In order to keep members and library patrons alike aware of the ongoing status of the Phase I Digitization Project, we present this third quarter report documenting its progress and provide an overview for the future of the project.
As we continue to populate and expand the content of the Robert A. Mason Digital Library (RMDL), this Phase I of the project is focused on the upload of journals that are already in digital form and are not in need of being scanned from primary paper sources. This phase began in late February with the hiring of two part-time Digital Assistants (Betsy Gamble and Geoffrey Hobart) and the purchase of three dedicated workstations. The upload of digital journal files commenced on March 1 using OCLC ContentDM Project Client software, the platform being used for the RMDL project.
As mentioned in previous progress reports, the library has received RMDL publication permissions for 51 journals, 13 books and 305 exhibits. Since the second quarter report we have received permissions for an additional five journals. As mentioned previously here, currently we are concentrating on the backlog of journals for which permissions have already received, but we still welcome any clubs, societies or organizations interested in having their publications as part of the RMDL. To do so, contact the library at [email protected] for further information.
PROGRESS
As in the first and second quarters, we have not experienced any major setbacks on the project in the third quarter and the upload of journals has proceeded at a pace better than initially expected. In this third quarter we have added 763 journal issues in keeping with the pace of 778 journal issues in the second quarter, and up from 517 issues added in the first quarter. Since March 1 we have now uploaded a total of 2,058 complete journal issues into the RMDL. The RMDL now has 4,718 complete journals issues and 242,276 full-text searchable, downloadable and printable journal pages.
Newly uploaded journals in the third quarter are the Bulletin of the Polonus Philatelic Society, the Florida Postal History Journal and Cameo. Journals previously started in the second quarter that have now had further issues added in this quarter are El Quetzal and the Menelik's Journal.
Two of the Newly Uploaded Third Quarter Journals to the RMDL
Starting on March 1 the following journals have been uploaded and added to the RMDL database:
- Airpost Journal (American Air Mail Society) – 453 issues
- Bulletin of the Polonus Philatelic Society (Polonus Philatelic Society) – 565 issues
- Cameo (British West Africa Study Circle) – 2 issues
- El Quetzal (International Society of Guatemala Collectors) – 324 issues
- Florida Postal History Journal (Florida Postal History Society) – 64 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
The goal for this initial phase of the project was to process and upload 25 complete journal issues per week and as of the third quarter we are processing and uploading journal issues at a rate of 62 per week. However, we remain cautious with these numbers as we are working exclusively with digital files at this point. In time, the project will include the added process of scanning materials from paper form, in the absence of available digital copies, and this will add to the amount of time needed to process and upload journals into the RMDL database.
FUTURE
As we continue with this “digital files only” portion of the project we don’t anticipate any significant setbacks. Following this stage, we will expand our project to include those materials which currently exist only in paper form. In anticipation of this we are considering scanning options for the paper only material, in-house versus out-sourced scanning or a combination of the two are all being considered.
Also, in this next stage we anticipate adding another team member to the project in the form of a Digital Librarian. The Digital Librarian will manage and oversee the expansion of the project to include other materials types such as books, exhibits, photos, maps and videos.
For any further comments or questions regarding the RMDL or the digitization project, feel free to contact the library at [email protected]