INTRODUCTION
As part of continuing to keep our members and library patrons up to date on the status of the Phase I Digitization Project to populate and expand the content of the Robert A. Mason Digital Library (RMDL) we present this second quarter report documenting our progress and the future of the project.
Phase I of the project began back in late February when we hired two part-time Digital Assistants, Betsy Gamble and Geoffrey Hobart. Betsy and Geoff in their current roles both provide 20 hours of work each week using three dedicated workstations in the carrel room off the second floor of the library’s public space. Using OCLC ContentDM Project Client software, the platform for the project, they are able to process and upload digital files into the RMDL.
As previously mentioned in our first quarter progress report, the library has received publication permissions for 51 journals, 13 books and 305 exhibits and for this initial phase of the project we are working on the backlog of journals already in digital form feeling that the most prudent amount of progress on the project can be made by focusing our efforts on materials already in digital form.
PROGRESS
Currently we have not experienced any major setbacks on the project and the upload of journals has proceeded at a pace better than initially expected. In this second quarter we have added 778 journal issues, up from 517 issues added in the first quarter. Commencing on March 1 we have now been able to upload a total of 1,295 complete journal issues into the RMDL. From that date the following journals have been uploaded and added to database:
- Airpost Journal (American Air Mail Society) – 453 issues
- El Quetzal (International Society of Guatemala Collectors) – 194 issues
- Menelik's Journal (Ethiopian Philatelic Society) - 128 issues
- Penny Post (Carriers and Locals Society) - 90 issues
- Philateli-Graphics (Graphics Philately Association) - 84 issues
- Philatelic Literature Review (APRL) - 21 issues
- Tell (American Helvetia Philatelic Society) - 321 issues
- The Lion (Ethiopian Collectors Club of Great Britain) - 4 issues
Pages from the Aitpost Journal added to the Digital Library
Given these current results, our goal for this initial phase of the project was to process and upload 25 complete journals per week. Currently we are processing and uploading journals issues at a rate of 68 per week. Although we are very pleased with this accelerated rate due in part to the exceptional efforts of Betsy and Geoff, we are also cautious with these numbers as they are the result of working exclusively with only digital files at this point. In time the project will include the added process of scanning materials from paper form, in the absence of digital copies, and this will add to the amount of time needed to process and upload journals into the database.
FUTURE
As we continue with this “digital-only” portion of the project we anticipate that we can work through the remaining journals of digital only material in the next 4-6 months, barring any unforeseen setbacks. Following this, the next stage will involve the scanning of those materials which are currently only found in paper form. In turn, once scanning commences we anticipate that our processing and upload rate will move closer to the projected 25 issues per week.
In anticipation of this stage, we are now weighing the scanning options for the next phase that will include paper only material. In-house versus out-sourced scanning or a combination of the two are all being considered and we expect to decide and have a procedure in place for that phase before the third quarter progress report.
As mentioned previously in the first quarter report as we work through this initial backlog of material we are not actively seeking new journal permissions from societies or clubs, but if you would like to discuss having your publication as part of the Robert A. Mason Digital Library once we complete this phase of the project, you can contact the library at [email protected]