LIBR 284-10
LIBR 284-11
Seminar in Archives and Records Management
Topic: Digitization and Digital Preservation
Spring 2014 Greensheet

Alyce L. Scott
E-mail
Office Location: Online
Office Hours: By E-mail

This is an online-only class using D2L and Blackboard.

Students will be automatically enrolled in the D2L site for this course. The course will be automatically available to students on January 20, 2014.

Class begins via D2L on January 23, 2014.

Course Description

Course Overview
This course will provide an introduction to the digitization of archival, library, and museum materials, as well as an introduction to the digital preservation of the resulting digital objects. Students will learn about using digital technologies to provide better access to and sometimes to preserve text, images, sound, and video. [Please note: the majority of the course will focus on the digitization of text and image because of the nature of this class and equipment requirements.] Particular topics to be explored in depth include: selection for digitization, legal and copyright issues, digitization requirements for text and images, metadata, and technology issues. The course will provide a broad foundation of the principles, processes and standards guiding the digitization of cultural heritage materials.

Course Requirements

Class Virtual Meetings
All of the lectures will be delivered live on Blackboard. The lectures will be delivered live every Thursday at 8pm (CST). All live Blackboard sessions will be recorded for later listening. There will generally be one lecture given each week.

NOTE: Attendance at the Blackboard sessions is not mandatory.

Computer Access
Blackboard will be the venue for online lectures and D2L will be the venue for class discussion, and assignments. You must have regular access to a computer to access course materials and online lectures. At least two assignments will involve working with image files. For this reason, you should have access to a computer with a reasonable network connection speed to download and complete the assignments.

Course Assignments:

• Copyright Assignment
  Understanding copyright is very important to a digitization project. A project must abide by the rules or face possible litigation. For this assignment, imagine that in front of you are the following three items:
  • Some personal letters written by Mr. Walter Packard to Mrs. Carrie Stevens dated during the year 1900. The personal letter described an outing that they had taken with a group of friends. Both parties are deceased.
  • A book with the following citation:Hall, F. (1871). The history of San José and surroundings: with biographical sketches of early settlers. (L. Goodrich), San Francisco: Printing house of A.L. Bancroft and Company no. 721 Market Street
  • Some photographs of J.J Owen (1827-1884?) that contain no dates and no information on who took the photographs.
  For each item, discuss whether or not the item(s) can be digitized and why. Cite appropriate copyright laws, rulings, or guidelines you use in making your decision. In the event that a definitive answer cannot be determined, discuss the ambiguities, why you believe the intellectual property rights to be unclear, and the decision you would advise your institution to make in whether or not to proceed with digitizing the item. Discuss possible implications of digitizing the item and making it available anyway. This assignment cannot be completed well in less than three pages!
   
• Benchmarking Assignment
  Using images provided by the instructor, you will determine scanning requirements for the documents, completing the worksheet found on the D2L course site. You will also inspect images aspects (compression, artifacts, etc) and create a few derivative images using the latest version Adobe Photoshop. Once completed, the worksheet and the derivative images you create must be submitted via D2L. Alternate software (e.g. GIMP) can be used for this assignment, with the instructor's permission.
   
• Case Study Assignment
  For this assignment, you will be asked to write a short analysis of a digitization project. In choosing a candidate for your paper, please select one which offers sufficient documentation about planning and implementation of the projects, including technical information, such as how the images were scanned ( or, for example, audio tapes converted) or what metadata standards were used. Please note that the documentation found at the websites listed below may not be the only source of information on the projects. You are encouraged to look for supplementary reports and articles from various resources noted in the syllabus (such as the Council on Library and Information Resources site (http://www.clir.og), RLG DigiNews, or D-Lib Magazine, (http://www.dlib.org). You may also find reports with the kind of necessary detail by completing web searches including phrases such as “imls final report” “digitiz project NEH,” etc. If you cannot find enough information to answer all of these questions, you need to find another project. Not answering all sections will result in a deduction of points from the overall score.
  
  For case studies of digitization projects, please discuss the following issues:
• Planning for digitization, including user needs, funding sources, etc.
• Selecting material: what criteria were used to select documents for digitization?
• Technical production information: what scanning standards were used (bit depth, resolution, etc.), what equipment was used for the task, and who performed the work.
• Producing the images: how many versions of the image were produced (archival masters and derivatives)?
• Storing the images: on what media are the images to be stored? How will images be retrieved (online or near-line access)? Did the collection end up in a digital repository?
• Cataloging the images: what sorts of metadata were captured (descriptive, technical, structural standards used)? How will the metadata be kept?
• Providing access to the images: who gets access to the images; to what versions do they have access, what sort of manipulations to the images are allowed? Are there any legal restrictions to access?
• Preservation: what plans does the institution have for long-term retention of the images? (not just the original or “analog” items).
• Are there any other issues which are important for understanding how the project was designed and implemented?
   
• Online Collection Assignment (group project)
  This assignment is meant to give you practical, hands-on experience building a small digital collection using OCLC’s CONTENTdm, an online digital media management system. For the purposes of this assignment, you will be provided with unique logon information to utilize the CONTENTdm system. It should be used only for this class and this assignment.
  
  CONTENTdm account information will be provided to you. Using this information, you will need to create a User Support Account, as well as download the Project Client software. This is necessary to create and upload collections into the system. A complete set of instructions will be available in D2L. You will be required to build a small collection of at least 25 digital images, providing all appropriate file formats, descriptive metadata using controlled  vocabulary, etc. 

• NOTE: You do not have to own a scanner, but you will need access to one as you will utilize personal images that you have scanned (from physical resources - digital photos will not be accepted) using information learned in this course. 

• NOTE: The downloadable version of the CONTENTdm Project Client software is only compatible with Windows OS (or Intel-based Macs capable of running Windows via Bootcamp or Parallels).

Assignment Submission
All assignments will be submitted via D2L.

Late Assignments/Incompletes
Incompletes will not be given and late assignments are accepted only with prior consent of the instructor.

Course Calendar
A detailed schedule will be maintained on D2L. The course will follow a week-by-week schedule, and students must keep current with the progress of the course.

Course Grading
Grading will be based on a total accumulation of 100 possible points, distributed as follows:

Readings
All readings are available online, either through provided URLs or within the D2L course site.

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Course Workload Expectations

Success in this course is based on the expectation that students will spend, for each unit of credit, a minimum of forty-five hours over the length of the course (normally 3 hours per unit per week with 1 of the hours used for lecture) for instruction or preparation/studying or course related activities including but not limited to internships, labs, clinical practica. Other course structures will have equivalent workload expectations as described in the syllabus.

Instructional time may include but is not limited to:
Working on posted modules or lessons prepared by the instructor; discussion forum interactions with the instructor and/or other students; making presentations and getting feedback from the instructor; attending office hours or other synchronous sessions with the instructor.

Student time outside of class:
In any seven-day period, a student is expected to be academically engaged through submitting an academic assignment; taking an exam or an interactive tutorial, or computer-assisted instruction; building websites, blogs, databases, social media presentations; attending a study group;contributing to an academic online discussion; writing papers; reading articles; conducting research; engaging in small group work.

Course Prerequisites

LIBR 200, LIBR 202, LIBR 204, Other prerequisites may be added depending on content. 

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

1. Identify and explain preservation concerns for many common types of photographic (print and negative) processes.
2. Apply archival rules of appraisal, arrangement, and description to complex visual archives.
3. Identify the complex issues relating to photograph digitization and born digital images, including management, access, metadata, and long-term preservation.
4. Implement cold storage solutions for photographic materials
5. Describe and discuss the nature of electronic records and the impact that technology has on recordkeeping in contemporary environments.
6. Analyze how national and regional laws and regulations impact electronic records management.
7. Identify appropriate metadata standards for the control and retrieval of electronic records.
8. Create and develop policies, standards, and practices governing the creation, management, and use of electronic records.
9. Discuss the challenges associated with preserving electronic records over time, and identify the methods and strategies being advocated by experts in the field to ensure that electronic records remain understandable, accessible, and usable.
10. Define general requirements for compliant organizations and accountable electronic recordkeeping systems based on industry models and standards.
11. Analyze a variety of problems related to electronic records, and propose solutions that are appropriate in particular contexts.
12. Identify future Web 2.0 trends and practices in the creation of information in electronic form.
13. Discuss major academic electronic records research projects proposed or undertaken by various organizations and institutions.

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

LIBR 284 supports the following core competencies:

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Textbooks

No Textbooks For This Course.

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Grading Scale

The standard SJSU School of Information Grading Scale is utilized for all iSchool courses:

In order to provide consistent guidelines for assessment for graduate level work in the School, these terms are applied to letter grades:

• C represents Adequate work; a grade of "C" counts for credit for the course;
• B represents Good work; a grade of "B" clearly meets the standards for graduate level work;
  For core courses in the MLIS program (not MARA) — INFO 200, INFO 202, INFO 204 — the iSchool requires that students earn a B in the course. If the grade is less than B (B- or lower) after the first attempt you will be placed on administrative probation.  You must repeat the class the following semester. If -on the second attempt- you do not pass the class with a grade of B or better (not B- but B) you will be disqualified.
  
• A represents Exceptional work; a grade of "A" will be assigned for outstanding work only.

Students are advised that it is their responsibility to maintain a 3.0 Grade Point Average (GPA).

University Policies

General Expectations, Rights and Responsibilities of the Student

As members of the academic community, students accept both the rights and responsibilities incumbent upon all members of the institution. Students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with SJSU's policies and practices pertaining to the procedures to follow if and when questions or concerns about a class arises. See University Policy S90-5 at http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/S90-5.pdf. More detailed information on a variety of related topics is available in the SJSU catalog at http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/catalog/departments/LIS.html. In general, it is recommended that students begin by seeking clarification or discussing concerns with their instructor. If such conversation is not possible, or if it does not serve to address the issue, it is recommended that the student contact the Department Chair as a next step.

Dropping and Adding

Students are responsible for understanding the policies and procedures about add/drop, grade forgiveness, etc. Refer to the current semester's Catalog Policies section at http://info.sjsu.edu/static/catalog/policies.html. Add/drop deadlines can be found on the current academic year calendars document on the Academic Calendars webpage at http://www.sjsu.edu/provost/services/academic_calendars/. The Late Drop Policy is available at http://www.sjsu.edu/aars/policies/latedrops/policy/. Students should be aware of the current deadlines and penalties for dropping classes.

Information about the latest changes and news is available at the Advising Hub at http://www.sjsu.edu/advising/.

Consent for Recording of Class and Public Sharing of Instructor Material

University Policy S12-7, http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/S12-7.pdf, requires students to obtain instructor's permission to record the course and the following items to be included in the syllabus:

• "Common courtesy and professional behavior dictate that you notify someone when you are recording him/her. You must obtain the instructor's permission to make audio or video recordings in this class. Such permission allows the recordings to be used for your private, study purposes only. The recordings are the intellectual property of the instructor; you have not been given any rights to reproduce or distribute the material."
  • It is suggested that the syllabus include the instructor's process for granting permission, whether in writing or orally and whether for the whole semester or on a class by class basis.
  • In classes where active participation of students or guests may be on the recording, permission of those students or guests should be obtained as well.
• "Course material developed by the instructor is the intellectual property of the instructor and cannot be shared publicly without his/her approval. You may not publicly share or upload instructor generated material for this course such as exam questions, lecture notes, or homework solutions without instructor consent."

Academic integrity

Your commitment, as a student, to learning is evidenced by your enrollment at San Jose State University. The University Academic Integrity Policy F15-7 at http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/F15-7.pdf requires you to be honest in all your academic course work. Faculty members are required to report all infractions to the office of Student Conduct and Ethical Development. The Student Conduct and Ethical Development website is available at http://www.sjsu.edu/studentconduct/.

Campus Policy in Compliance with the American Disabilities Act

If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, or if you need to make special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible, or see me during office hours. Presidential Directive 97-03 at http://www.sjsu.edu/president/docs/directives/PD_1997-03.pdf requires that students with disabilities requesting accommodations must register with the Accessible Education Center (AEC) at http://www.sjsu.edu/aec to establish a record of their disability.

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