combat this is to start out with a clear set of goals and a plan to accomplish these goals. The CSS Alabama Project done by the Hoole Special Collections Library did exactly this and was able to produce an effective learning tool that included a variety of data represented in an interactive and pleasing way in a digital environment. 

The CSS Alabama project was created with the ultimate goal to give access to a selection of the Hoole Library’s materials related to the CSS Alabama, a famous Confederate raider, and also with a secondary goal to explore the current technology and be a “learning experience for staff in the digital imaging of special collections materials.” (Watson, & Graham, 1998, p. 125) In order to meet these goals this project had to identify what would be processed, how it would be processed and just who the target audience would be. Without these parameters the project would no doubt be too broad and would not be able to be completed successfully.

This particular collection was chosen because of the great demand that scholars and students had for it. It was clear from examining the reference records and requests that it was a popular collection and would reach a broad range of people. It also contained varied types of material that would challenge the technological aspects of the project, including unique and rare documents, monographs and photographs, all of which were of interest to various scholars, hobbyists and students ranging from grade school to college. As the secondary goal of the project as a technical learning experience for the staff of the library, it was important to include a diverse range of material that were unique to this collection.

By declaring a specific set of goals for the creation of their digital archive, the planners of the CSS Alabama Project were able to successfully recreate one of their more sought after collections on the internet. Doing this enabled people from around the world to view parts of the collection.

Source:

Watson, A., & Graham, P. Toby. (1998). Css alabama digital collection: a special collections digitization project. The American Archivist, 61(1), 124-134.