Tag Archives: Digitization

Interning and volunteering in the Rare Books and Manuscript Department at the Indiana State Library

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Hello! My name is Shannon! I’m a volunteer at the Rare Books and Manuscript Department at the Indiana State Library. I got my start here as an intern as part of my final semester for my Archives Management Certification program through IU Indianapolis. I interned from January to May 2025 and came back to volunteer starting in June 2025. My background is in public libraries; I earned my Master’s in Library Science from IUPUI in 2016 and currently work as a teen-focused public librarian at The Indianapolis Public Library’s Central Library. I decided to make a career change and was drawn toward archival work.

By choosing to do an internship, I gained a general working knowledge of what it was like in an archives setting compared to the public library. One of the biggest differences between the two was how materials were processed. Therefore, my internship focused mainly on archival processing, specifically writing finding aids, the majority of which were single-item collections. Other work included digitizing photographs and creating metadata in CONTENTdm, as well as arranging and describing one large, complex collection.

With the bulk of my work writing single-item finding aids, I was able to understand how to evaluate and summarize research succinctly, gaining an understanding on how to budget my time per collection. My tasks included mainly drafting the scope and content notes, the historical/biographical notes, and the subject headings for each finding aid. I worked exclusively in Archives Space (my coursework had us working in Access to Memory or AtoM) which gave me the opportunity to familiarize myself with the application’s ins and outs.

Black card with gold text. Paper reading "Ballad of Gene Debs."

I also got to learn about digitization, with a focus on scanning photographs of Indianapolis streets taken during the earlier decades of the 20th century. Once digitized, I wrote metadata and descriptions for each photo in CONTENTdm. These photos could then be found online as part of the Rare Books and Manuscript Department’s general photograph collection. Another digitization project included digitizing photos from the Berne Witness Newspaper as part of a donor request. One of the key takeaways I learned from this work was how much labor and time go into digitization. As a result, I learned the importance of tempering patron expectations when it came to digitization, making sure to address what is and isn’t feasible with the staff you have on hand.

Scanner with photo in it. Photo of girls riding bike on bridge.

Lastly, I got to tackle one large collection: the Edythe Fitzhugh papers. Edythe Fitzhugh had been a huge supporter of the local Indianapolis jazz scene. She played multiple instruments, edited the Indy Jazz Scene newsletter, served as the Secretary of the Board for the Jazz Action Coalition and was a regular patron to many jazz clubs on Indiana Avenue. The collection was about five cubic feet and included a complex array of items including personal documents, family photographs, jazz periodicals, sheet music, songbooks, artwork and miscellaneous jazz ephemera. My work included sorting, foldering and arranging the collections, making notes of any items deaccessioned. Once arranged, I created the finding aid in Archives Space. I learned a lot about balancing the intellectual arrangement of the collection with the limited space and supplies available to me. While my work on the collection wasn’t finished by the end of my internship, when I came back to volunteer, I had the opportunity to complete the finding aid and get the collection boxes properly labeled to ensure accessibility to patrons.

Photo of books. Photo of books.

Now, as a volunteer, my archival processing work continues, but I have also had the opportunity to tackle other areas. For example, I have had the chance to handle more patron reference questions. This has included pulling materials for patron requests, scanning documents, and running the reference desk when patrons book an appointment to view a collection. I am also helping to take inventory of the oral history collection in preparation for a large digitization project. I’m excited to see what new projects I get to tackle in the New Year! I also want to thank everyone I have met and worked with in the Rare Books and Manuscript Department, the Indiana Historical Bureau and the State Library for making me feel so welcomed!

This post was submitted by Shannon O’Donnell, intern at the Indiana State Library. 

A vault shakin’, box makin’, history savin’ new machine

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This fall, the Indiana State Library purchased a large – and lovely, if I do say so myself – new piece of equipment, a Gunnar Aiox digital cutting machine. Now, this machine can do a lot, but our initial uses for it will be greatly increasing the range of producible archival boxes, vastly expanding economic efficiency and massively reducing the time spent by Indiana State Library staff in terms of actually making the boxes themselves. Before this machine, staff were hand-making boxes by cutting and flaying archival board and then trying to fold and glue the board together effectively enough so that the box would last for decades. A single box would take anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half, and box cleanliness, looks and regularity were sorely missing.

The Gunnar Aiox Hybrid XL, a state-of-the-art cutting machine, is capable of cutting anywhere from four to six boxes utilizing an amount of board previously used for only two boxes. The boxes can vary in size and shape and take about 25 minutes from design of the box on the associated computer program to the final cut being made. Then, it takes about another 10 minutes to fold up all of the boxes and get the books inside their new homes. This is an incredible amount of time and effort being saved, but – and maybe most importantly – the way the boxes are made with the machine requires no glue or adhesive whatsoever. Everything is done with precise folding theory and technique via the Aiox. This has increased the possible use time for these boxes – which are made with acid free archival board of varying sizes – by decades and without needing constant checks to see if any adhesive is coming undone. The time saved might not be truly stateable, as we weren’t exactly keeping track of the time it took to make a box before. Now, we’re making boxes in no time. The ease of box making – once figured out – has been just wonderful and we’re now starting to realize how we can make and design the boxes even more efficiently than the original templates. This technology also allows us a lot more functional scrap material for smaller boxes, box/material support and general reusability. With this scrap, we’ve been able to experiment and learn about the machine in a lot more effective manner as well. And in all honesty, as someone who isn’t great with arts and crafts, this machine makes a much better box than I ever did before it arrived.

Unfortunately, we are starting in quite cramped quarters, as the Aiox was put into our current digitization laboratory, so the supplies for the Aiox are spread throughout the library. Come April, however, our digitization lab will be moved into a bigger room that’s more able to support the functions required, and the former digitization lab will be converted fully to more effectively house the Aiox and all of the required materials for box making. All of us are quite excited about the eventual move, as the process can be a bit loud and makes it difficult to do digitization work with a giant machine whirring around you. However, the machine can be operated in mostly dark conditions in case someone is working on digitization at the same time. We all tend to agree it will be much nicer to have two separate rooms, one dedicated to each process, though.

As far as ease of use goes, I was unable to be here when the professional from Gunnar was here to train us, but through the notes of my colleagues and with a bit of testing cardboard to put through the paces, I figured out how to operate the machine with comfort and ease in just a couple of sessions. Most of us who need to use the machine can figure it out in just a couple of testing sessions and can continue on without needing anyone else there to help, further increasing efficiency and time management. And I must say, this machine makes my life – in terms of storing materials that are sometimes older than the United States – a lot less stressful, because I know what I’m producing is a lot safer and more accurate than I could have ever made by hand.

As someone who is only mildly tech-savvy, this machine was a bit daunting to look at and use at first, but the instructions are actually fairly simple and the true difficulty and intricacy of the machine lie in uses we haven’t even turned toward yet. We’re only just starting to use the machine with any kind of production line efficacy, and the possibilities moving forward can only grow. It’s also been a rather fun project to come together to work on and figure out. Nearly every division in the library has someone who uses the machine. Being able to make connections with co-workers through some rather humorous mistakes – we have a hilarious pile of failed boxes on test-board – is a another lovely way this piece of technology has been a benefit to the library.

This blog post was submitted by A.J. Chrapliwy of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division of the Indiana State Library. 

From our shelves to your computer screen, part one

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“I want to find out more about the Indiana Council of Defense. What do you have in your collections?”

This is a typical reference question that we get here at the Indiana State Library. In response, we search our catalog to see what we have in our collection. We provide a list of items for patrons to browse and ultimately choose what they want to see. We then retrieve the materials for the patron to view and eventually they get re-shelved.

However, times are changing. Over the past decade, digital versions of those materials have populated the internet. Libraries, museums and historical societies of all sizes across the globe are making their collections available online. Here at the Indiana State Library, our digital collections also continue to grow.

But how? How do materials make it to our digital collections? Let’s look at how that happens by looking at the first part of the process.

Our first step is selection. Or, in other words, choosing what gets digitized. We are often looking for materials that we think patrons might use. This can be hard to determine since, like our collections, research is vast and covers a variety of topics. But, we have some guidelines that help us.

First, what happened on this date? Which historical event anniversaries or bicentennials are coming up? For example, it’s been one hundred years since the ratification of the 19th Amendment. We have recently added over 100 items to our digital collections pertaining to the Suffrage Movement.

Another example relating to anniversaries is the upcoming bicentennial of the founding of Indianapolis. We scoured our collections for materials about the centennial to see how the city celebrated. Here’s a program detailing the pageant they had a century ago:

Another aspect of selection is condition. As materials age, they become brittle, making them fragile. For example, the anniversary of World War I was the perfect time to harvest materials from our collections to scan for researchers and students in order to help them find primary sources created during the war years. Sometimes these materials are printed on cheap paper and that paper was not meant to last long.

Here’s an example of a letter. You can see that it has yellowed over the years and part of it is breaking off:

Maps are another example of materials that are hard to handle. We have a large map collection, some of which require conservation work due to their age and condition. This one is very hard to physically handle, making it a perfect map to digitize.

We also look at requests from our patrons, as well as our community. Back to our question at the top of this blog post, we have lots of materials about the Indiana Defense Council that were created during World War I. In this case, we can refer the patron to our digital collections.

Among the materials, we have a 1917 report from the Indiana State Council of Defense. This would also be a great time to revisit the physical collections to see what else we can digitize.

As for the community, IUPUI has a School of Philanthropy. There are numerous materials about local charities in our pamphlet collections. We hope that the students at the school will find those materials helpful, so we make them available in our collection for them to research. Here’s an example from our Charitable Organizations and Philanthropy digital collection:

One last point that we look at is inclusion. Indiana has 92 counties, and we want to make sure that all 92 are represented. We recently added materials from about 15 counties that had very little representation in our digital collections. Here is an example from Brown County. It’s not only about inviting people to visit Brown County, but also in very fragile condition.

Selecting materials is easy when you have a vast collection like we do at the Indiana State Library. But, it’s also hard to do with so many awesome materials to choose from!

This post was written by Christopher Marshall, digital collections coordinator for the Indiana Division at the Indiana State Library.

Newly-digitized images from the Genealogy Division

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Working at home during the pandemic has changed the way we approach our daily tasks. While we can’t do some things that we can do on-site from home, there are still a lot of projects that can be completed. Fortunately, I was able to upload several digitized images from multiple collections in our holdings during this time. Below are some of the images from two of the collections.

Vesper Cook grew up as Dorothy Vesper Wilkinson in Peru, Indiana. She was the curator of the Miami County Museum for 20 years and wrote some local and family histories. Her collection contains some of her research along with numerous photographs.

The photographs are of not only her immediate family, but also of her extended family as well as several her mother’s friends as teens and young adults.

Katherine Parrish was born in Indianapolis in 1921. She attended Shortridge High School and Butler University. She later married Milton Mondor. Her father was John P. Parrish, an architect who help design buildings at Stout Field along with several other buildings around Indianapolis, while her mother grew up in the area known as Nora.

The Mondor Collection has numerous family photographs, both intimate as well as staged. Most of them are of her immediate family but her parents’ extended family is also represented in the collection.

There are also photographs of John P. Parrish’s social life and his career as an architect. There are photographs of buildings around Broad Ripple and Washington Township as well as the hanger and administration building at Stout Field. He also sent many postcards home with images of the Murat Gun Club at Shiners conventions in the 1920s.

To view more digital images from the Genealogy Division check out our Digital Collections page.

Blog written by Sarah Pfundstein, genealogy librarian, Indiana State Library. For more information, contact the Indiana State Library at 317-232-3689 or “Ask-A-Librarian.”

Indiana State Library’s Oversize Photograph Collection now available online and in-person

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The Indiana State Library’s Oversize Photograph Collection is now arranged, digitized and described, making it accessible both physically and online via ISL’s Digital Collections. The project began in early 2017 with a survey of all existing oversize photographs and a plan to arrange them all in one location and then describe, digitize and encapsulate the photographs. Previously, the photographs were stored in three separate locations according to size, but this organization was both inconsistent and unsustainable. The collection was also treated as a catch-all location for other graphic materials, including clippings, maps, artwork and lithographs. To rectify the situation, the project also involved separating out all materials which could not be classified as photographs.

Divers in Steuben County.

Over the next two years, the photographs were meticulously arranged by subject to correspond with the new organization in the General Photograph Collection, which was undergoing its own cleanup and reorganization project. The smaller photographs were captured using a flatbed scanner, while very large photographs, such as panoramic photographs, were photographed using a DLSR camera before they were encapsulated in Melinex, archival-grade polyester film, for long-term preservation. The main challenge in working with oversize photographs is, naturally, their size. The large photographs are physically difficult to handle and are stored in even larger folders. Due to their size, the photographs were often rolled or folded in the past, which can pose new conservation challenges. The final stage in the project entailed describing the images individually and uploading them to the library’s online photograph collection. The themes of images in the collection vary, but some of the most prevalent subjects include portraits of notable people, groups and organizations, and aerial photographs of Indiana and images of state parks.

Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, 1883.

Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus portrait, 1921.

With the completion of the Oversize Photograph Collection project, nearly 600 photographs are now more accessible and usable than ever before, with 582 available digitally. The project has made physical control of the collection a reality, supported the collection’s longevity by reducing handling of the original photographs, and most importantly, profoundly increased access to the collection for users around the world.

This blog post was written by Lauren Patton, Rare Books and Manuscripts librarian, Indiana State Library. For more information, contact the Indiana State Library at 317-232-3678 or “Ask-A-Librarian.”

IMDPLA Fest recap

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IMDPLA Fest: a one day discussion of all things Indiana Memory – Digital Public Library of America. You can find the region’s best and brightest digitization minds sharing thought-provoking new projects, discussing best practices and elevating the conversation surrounding digital preservation…

…and me.

I’m not a digitization specialist in even the most generous sense of the word. But I do work with them, and I oversee a grant program that funds some of the projects. In order to better understand just what those LSTA digitization monies are paying for – and to follow the larger discussions surrounding digitization projects – I attended the fest as an onlooker with a vested interest. Turns out, you don’t have to be an expert to benefit from the expert discussion.

Keynote speaker John Bracken, executive director of DPLA, summarized recent studies on children’s increasing internet use, finding it to be a trend parents absolutely needed to embrace if they wanted their child to succeed, while simultaneously being something that should terrify them. The odd juxtaposition got a laugh, but was also a was a fitting segue to a discussion of the necessity of DPLA, and its informational gatekeepers, to adapt to changing technologies and to take quality, vetted content to people at their points of access.

There were concurrent breakout sessions on large-scale digitization projects, loosely broken into two tracks: visual resources and manuscripts. Those interested in visual resources were offered sessions on The Iditarod of Photo Digitization: Junior Achievement and Indiana: 1800s Land Records Accessed by Township Address. People like myself, who followed the manuscripts, were treated to an overview on the work of digitizing the letters and journals of Saint Mother Theodore Guerin, and one about the challenges inherent in digitizing employee records from the Pullman-Standard Railroad Car Manufacturing Company. And isn’t that food for thought: one day, your employee records, complete with notes on performance issues, could be eagerly set upon by future digital historians, preserved for all the world to see. Decades from now, a room full of scholars could be debating whether your since-expired self has any right to privacy regarding your records, or whether your history of habitual tardiness or not playing well with others now belongs to the annals of history. Or, if we’re travelling down that rabbit hole, consider those journals from the sainted Theodore Guerin. Her letters and journals are darkly humorous, somewhat pointed, deeply personal… and now preserved for future study. They are a wonderful, thought-provoking resource that brings such humanity to this particular bit of history. They are also a reminder that I might want to seriously consider setting fire to all of my overly angsty middle school writings.

A break for lunch was followed by some lightning sessions highlighting useful digitization tools and sites, before wrapping up the day with two practical, nuts-and-bolts overviews on issues every digitization project faces: questions of copyright and fair use and best practices for creating useable metadata.

The back half of the day gave concrete instructions for people in the field, and an appreciation of the complexity of the issues for observers like me. If you ever thought that digitization merely involved slapping down a page on a scanner and calling it a day – well, this meeting of the minds would disavow you of that idea. My appreciation of the work of digitization continues to grow, as does my need to shred a terribly mortifying childhood diaries. You know… just in case.

This blog post was written by Angela Fox, LSTA and federal projects consultant, Indiana State Library. For more information, contact the Library Development Office at 800-451-6028 or via email.

Preserving Indiana’s memories for the future

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On Wednesday, March 1, 2017, Sam Meister, program manager for the MetaArchive Cooperative, sent out the call to six member organizations1 to trigger the ingest of four archival units (AUs) prepared by the cooperative’s newest member, Indiana Digital Preservation (InDiPres). Within minutes, the systems administrators managing the specified local servers within the LOCKSS-based distributed preservation network began to respond in the affirmative, “AUs added at … .”

This action culminated 18 months of preparatory work undertaken by the Indiana State Library (ISL) and the Cunningham Memorial Library at Indiana State University to create a sustainable digital preservation solution for Indiana’s cultural memory organizations, especially those of modest size and resources. Using Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funding, the libraries established a fee-based collaborative group for the sole purpose of joining the MetaArchive Cooperative, a community-owned and governed distributed digital preservation network founded in 2004. As a collaborative member of the MetaArchive Cooperative, Indiana Digital Preservation provides InDiPres participants the means to securely store master digital files in multiple copies at geographically dispersed sites in the United States and Europe for an affordable price. Start-up costs, which includes a three-year MetaArchive collaborative membership and the purchase of the LOCKSS server housed at Indiana State University, were covered by monies received through the 2015-2016 LSTA Special Digitization Project Grant.

From left to right: Connie Rendfeld (ISL), Cathi Taylor (American Legion Auxiliary), Eric Spall (Lebanon Public Library), Ryan Weir (Rose Hulman), Brooke Cox (DePauw) and Cinda May (Indiana State) at the InDiPres Foundational Meeting on May 17, 2016 at the Indiana State Library.

By working together, Indiana’s heritage organizations are able to store multiple copies of master files throughout a global network that monitors the integrity of the files to ensure the survivability of digital content into the future. Members of Indiana Digital Preservation share in the expense of long term storage and preservation of digital assets created by these institutions; particularly those that contribute to Indiana Memory. Based on a model of 20 members, the InDiPres membership fee is $325 per year with a three-year commitment, plus $.59 per GB of storage space based on individual needs. The $325 breaks down to a required $100 participation fee, $125 for a member’s share of the MetaArchive Collaborative membership which costs $2,500 per year and $100 for a share of the InDiPres LOCKSS server at three-year refreshment cycle. These costs are likely to be reduced as more organizations join the endeavor. Membership in InDiPres is open to any Indiana institution creating digital content whose principles and guidelines are consistent with those of Indiana Digital Preservation. This includes, but is not limited to libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, community groups, research centers and state and local government agencies.

The 2016-2017 LSTA Special Digitization Project Grant included funding to hire a metadata specialist to work with InDiPres partners to perform necessary data wrangling tasks and preparation for the ingest of content into the MetaArchive Preservation Network. To date more than 656 GB of digital files created by InDiPres members are stored within the network.

Indiana Digital Preservation will celebrate its first anniversary at a meeting of its membership on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. This meeting, which is open to the public, will take place at the Indiana State Library from 1-4 p.m. For more information about how to join InDiPres please contact Connie Rendfeld via email or at (317) 232-3694.

This blog post was written by Cinda May, chair, Special Collections, Cunningham Memorial Library, Indiana State University.

1. MetaArchive Cooperative members storing InDiPres submitted content are: HBCU Library Alliance, Consorci de Biblioteques Universitaries de Catalunya; and the libraries of the University of North Texas, Oregon State University, Purdue University, and Carnegie Mellon University.

Indiana Memory – Digital Public Library of America Fest 2017

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The second annual Indiana Memory – Digital Public Library of America (IM-DPLA) Fest is set for Sept. 8, 2017 at the Indianapolis Public Library Central Branch. IM-DPLA Fest is a free, one-day conference running from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The fest was created to address topics on digitization and provide networking opportunities for those interested in working on digital projects. Past attendees include representatives from large public universities, public libraries and small cultural organizations. Everyone interested in digitization is welcome to attend.

This year’s keynote speaker is Kendra Morgan. She is a senior program manager with the Online Computer Resource Center (OCLC) and the co-author of the recently published report “Advancing the National Digital Platform: The State of Digitization in the US Public and State Libraries.” In addition, there will be several other presentations on topics in digitization. The lightning talks and poster session will highlight different digital projects from around the state. Proposals to participate with a lightning talk or poster session need to be submitted by June 30, 2017. See the IM-DPLA blog for more information about submitting a presentation, lightning talk or poster.

“Advancing the National Digital Platform: The State of Digitization in the US Public and State Libraries,” by Kendra Morgan and Merrilee Proffitt was release in 2017. It can be downloaded as a free pdf from the OCLC website.

Registration, and a more detailed schedule, will be announced at a later date on the IM-DPLA blog. So, whether you’re a seasoned digital veteran or just dreaming of acquiring your first flatbed scanner, we look forward to seeing you at the 2017 IM-DPLA Fest!

This blog post by Jill A. Black, a library technician with the Indiana Memory Project. For more information contact the Library Development Office (317) 232-3697 or ldo@library.in.gov.

Conservation & Digitization of the Indiana Gazette

Gallery

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This gallery contains 3 photos.

As a conservator, I have had many people ask me why conservation and preservation programs are funded “since we have digitization”. While it is a common misconception that digitization is “forever”, many people also do not realize that there are … Continue reading →

A One-on-One Conversation with Genealogy Librarian Crystal Ward

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Crystal_Ward
This article originally appeared in the December 24, 2014 issue of the Wednesday Word.

For the fourth installment of this five part December series, I sat down and had a conversation with Genealogy Librarian Crystal Ward. Genealogy is a huge part of the services that the Indiana State Library provides, and Crystal was more than happy to talk about all of the interesting artifacts in the ISL collection.

RB: Tell me about how you came to ISL, and what made you want to become a librarian in the first place?

CW: I started out working in libraries. In high school I was a page at the Haughville Branch, and then I worked at several libraries. I worked at academic libraries, the Indianapolis Museum of Art and Marion County Jail Library, so I’m used to working with the public doing reference work. When I saw the job listing for ISL I thought, “Oh that sounds very interesting.” I had done my own genealogy, so it was kind of a hobby to start with. When I had seen the position I thought, “Oh I can do that!” So I applied, and that is how I ended up here. When I was working in high school I never thought that I would be a librarian. I just needed some money to get a car and all that stuff.

RB: Were you volunteering there? Continue reading →