Organic Digital Library Aboriginal Studies
Internet Librarian International
March 18, 2002
Darlene Fichter, Data Librarian
University of Saskatchewan
library.usask.ca/~fichter/
The Need
• Growing demand for material about First Nations to support:– undergraduate, graduate and professional colleges
– other users external to the U of S
• Two major problems1. Preservation (material goes out-of-print)
2. Access - many people at the same time from many locations & many collections
The Solution
• Digital collections
• One place to look
• Tools to promote research, analysis, use, collaboration and community of scholars
Pilot Phase: Digital Content
• 1993 – Asked to put native law cases on the campus network
• 1994-1995 – grant for a pilot project to proof and clean up cases and digitize other content
The Web Site
library.usask.ca/native/
New Partners
• Native Law Centre
• University of Saskatchewan Archives
• Saskatchewan Archives Board
• Poundmaker First Nation
• Saskatoon Public Library Local History Room
Results
• Better access to photos, full text searching
• Digital content is used / wantedJuly 2000 – June 2001
– 84,641 native law cases– 25,392 archival photographs
• Everywhere- 6000 different computers or hosts per month
- University of Saskatchewan is #1 for usage
Directory of First Nations, Métis and Inuit Collections
Beyond
the
Pilot
library.usask.ca/native/directory/
New Partners
• Dept. of Indian and Northern Affairs Library
• Library and Information Needs of Native People's Interest Group of the Canadian Library Association
Results
July 2000-June 2001
• 57,133 uses of the directory
Northwest Resistance
• Photos
• Journals
• Broad sheets
library.usask.ca/northwest/
Results
• Protected rare materials in Archives & Special Collections
• Improved access to actual item vs. collection
• Very high usage - 780,507 pages in one year with University of Saskatchewan as #1 site accessing the material
Our Approach
• Partnerships– very successful, could not do it alone
• Testing – useful - shows what is needed and is not
needed, develop best practices
Next Stage: New Demands
• Digital content was not enough.
• Strong desire to have “one place” to look on campus for everything aboriginal
• Major undertaking– Beyond the bounds of “traditional library”– Similar to demand for “one catalogue” in
1990’s
Fall 2000
Proposed Solution
• Multi-phase project
• “Portal”
Next Stage: Aboriginal Portal
What is a portal?1. Information and Content
2. Community
3. Tools
Information/Content
• Search
• Topical directory organization of content, usually hierarchical
• Daily (hourly) news and updates
• Full text repositories
• Finding aids
Community
• Community of interests, in our case focused on scholarly work and teaching
• Discussion, chat, expertise finders, collaboration opportunities, critiques, announcements, events
Tools
• For scholars to personalize communication & information seeking tools
• For publishing and editorial review.
• For course creation and supporting teaching/learning environments for students
Research & Analysis
• There is a definite need for this type of portal and none exists
• Can only be built with partnerships and through collaboration
• Know from past experience it would be used and used locally
Partnerships
• Libraries
• Scholars
• Publishers
• Users
What do we have to offer?
• Tools, technology, expertise and keen interest
What we’d like to find?• Partners
• Champions
• Support and funding
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