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G2S Project Code:
2023-CO-93369
State:
Colorado
Fiscal Year:
2023
Grantee
Colorado State Library
Project Director
Director Name:
Regan Harper
Director Phone:
720-357-7040
Director Email:
harper_r@cde.state.co.us
General Information
Title:
Plains to Peaks Collective
State Project Code:
163K-5101
Start Date:
10/01/2023
End Date:
09/30/2024
Abstract:
Under the direction of the Colorado State Library, and in partnership with the Wyoming State Library, the Plains to Peaks Collective (PPC) is the Colorado-Wyoming Service Hub of Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). The PPC worked to aggregate the metadata from online digital collections of cultural heritage institutions within Colorado and Wyoming and shares that metadata with the DPLA. Through the DPLA, educators, citizens, students, researchers, and genealogists have free access to unique collections held in participating institutions in Colorado and Wyoming. FY23 was a turbulent year for the DPLA, with a drastic reduction in staff and growing uncertainty of sustainability. This uncertainty made recruitment of new partners precarious, but the collection grew regardless, making the Colorado/Wyoming aggregation the 5th largest collection on the DPLA of all collaborative groups (45 total).
State Goal:
Resource Sharing
Budget Information
LSTA
MATCH-State
MATCH-Other
Total
$
15,943.99
$
48,662.14
$
0.00
$
64,606.13
Intent(s)
Improve users’ ability to discover information resources.
General (select only for electronic databases or other data sources)
History
Activities
Activity Details
Title:
General Participation Consultations
Narrative:
Consultations were conducted with institutions that were interested in participating in the Plains to Peaks Collective and the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). Consultations included an overview of the DPLA, requirements to participate, review of how institutions can share metadata, and a review of the institution's collection metadata.
Intent:
Improve users’ ability to discover information resources.
Activity:
Instruction
Mode:
Consultation/drop-in/referral
Format:
Virtual
Quantity
Total number of consultation/reference transactions:
23
Average number of consultation/reference transactions per month:
2
Partner Information
Organization Type of Partner Organization(s):
Libraries:
No
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:
Yes
For a targeted group or for the general population:
General
Locale
Is the activity state-wide:
Yes
Specific Locations:
No
Library Types
Public Libraries: 4
Academic Libraries: 4
SLAA: 0
Consortia: 2
Special Libraries: 0
School Libraries: 0
Other: 13
Project Outcomes
Project Outcomes
List any important outcomes or findings not previously reported:
In this reporting year the Plains to Peaks Collective (PPC) grew by adding four new participating institutions. These new partners along with the existing partners shared 122,363 new historic collection items with the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), bringing the partner total to 69 institutions from Colorado and Wyoming who are sharing 981,390 metadata records with the PPC. Once harvested by the PPC, the records are aggregated, normalized, and pushed on to the DPLA for inclusion in their national online discovery layer. This is a 14% increase in collection items shared with the DPLA in FY22. Greater awareness of the PPC and increased partner participation was achieved through outreach activities including social media posts, mail list posts, site visits, and meetings. Through these interactions, it was discovered that institutions want to participate in the DPLA and are ready for their digital collections to be shared, but there are varying levels of need prior to participation. The State Library supported these needs through the CVL (Colorado Virtual Library) Collections program, a program that helps Colorado institutions create and maintain a content management system (CMS) for their online collections, promoting their participation in the PPC and then the DPLA. The CVL Collections program is discussed in greater detail in the Web site creation and hosting project. Some PPC partners also participated in DPLA and PPC related projects including, metadata analysis, creation of educational resources, sharing collections with Wikimedia commons as well as the DPLA special collection the Black Women's Suffrage Collection. Participation in these projects is only possible because the partners are sharing collections through the PPC.
Please briefly describe the importance of these outcomes and findings for future program planning:
These outcomes have made clear that partners would like to share their collections in a variety of ways and continue to improve and work with their collection metadata. With this need identified, the PPC will further develop a program that leverages the metadata being shared with the PPC and offer educational opportunities centered around those related projects. Available support and education opportunities will be expanded to include offerings on collection development, cataloging, and metadata analysis and remediation, to more fully prepare future partners to participate in the PPC/ DPLA. The State Library will collaborate on these offerings with other institutions in Colorado and Wyoming and offer them online or in different geographic areas when travel permits.
Explain one or two of the most significant lessons learned for others wanting to adopt any facets of this project:
This reporting year brought about an awareness that the PPC partners have a desire to increase their learning around digital collections and connect with peers that are doing the same. Potential partners will participate in the PPC when they realize there are opportunities for them to improve their metadata and digital collections skills through peer learning. As a result, the PPC will further develop their work through facilitated and online learning modules.
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 Narrative
Yes, The Plains to Peaks Collective was created to allow cultural heritage organizations of any size, focus, and resource level the opportunity to participate in the project and add their metadata to the DPLA for discovery. This inclusion in turn enables the smaller and less resourced institutions to engage on the same playing field as larger institutions with more resources, funding, and technology. Many of the other DPLA Service Hubs grew out of existing partnerships/consortia of academic institutions, and the small libraries, museums and archives were an afterthought for inclusion. This has left these Hubs either trying to bring the smaller institutions into the project, or leaving them out altogether. Because the PPC was created to ensure that there was no one cultural heritage organization type or size that would have precedence over any other – the State Library was able to research and anticipate the needs and practices of these organizations. This allowed the State Library to build a structure and participation model for the PPC that makes it work for all types of organizations from the beginning.
Project Tags:
Digitization, Digital Collections, Digital Public Library of America
