Recollection Wisconsin has enhanced and expanded its Digital Readiness Toolkit to incorporate guidance and best practices on digitizing and sharing audiovisual content. These enhancements, a result of valuable contributions from the Community Archiving Workshop, include a comprehensive digital readiness self-assessment tool for your organization, a framework for prioritizing A/V materials for digitization, and in-depth guidance… Read More…
Digital Preservation
Preserving At-Risk Audiocassettes: A Case Study of the History Museum at the Castle in Appleton, Wisconsin
This post was contributed by Bronwen Maseman, a Madison-based librarian, educator, consultant, and researcher. This case study is part of the Community Archiving Workshop Regional Training of Trainers program, funded by an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant (RE-85-18-0039-18) in partnership with the Association of Moving Image… Read More…
The Toolkit: File Formats
The Toolkit brings together resources for creating, managing, and sharing digital collections to address common concerns we often hear, like this one: JPEG, WAVE, MOV, PDF – what do they all mean? Which should we use for things we’re digitizing? Digital file formats quickly give way to alphabet soup: JPEG, WAVE, MOV, PDF…Here are several… Read More…
The Toolkit: Wrapping Up a Digitization Project
The Toolkit brings together resources for creating, managing, and sharing digital collections to address common concerns we often hear, like this one: My digitization project will end later this year. What do I need to do to wrap up this work? All good things must come to an end, right? Whether grant-funded or supported by… Read More…
Digital Readiness Fairs: Registration Now Open!
Join Recollection Wisconsin and local history practitioners this summer at one of four virtual Digital Readiness Fairs! These free, half-day events offer a mix of activities and learning opportunities, and showcase digitization work from around the state. Hear from local history practitioners and how they have tackled digitization projects, including challenges, successes, and lessons learned… Read More…
Meet Kristen Whitson!
Hi all! I’m Kristen Whitson, joining WiLS and Recollection Wisconsin as the Digital Readiness Program Assistant. I’m so excited to get started on October 1. This position is a one-year, National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC)-funded initiative, Building a Wisconsin Digital Readiness Community of Practice. This collaborative, community-driven program will foster the skills and infrastructure… Read More…
The Toolkit: Digitizing Yearbooks
The Toolkit brings together resources for creating, managing, and sharing digital collections to address common concerns we often hear, like this one: I’d like to digitize my community’s high school yearbooks, but I’m concerned about copyright, harmful content and privacy issues, especially if we add these to our online public collection. Who doesn’t love old… Read More…
The Toolkit: Rights Statements
The Toolkit brings together resources for creating, managing, and sharing digital collections to address common concerns we often hear, like this one: My digital collection is a mix of public domain and in-copyright materials. How will my users know what they can and can’t use? Generally speaking, until recently there haven’t been widely used standards… Read More…
The Toolkit: Digitizing Indigenous Materials
The Toolkit brings together resources for creating, managing, and sharing digital collections to address common concerns we often hear, like this one: Our institution has a collection of materials that are related to Indigenous communities of Wisconsin. We are interested in digitizing these materials. How should we go about this? As mentioned in the February… Read More…
CCDC…That’s All Folks!
Thank you for your support of Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC). This two-year, IMLS-funded program completed in December 2019. In the coming months, we will make available our program curriculum and our process for creating CCDC. Congratulations and thank you to all the students, mentors and host sites who participated in CCDC in 2018 and… Read More…
The Toolkit: Can We Digitize and Put These Images Online? Should We?
The Toolkit brings together resources for creating, managing, and sharing digital collections to address common concerns we often hear, like this one: Our library has a collection of photographs that shows the people, places, and events of our town. The earliest photographs are probably from the early 1900s and the most recent date to the 1970s…. Read More…
The Toolkit: Three Resolutions for Better File Management in 2020
Recollection Wisconsin’s Digital Projects Toolkit brings together guidelines, tools and resources for creating, managing and sharing digital collections. In this monthly series, we’ll address some common questions and concerns we often hear from libraries, archives and museums tackling digital work. Have a question you’d like answered? Contact us! To kick things off, we’ll take a… Read More…
Thank You to Recollection Wisconsin Partners
To honor the contributions to Recollection Wisconsin from our partners across the state, enjoy this slideshow with collection highlights from each of the 244 organizations – from Albany to Woodville – that make Recollection Wisconsin possible…. Read More…
Digital Preservation Advocacy
Earlier this month, Emily Pfotenhauer and Vicki Tobias delivered a WiLSWorldShorts webinar focused on Digital Preservation Advocacy. Webinar slides, recording and a list of supporting resources are all available on the WiLS website. This hour-long webinar introduced participants to key concepts related in digital preservation work for libraries, archives and cultural heritage institutions. Topics included… Read More…
Curating Community Digital Collections: Final Cohort Update
Where has the time gone? It’s practically September and the Recollection Wisconsin consortium is winding down Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) and helping our year two (and final) cohort wrap up their digital preservation projects. (cue fireworks) Over the past two years, it’s been inspiring to witness the power of collaboration in practice and to support CCDC… Read More…
Back for more digital preservation adventures in 2019!
My name is Bethany Huse, Librarian and Head of Special Collections at the College of Menominee Nation (CMN) S. Verna Fowler Academic Library/Menominee Public Library. I had the honor of participating in Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) for a second time in 2019. Our Library is unique in that it is a tribal, academic, and… Read More…
Training the Trainers Community Archiving Workshop – Building Audiovisual Preservation Capacity in Wisconsin
What is a Community Archiving Workshop? Recollection Wisconsin is one of three national anchor sites for the Community Archiving Workshop Regional Training of Trainers (TOT) program, supported by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The Community Archiving Workshop (CAW) is a project of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) designed… Read More…
New Opportunities
by Sam Steingraeber, CCDC student One of the advantages of writing this post near the end of my tenure in the Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) program is that I can reflect on the experience as a whole, from the workshop in Madison, to the weekly trips to the Rock County Historical Society in Janseville,… Read More…
Preserving Exhibit Digital Interactives at the Neville Public Museum
by Louise Pfotenhauer, Collections Manager, Neville Public Museum Mary Ann Brevort and a handful of military companions set out for what was to be a short trip home across the Fox River after attending a dance at military Fort Howard. Instead, the group spent hours braving wind, rain, and cold as you can see in… Read More…
Building a Strong Foundation for Digital Collection Development at Lake Mills Aztalan Historical Society
by Robin Untz and Claire Flood for Curating Community Digital Collections Part I: Our Organization – The Lake Mills Aztalan Historical Societyby Robin Untz, President, Lake Mills Aztalan Historical Society When the Lake Mills Aztalan Historical Society was established in 1941, its purpose was to preserve the town’s original brick church (1852) by transforming it… Read More…
Digital Records Management at UW River Falls
Hello! My name is Morgan Paavola and I am the Interim Head of the University Archives and Area Research Center, and Records Manager at the University of Wisconsin River Falls. This summer we have had the pleasure of hosting Kristen Whitson, an MLIS student at the UW Madison Information School. The University Archives at UWRF… Read More…
Preserving Digital Interactive Exhibits at the Neville Public Museum of Brown County
My name is Stephanie Surach and I’m earning my MLIS at UW-Milwaukee’s School of Information Studies. I’m very excited to be part of the CDCC 2019 cohort and to have the opportunity to work on digital preservation at the Neville Public Museum of Brown County in Green Bay. The Neville Public Museum has an extensive… Read More…
Digital Preservation Continues at RCHS
Hello from Janesville! My name is Kristin Arnold and I am the archives manager at the Rock County Historical Society (RCHS). This summer, we have the pleasure of hosting Sam Steingraeber from the School of Information Studies at UW-Milwaukee. We are so fortunate to be able to participate in CCDC for a second time. Last… Read More…
Preserving Local History Resources in Appleton
My name is Rebekah Bain, and I am a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I am in the coordinated MA History and Master of Library Information Science programs, with an archives concentration. I am very honored to be a part of the Curating Community Digital Collections 2019 cohort, and I have been enjoying… Read More…
History + Technology Inspires Career Path for Winter
By Jon Winter, Business Manager for the Douglas County Historical Society in Superior and site supervisor for CCDC Team DCHS. Jon is a lifelong resident of Douglas County with family roots in the County dating back to the early 1890s. Curating digital collections brings together under one roof two of my greatest interests: history and computers. I… Read More…
Meinholz, CCDC and Digital Preservation in Wisconsin Rapids
My name is Dale Meinholz, an MLIS student at the UW Milwaukee School of Information Studies. This summer I am working in Wisconsin Rapids with the McMillan Memorial Library and the South Wood County Historical Museum. I am excited to be a part of Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC). My first few visits to Wisconsin… Read More…
Preserving Veterans’ Stories Through Digital Preservation
My name is Briana Fiandt and I’m the Curator of Collections at the Richard I Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior, WI. I am the site supervisor for this summer’s CCDC program and I’m so excited about the project that we have undertaken. The Bong Historical Center is a museum dedicated to telling the stories… Read More…
Digital Preservation at Douglas County Historical Society
My name is Taylor Kelley, and this fall I’ll be beginning my final semester at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Information Studies, where I’m working on an MLIS degree with an archives concentration. I’m really excited to be participating in the Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) program this summer and see it as an… Read More…
McMillan Memorial Library and South Wood County Museum join forces to preserve digital content
This is Colin McGinnis the Adult Services Manager at the McMillan Memorial Library. Our director, Andy Barnett, in coordination with the South Wood County Museum got us involved in this year’s Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) project. I have enjoyed the process of getting reacquainted with digital collections. I had metadata for digital collections course… Read More…
Digital Preservation Workflows and Policies at UW River Falls
Hello, everyone – I’m Kristen Whitson, an MLIS student at the UW Madison Information School. I’m glad, proud, excited, nervous, challenged, and thrilled to be a part of this year’s CCDC cohort! This summer, I’m working with the UW River Falls University Archives and their University Archivist Morgan Paavola. Morgan has been in her role… Read More…
Reflections from Appleton Public Library
by Katie Stilp, Appleton Public Library Local History Librarian Appleton Public Library is fortunate to be a host site for the Curating Community Digital Collections program this summer. When I began the position of Local History Librarian a year ago, I inherited hundreds of photographs – both digitized and born digital. Our digitized photographs include… Read More…
Organizing Oral Histories at the Bong Veterans Historical Center
My name is Laura Vavrosky and I’m thrilled to be part of the Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) program this summer. After taking several classes in Library and Information Studies through the University of Wisconsin–Madison, I’m eager to apply my knowledge of metadata and information organization to a practical cause. The 3-day workshop all CCDC… Read More…
Digital Preservation Work at Door County Library
My name is Laura Kayacan, the Adult Services Librarian at Door County Library in Sturgeon Bay, and I am one of the Supervisors for this summer’s CCDC program. I look forward to Georgia Brown’s help with the digital preservation of our files, and to the guidance from Mentor Sarah Titus, who is nearby at St…. Read More…
CCDC Student Georgia Brown Begins Work at Door County Library
My name is Georgia Brown, and I am about to start my final year of the coordinated History and Library Science Master’s program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I am so excited to be working with Door County Library in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin this summer on their digital preservation practices. Studying history really highlights how… Read More…
CCDC Projects Begin
And…we’re off and running! Curating Community Digital Collections 2019 participants kicked off their summer projects at our digital preservation immersion workshop in Madison, Wisconsin, May 21-23. … Read More…
Students Share CCDC at Midwest Archives Conference
This April, first-year Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) cohort and UW Madison iSchool graduate students Jessica Behrman and Kristina Warner presented a poster at the Midwest Archives Conference in Detroit, Michigan on “Curating Community Digital Collections: Digital Preservation at Small Cultural Heritage Institutions.”… Read More…
New Partnership to Support AV Archiving
Recollection Wisconsin is excited to announce that we are an anchor site for the Community Archiving Workshop Regional Training of Trainers (TOT) program. The Community Archiving Workshop (CAW) is a project of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) designed to address the challenge of obsolescence in audiovisual collections. First launched in 2010, the CAW model is designed to help community… Read More…
Six Questions with Amy Rudersdorf
We’ve had the good fortune to collaborate with AVP Senior Consultant, Amy Rudersdorf, for the past year. Amy has been instrumental in helping us develop the workshop and training content for Curating Community Digital Collections, as well as providing advice on a range of questions related to digital preservation and serving as a “mentor to our mentors.” As such, we thought you might like to know a bit more about Amy, her background and experience, and thoughts about digital stewardship work. … Read More…
Announcing the 2019 CCDC Host Sites
Congratulations to the following Wisconsin cultural heritage institutions and information agencies selected to participate in Year Two of the IMLS-funded Curating Community Digital Collections program: Appleton Public Library, Appleton College of Menominee Nation, Keshena Door County Library, Sturgeon Bay Douglas County Historical Society, Superior Lake Mills Aztalan Historical Society, Lake Mills McMillan Memorial Library /… Read More…
Curating Community Digital Collections – Points of Pride 2018
Our sincere thanks to everyone who supported and/or participated in Curating Community Digital Collections in 2018. We are grateful for your time and continued support of digital stewardship work throughout Wisconsin (and beyond!). Thank you CCDC students Jodi Kiffmeyer, Jessica Behrman, Sarah Lange, Kristina Warner, Cameron Fontaine and Steve Moray; mentors Stacey Erdman, Jesse Henderson,… Read More…
CCDC 2018 Resources: Student-created Policies, Workflows and Documentation
Last summer, our CCDC students worked with their host sites and mentors to develop digital preservation policies, workflows, and other documentation. Selected examples of these documents are now available on the CCDC website for other cultural heritage organizations to review and adapt for their own digital stewardship work. CCDC 2018 Resources/Student-created policies, workflows and other documents: https://recollectionwisconsin.org/digipres/2018resources… Read More…
Recollection Wisconsin Staff Share Projects Around the State (and Beyond!)
We’ve been on the road this fall, promoting Recollection Wisconsin and our projects that champion digital stewardship of local history resources –- Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) and Listening to War: Digitizing Wisconsin’s Wartime Oral Histories. Here’s a recap of our adventures! We rolled into La Crosse, Wisconsin on October 24th for the 2018 Wisconsin… Read More…
CCDC 2019: Apply to Participate!
We’re now accepting applications from Wisconsin libraries, archives, museums and historical societies to participate in Year Two of our IMLS-funded Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) program. In 2019, CCDC will support a cohort of ten teams. Each team will include a graduate student from the iSchool at UW-Madison or the School of Information Studies at… Read More…
Building the Community: NEDCC Symposium Keynote
Keynote presentation by Emily Pfotenhauer, WiLS, for a digital preservation symposium coordinated by the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC), Boston, November 9, 2018…. Read More…
CCDC Lightning Talk: Creating Community Through Digital Futures
Curating Community Digital Collections lightning talk by Vicki Tobias, WiLS, for Creating Community Through Digital Futures, a symposium hosted by the Art Institute of Chicago, November 1, 2018…. Read More…
CCDC: Collaborating to Build Digital Capacity
In this panel, participating students and site supervisors shared their experiences and lessons learned from the Summer 2018 IMLS-funded Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) cohort. Presented for the Wisconsin Library Association annual meeting in La Crosse, October 25, 2018…. Read More…
Recollection Wisconsin at Fall Conferences
Are you headed to the Wisconsin Library Association conference in La Crosse or the Local History-Historic Preservation conference in Elkhart Lake later this month? Say hi to the Recollection Wisconsin team! CCDC Project Coordinator Vicki Tobias and Recollection Wisconsin Program Manager Emily Pfotenhauer will be in the WLA Exhibit Hall, Booth 13, Wednesday and Thursday… Read More…
Upper Midwest Digital Collections Conference 2018
Registration is now open for the Upper Midwest Digital Collections Conference (#UMDCC18) at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota November 8-9. Join your digital collections colleagues for 1.5 days of networking, sharing of best practices, and hands-on learning. View conference schedule Register The Upper Midwest Digital Collections Conference features: Keynote speaker Abigail Potter (Digital… Read More…
CCDC 2018: That’s a Wrap!
It’s cliché, but true, I can’t believe how quickly this summer flew by! Our first Curating Community Digital Collections cohort just wrapped up their summer work. Well done, folks, well done. (Cue Pomp and Circumstance.) Let’s crunch a few CCDC numbers . . . 6 host sites and 8 host site supervisors 6 graduate students… Read More…
WiLS interview: Vicki Tobias, Program Coordinator, Curating Community Digital Collections
Vicki Tobias, our coordinator for the IMLS-funded CCDC program, recently gave an interview to WiLS (Wisconsin Library Services), the 501(c)(3) member organization that manages the Recollection Wisconsin consortium. Read about her work with CCDC and with the iSchool at UW-Madison, her favorite podcasts, her forays into playing bass guitar, and her chihuahuas Peppi and Diego!… Read More…
CCDC Host Reflections: La Crosse Public Library Archives
Hello from La Crosse! I’m Scott Brouwer, Archivist at the La Crosse Public Library Archives. In my position, I enjoy the many things in which I am involved, including collection processing, website management, digital content management, research assistance, media consulting, local history reference, photo scanning, metadata creation, and extensive local history programming. I would encourage… Read More…
CCDC Host Reflections: Barron County Historical Society
Hello from the Barron County Historical Society! I’m Tamera Schutz, the Executive Director. Three years ago, we started digitizing our photos, with vague thoughts of sharing them online and providing another way to ensure their preservation. The digitization of these photographs raised a lot of questions, as we did not know where to go from… Read More…
CCDC Host Reflections: Rock County Historical Society
Greetings from the Rock County Historical Society in Janesville, WI! My name is Kristin Arnold, and I am the archives manager at RCHS, where I work alongside dedicated volunteers and innovative staff members. One of the most exciting projects happening at RCHS is the Story Squad program, led by our insightful and gracious History Teller,… Read More…
CCDC Host Reflections: Outagamie Waupaca Library System
Hello! I’m Amanda Lee, the OWLSnet Manager with the Outagamie Waupaca Library System. OWLSnet is a library consortium consisting of 29 libraries (with 49 service locations) in the Outagamie Waupaca Library System and the Nicolet Federated Library System. One of my main goals as the OWLSnet Manager is to provide services for this consortium, including… Read More…
CCDC Host Reflections: Manitowoc County Historical Society
Hello from the Manitowoc County Historical Society! My name is Amy Meyer and I am the Executive Director of the museum. As an institution whose collection is managed and organized by volunteers, the knowledge gained through participating in the CCDC program has been remarkable. The work with the CCDC has already transformed the way our… Read More…
CCDC: Vicki on the Road, Part 2
Earlier this month, I wrapped up my “Tour de Year One CCDC Host Sites” with visits to Rock County Historical Society in Janesville, Outagamie Waupaca Library System in Appleton and College of Menominee Nation in Keshena. While all of our teams have similar broad goals for their summer projects — develop digital preservation workflows, best… Read More…
CCDC Host Reflections: College of Menominee Nation
This is Bethany Huse with the College of Menominee Nation. I am one of the Librarians here at the College, and one of my duties is that I spend half of my days in the Special Collections. Over this summer, we’ve had the privilege to participate in the CCDC project and have Steve Moray, a… Read More…
WiLSWorld 2018: Innovations in Digital Projects
This session for WiLSWorld 2018, July 24 in Madison, highlighted new tools and innovative approaches Wisconsin libraries are using to create, share and preserve digital collections. Presenters: Vicki Tobias, Program Coordinator, Curating Community Digital Collections, WiLS Ann Hanlon, Head, Digital Collections and Initiatives and DH Lab, UW-Milwaukee Randi Ramsden, Program Coordinator, National Digital Newspaper Program,… Read More…
CCDC: Vicki on the Road, Part 1
This month, I am thrilled to be visiting each of our Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) host sites for an extended check-in with each team. It’s been almost two months since our immersion workshop in Madison where we introduced CCDC participants to basic digital preservation concepts and best practices, tools and workflows for preservation tasks,… Read More…
CCDC Student Reflections: Rock County Historical Society
I’m Sarah Lange, and I’ll begin my second year at UW-Madison’s iSchool in the fall. This summer I’m working at Rock County Historical Society in Janesville, Wisconsin. I’m developing a digital preservation policy as well as oral history best practices and a workflow for managing the society’s Story Squad collection, which includes story cards, short… Read More…
CCDC Student Reflections: La Crosse Public Library Archives
Hi! I’m Jessica Behrman, and I am about to enter my second year at the Information School at UW-Madison. My practicum this summer is with the La Crosse Public Library Archives, where I’m working on creating workflows for digital photograph ingestion, migrating existing content into new digital collections, and implementing quality control measures going forward…. Read More…
CCDC Student Reflections: Outagamie Waupaca Library System
Hello, I’m Kristina Warner! I am starting my second year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison at the Information School specializing in archival management. This summer I am working with the Outagamie Waupaca Library System in Appleton, Wisconsin. The biggest projects that we are working on are creating a digital preservation policy, workflow and data management… Read More…
CCDC Student Reflections: Manitowoc County
My name is Cameron Fontaine and I am a UW-Milwaukee MLIS student working with the Manitowoc County Historical Society through the CCDC program. The Manitowoc County Historical Society is a gorgeous site comprised of historic buildings and artifacts which serve as a sort of living museum, the Pinecrest Historical Village. They host scores of school… Read More…
CCDC Student Reflections: Menominee Nation
My name is Steve Moray and I am a graduate student at UW-Milwaukee in a coordinated MA History/MLIS degree program concentrating in archives. I am working with the College of Menominee Nation Library in Keshena, Wisconsin to help preserve their digital collections. It’s still early on in the process, but so far I have organized… Read More…
CCDC Student Reflections: Barron County
Hello! I’m Jodi Kiffmeyer, a student at UW-Madison’s iSchool. Last semester I rediscovered a passion for family and community history while taking a genealogy course at the iSchool. Unfortunately, I also discovered that it’s not always easy to find historical information online when your family comes from rural northern Wisconsin, as mine does. That’s one… Read More…
CCDC Workshop Wrapup
On May 22, Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) participants convened at the Lowell Center in Madison, Wisconsin for an intensive training experience – an immersion workshop focused on digital preservation. The event also functioned as the official launch of CCDC’s year one summer projects. Over three days, the workshop offered a range of presentations and… Read More…
Announcing the 2018 CCDC Cohort
We are excited to announce the participants in our first IMLS-funded Curating Community Digital Collections cohort! This summer, each team — made up of a supervisor at a host library or museum, a library school grad student and a professional mentor — will work together to plan for improved management and organization of the host… Read More…
Call for applications: Curating Community Digital Collections
Do you have a digital preservation project on your list of new year’s resolutions? Are you starting to acquire digital materials without a plan to adequately deal with them? Perhaps you already have a few preservation projects in mind but don’t know where to start? Fear not! Recollection Wisconsin and WiLS are excited to offer… Read More…
IMLS-funded digital preservation initiative launches
Curating Community Digital Collections, our two-year IMLS-funded digital preservation initiative, officially launched on December 1. Recollection Wisconsin is thrilled to welcome Vicki Tobias as the Program Coordinator for this new project. In this role, Vicki will work with staff at small and mid-sized libraries and cultural heritage organizations, graduate students in the library schools at… Read More…
Digitizing at-risk media with RADD
Recovering Analog and Digital Data (RADD), in the Laboratory Library at the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS) at UW-Madison, is a collection of equipment for digitizing audio cassettes, VHS tapes, floppy disks and other outmoded media formats. The oral histories, musical performances, and other unique information stored on these types of materials are… Read More…
Best Practices for Managing Born Digital Content
Webinar presented for WiLS by Emily Pfotenhauer, Recollection Wisconsin Program Manager, June 24, 2014. Based on information from the Demystifying Born Digital reports from OCLC Research and the Digital Preservation Education and Outreach (DPOE) curriculum developed by the Library of Congress. Handout – Resource links… Read More…
