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G2S Project Code: 2020-OR-85754
State: Oregon
Fiscal Year: 2020

Grantee
State Library of Oregon

Project Director
Director Name: Buzzy Nielsen
Director Phone: 971-375-3486
Director Email: buzzy.nielsen@slo.oregon.gov

General Information
Title: Northwest Digital Heritage
State Project Code: NWDH20
Start Date: 07/01/2020
End Date: 06/30/2021
Abstract: A partnership which formally launched earlier this year between the Washington State Library, the Oregon Heritage Commission, and the State Library of Oregon, Northwest Digital Heritage (NWDH) leverages existing infrastructure and best practices from the Washington Rural Heritage project to help Oregon-based libraries, museums, and cultural heritage organizations build and share their local digital collections. Northwest Digital Heritage also operates as a service hub of the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), which helps bring these unique and local Northwest collections to a wider audience.
State Goal: 2. Use technology to increase capacity to provide access to library services, materials, and information resources

Budget Information

LSTA

MATCH-State

MATCH-Other

Total

$60,499.25

$0.00

$60,499.25

Intent(s)
Improve users’ ability to discover information resources.
History

Activities
Activity Details
Title: Newspaper Digitization Services
Narrative: The State Library of Oregon offers small subgrants to libraries and other cultural heritage organizations for newspaper digitization, through a partnership with the University of Oregon Libraries' Oregon Digital Newspaper Program.
During this period, we were able to fund four discrete efforts to digitize 35,326 pages of historic newspapers from four different regions of our state. The digital content is indexed and hosted by the University of Oregon Libraries.
Intent: Improve users’ ability to discover information resources.

Activity: Content
Mode: Creation
Format: Digital

Quantity
Number of items digitized: 35,326
Number of items digitized and available to the public: 35,326
Number of physical items: 0
Number of open-source applications/software/systems: 0
Number of proprietary applications/software/systems: 0
Number of learning resources (e.g. toolkits, guides): 0
Number of plans/frameworks: 0

Partner Information

Organization Type of Partner Organization(s):
Libraries: Yes
Historical Societies or Organizations: No
Museums: No
Archives: No
Cultural Heritage Organization Multi-type: No
Preschools: No
Schools: No
Adult Education: No
Human Service Organizations: No
Other: No

Legal Type of Partner Organization(s):
Federal Government: No
State Government: No
Local Government (excluding school districts): No
School District: No
Non-Profit: No
Private Sector: No
Tribe/Native Hawaiian Organization: No

Beneficiaries
Is the activity directed at the library workforce: No
For a targeted group or for the general population: General

Locale
Is the activity state-wide: No
Specific Locations: Yes
Name: HARNEY COUNTY LIBRARY
Address: 80 WEST D ST
City: BURNS
State: OR
Zip: 97720
Name: North Santiam Historical Society
Address: PO Box 925
City: Mill City
State: OR
Zip: 97360
Name: TILLAMOOK COUNTY LIBRARY
Address: 1716 THIRD ST
City: TILLAMOOK
State: OR
Zip: 97141
Name: Yamhill County Historical Society
Address: PO Box 484
City: Lafayette
State: OR
Zip: 97127

Activity Details
Title: Digital Collections Consulting
Narrative: Staff provide a range of presentations and general consulting services about digitization and digital collections to libraries and other cultural heritage organizations throughout Oregon. Topics include content selection and prioritization, reformatting standards, metadata best practices, copyright and permissions, digital asset management, choosing a digital repository software, metadata harvesting, and funding opportunities.
Due to travel restrictions for state employees during this period because of the COVID-19 pandemic, all of our consulting and presentations have taken place virtually or over the phone or email.
Intent: Improve users’ ability to discover information resources.

Activity: Instruction
Mode: Consultation/drop-in/referral
Format: Virtual

Quantity
Total number of consultation/reference transactions: 35
Average number of consultation/reference transactions per month: 7

Partner Information

Public Libraries: 139
Academic Libraries: 52
SLAA: 1
Consortia: 8
Special Libraries: 22
School Libraries: 1600
Other: 25

Project Outcomes
Project Outcomes
List any important outcomes or findings not previously reported:
The Northwest Digital Heritage project -- to better support digital collections work for small institutions statewide -- seeks to address some of the needs that have been expressed by the Oregon library and cultural heritage communities now for years. While the project was off on a relatively slow start this year we have already met some decent milestones, and our strategic partnerships with the Oregon Heritage Commission and the Washington State Library have been created after years of discussion and thoughtful consideration.
Please briefly describe the importance of these outcomes and findings for future program planning:
While the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly restricted our ability to visit with and to help organizations with digitization and collections assessments in person, we've used this period to focus on metadata cleaning and harvesting of existing digital collections which can happen remotely in most situations. We're looking forward to getting out the field to help libraries build new digital collections from the ground up.
Explain one or two of the most significant lessons learned for others wanting to adopt any facets of this project:
Creating a separate avenue for LSTA-supported newspaper digitization funding via our LSTA+Oregon Digital Newspaper Project (ODNP) subgrants, we've been able to meet some of the need for these projects in our state while allowing other grant opportunities to succeed in other areas. The partnership with the University of Oregon Libraries has allow been beneficial for them, as it has helped them budget their staff time and resources towards these projects in a manageable way.
Do you anticipate continuing this project after the current reporting period ends:
No
Do you anticipate any change in level of effort in managing this project:
No
Explain:

Do you anticipate changing the types of activities and objectives addressed by the project:
No
Explain:

Was an evaluation conducted for this project:
No
Was a final written evaluation report produced:
No
Can the final written evaluation report be shared publicly on the IMLS website:
No
Was the evaluation conducted by project staff (either SLAA or local library) or by a third-party evaluator:
Third-Party
What data collection tools were used for any report outcomes and outputs:
Did you collect any media for the data:
What types of methods were used to analyze collected data:
Other:
How were participants (or items) selected:
What type of research design did you use to compare the value for any reported output or outcome:

Exemplary: Yes
Exemplary NarrativeNorthwest Digital Heritage highlights how collaboration, both with other agencies and other states, increases capacity for everyone. The Oregon Heritage Commission, Washington State Library, and State Library of Oregon are all bringing their unique expertise together to increase access to digital heritage content in Oregon and Washington. The collaboration will particularly benefit small libraries and other heritage organizations, who often lack the capacity or knowledge to digitize their content and make it widely available. Inclusion of the digitized materials in the DPLA will vastly increase the reach of these libraries and heritage organizations and place their content within a larger collection that will benefit researchers and hobbyists alike.

Project Tags: digitization, digital collections