September 11th - A big data-entry day

The second major aspect of NOMA's Scrapbook digitization project is, of course, the metadata spreadsheets. The information recorded therein will be used to hopefully one day upload the collection to the Louisiana Digital Library CONTENTdm-based collections, making the articles available and searchable to the public, and allowing the originals to be sealed and stored for preservation. The Excel spreadsheet we are currently using was developed by the previous intern, and reflects the requirements set forth by the LDL as well as complements the Word document Finding Aids that Sheila and Regina have been working on. I personally hope at some point to add some elements to our Dublin Core-based scheme that could make the spreadsheet a mirror of the finding aids, thus reducing a huge and time-gobbling duplication of data entry, but I will need to think on it more.

Today I spent more time working with the files and spreadsheet. The file-naming convention dictated by the spreadsheet metadata guidelines differed from the original conventions set forth when the project was developed in 2014. To that end, there are about 2.5 scrapbook's worth of scans that need their file names changed to the more CONTENTdm friendly convention, which is arranged as sb[x]_0[XXX]_[x].jpg, where sb3_0237_a would denote the file is a scan of article 'a' from page 237 of scrapbook 3. I worked pretty steadily today on getting the files from scrapbook 3 renamed, which I will be continuing scanning from for the duration of the practicum. At this point, because I know Windows can be wonky with extensions (i.e. the .xxx after a file denoting what kind of file it is), I'm not sure if I should actually be adding the '.jpg' when I rename the items, but I will look into it later.

The spreadsheet itself currently has the following metadata fields, developed by the previous intern (also a USM student!):

1.      Related Item type=host : What is this file from? Scrapbook #, page #

2.      Extent : Pixel size of file. Can be accessed by viewing properties on image file.

3.      Object File Name : File name must match the image file name, with .jpg added on in the spreadsheet field.

4.      Title [required by LDL] : Title and subtitles of articles. Space on either side of “:” if used. If no title is given, create title that summarizes article.

 5.      Publisher : Newspaper publisher (New Orleans States, The Times-Picayune, New Orleans Item-Tribune…) If unknown, leave blank.

6.      Date Issued : year-month-day (1930-01-12). You should be able to gauge the year if nothing else, so just that is fine.

7.  Internet Media Type : What is this item? Probably “Text”, “Still Image” or “Text, Still Image”

8.  Format : JPEG

9.  Identifier (required by LDL) : Always type: See "reference url" on the navigation bar.

10.  Source (required by LDL) : Always type: Felix J. Dreyfous Library (https://noma.org/learn/felix-j-dreyfous-library/) (unless the URL for the library’s page on the NOMA website has changed; if so, please update).

11.  Language : This is probably “en” for English. Sometimes “fr” for French. Optional.

12.  physicalLocation: Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans Museum of Art

13.  Coverage-Spatial : New Orleans (La.)

14.  Rights : Always type: Physical rights are retained by The Felix J. Dreyfous Library. Copyright is retained in accordance with U.S. Copyright laws

15.  Contact Info (required by LDL) : SCork@NOMA.org

16.  Image Resolution : “600 dpi”

17.  Color Mode : Color

18.  Hardware : What did you use to scan the articles? Most likely the VuPoint Magic Wand.

19.  Digitized by : Who scanned the item? If unknown, leave blank.

20.  Digitized date : Fill in date of scan, if known.

Luckily, a great deal of the data repeats itself and has thus been pre-filled; really the only fields we need to fill are Extent, Object File Name, Title, Published, Date, and occasional modifications to Internet Media Type, which is at least always "text". I would like to add fields that would more accurately represent the archival description elements being entered into the Word finding aids, but we shall see!

The many fields of the spreadsheet