We are excited to announce a new effort, in collaboration with South Central Library System, to increase the capacity of public libraries across the state to digitize their local history resources. SCLS will distribute digitization kits to Wisconsin’s public library systems, which can then loan out the kits to their member libraries starting this fall. Public libraries will be able to receive assistance from their regional systems to share digitized collections online through Recollection Wisconsin and DPLA.
The kits, which include a basic flatbed scanner and other equipment for scanning two-dimensional photos and documents, are based on kits created for New York METRO’s Culture In Transit project. The idea for a similar approach in Wisconsin was spearheaded by the Department of Public Instruction, which is supporting equipment purchases as part of the WISELearn budget for FY19.
A kickoff meeting to launch the project is coming up in April. This summer, Recollection Wisconsin will partner with SCLS to develop guidelines to go along with the kits and offer training workshops for public library system staff.
This regional model of support builds on the success of several ongoing public library system-driven projects including SCLS’s support for local history digitization projects, Winding Rivers Library System’s ECHO Project, the Monarch Digital Collection developed by Monarch Library System, and the InfoSoup Memory Project initiative from Outagamie Waupaca Library System and Nicolet Federated Library System.
