Digital Border-Crossing: Practical Advice for Digitization Projects that Transcend Borders

Abstract

The online environment makes all types of border-crossing possible, including sharing a library’s distinctive resources with audiences around the globe. This breakout session will explore practical advice gleaned from a project at the University of Kansas to digitize extremely rare 19th- and early 20th-century Central American political broadsides in its collections (slated for release in September 2015). In addition to encouraging attendees to think about the ethical dimensions of digitization, this session will focus on providing concrete and scalable advice for progressing through the stages of a digital project. The speakers will offer tips for addressing the selection of materials to be digitized, conservation of the physical artifacts, imaging and metadata creation, and making the most of the technological platforms available at one’s institution.