Publicity for Christmas Window Displays

Word about Scranton Christmas Windows 1938-1960 is getting around both in the blogoshere and in more traditional spots:

Webster from rock 107 blogged about the Christmas window blog http://www.webster107.com/2009/11/scranton-christmas-windows-1938-1960.html

Which then got picked up by the NEPA Blogs blog http://nepablogs.blogspot.com/2009/12/scranton-christmas-windows-1938-1960.html

Also, Mike Stevens from WNEP-TV will be doing a piece on it sometime this week.

Scranton Christmas Windows

In a previous post, I spoke about photos of Christmas window displays from the Household Outfitting Company that were donated to the library. You can now view them here. More will be added every few days between now and Christmas. Enjoy!

Our Project "One of Most Succesful" in PA

Yesterday I received word that our recently completed digitization planning project was selected as "one of our most successful grants for last year." This message comes from Commonwealth Libraries, the state agency that oversees the federal grant program that funded the project. They requested additional information which I provided this. I assume they will use our project in literature about the grant program and when the feds ask for examples of worthwhile endeavors funded by the program. I hope this bodes well for the "Out of the Wilderness" grant application. We will not hear about that one until the spring.

Christmas Window Displays

Here is a little digitization project we are working on. Photos of Christmas window displays at the Household Outfitting Company in Scranton dating from the 1930's to the 1950's were donated to the library. They were discovered during a renovation project. We are in the processing of scanning them. Our plan is to have them available on the library's web site in time for Christmas. Here is a sample.

Flickr Commons

If you are not aware of Flickr Commons, you may went to check their web site. It is a way for organizations like ours to make our historical photographs available on the web. I have sent them an inquiry. Apparently, not just anyone can sign up so I am trying to determine the criteria. I was looking through the collection of photos here at the library. I am going to scan some of them into TIFF. If nothing else, it, it will get us thinking about standards, procedures, and metadata.

Grant Information

I have been talking about "the grant" for several months so, for those of you who not have been here from the beginning, let me back up and tell you what it is all about. We are requesting $35,000 through a Library Services and Technology Act grant. This is federal money intended to improve local library services. The competitive grant program is administered by the State; specifically, the Bureau of Commonwealth Libraries. The grant we applied for will allow us to digitize 67 items from the collections of the Scranton Public Library, Lackawanna Historical Society, Steamtown National Historic Site, Anthracite Heritage Museum, and Times-Tribune newspaper library. The name of the proposed project is "Out of the Wilderness: The Development and Industrialization of the Scranton Area 1850-1865." We plan to digitize entire books published during or pertaining to that era, photographs, maps, letters, business documents, and even a cane inscribed with the names of Civil War veterans. The grant will pay for the digitization of these items, a digital archiving management system, attendant hardware to be installed here at the library (and designed to accommodate this and future projects). metadata entry, and publicity. We should find out about the grant in the spring of 2010. The project would commence in June of 2010 and we would be completed by May 31 2011. By then all 67 items would be accessible via the Internet. Between now and the spring, there are some other things we can do. Stay tuned...

Test Posting

Now that the grant application has been submitted, I intend to devote more attention to this blog and use it to update everyone on some projects we can work on between now and when the grant recipients are announced in the spring.

Grant Update and Library Funding

Dear Partners,
It has been awhile since I provided an update. The LSTA grant application, which involves federal money administered by Commonwealth Libraries in Harrisburg, is not due until early September, but given the intensity of the application and the nature of summer (vacations etc.), I am trying to get a head start. The people who evaluate the applications want to make sure that the applicant knows what is involved in a project like this so the application asks for a lot of detailed information. As a result, I have been in touch with
vendors, our consultants from Lyrasis, and Kristen at the University of Scranton (Thanks, Kristen!) about issues like scanner types, file size, bit depth, and metadata creation.

There is one issue that I would like to alert you about with the understanding that many of you are having your own problems. On the library’s web site is some information about proposed cuts in state funding for libraries.In this statement, mention is made of lost LSTA dollars. This is the money that would fund our grant so it would be appreciated if, while you and your supporters are communicating with legislators and other contacts at the state level, you can put in a good word for libraries. I would be happy to return the favor if you can provide some specific information on the kind of cuts you are facing.

Anyway, the application process is ongoing. As the summer progresses, I may need some additional information from some of you. If this is the case, I will give you plenty of advance notice. As always, thank you for your interest and cooperation.

Remick Report Now Available

The report from Tom Clareson of Lyrasis on the Remick facility is now available on our Wiki:

http://lackawannadigital.pbwiki.com

It can be found under Documents. It is called Remicks Report.

Remick Facility Update

On Friday several of us looked at the Remick's facility with Tom Clareson from Palinet (now Lyrasis). Tom will be preparing a formal report. I will share it with all of you once it becomes available.

Email Discussion List and Palinet Visit Update

In addition to our blog and wiki, I have created an email discussion list that will allow us to share information on local digitization projects. If you want to post a message, just send an email to lackawannadigital@listserv.albright.org. You will be able to reply to any email that was posted to the list and everyone will be able to read it and respond. If you would like someone added to the list, just let me know.

Here is an update for you: Tom Clareson from Palinet will be visiting the region on Friday, April 4th. He is currently looking over the lists some of you submitted for our first project, “The Development and Industrialization of Northeastern Pennsylvania 1850-1865” and may need to physically examine some of the items. If he does need to look at them, I will be in touch with you to schedule a brief visit on that day.

Visit by Tom Clareson

Tom Clareson from Palinet will visit our area on April 3rd, 2009 to assist with the grant application and possibly examine some of the items. We are looking forward to his visit.

Project Update

We have received lists of possible items from the Anthracite Heritage Museum, the Lackawanna Historical Society, and the Albright Memorial Library. You can view these lists in the Documents folder of our project wiki. We are expecting additional lists from other partners and have begun the grant application process. The Library Services and Technology Act application is not due until September, but it will take some time to determine the costs of digitizing such a diverse diverse selection of documents, photos, and artifacts. It is shaping up to be an exciting project!

Item Selection

Dear Partners,
Though the grant application for our first digitization project is not due until early September, there is a lot of preparation work that needs to be done so we may as well get started. Prior to knowing how much money we should request and how we will carry out the digitization process, we will need to know what kinds of items we will be including. Therefore, I will need a preliminary list of the items you wish to include from your collections. Obviously, the items should fit our theme which, as you may recall, is “The Development and Industrialization of Northeastern PA 1850-1865.” For each item, I will need the following information:

1. Format (e.g.; photo, flyer, poster, newspaper article, document etc.)
2. Brief Description (e.g.; Photo of Civil War Veteran)
3. Date
4. Dimensions
5. Bound / Unbound
6. Condition

If possible, I would like to have your list by February 17, 2009. In order to keep this project manageable, please limit your initial list to 20 items.
I really appreciate your cooperation. Please let me know if you have any questions.