Presentation by Gina Strack at the CONTENTdm Users Group meeting in Seattle, Washington in August 2013.

1. Automated or
Nothing
Large Textual Projects in CONTENTdm
Gina Strack  Utah State Archives
Seattle, Washington  August 9, 2013
1

2. About Us
The purpose of the
State Archives is to
assist Utah
government agencies
in the efficient
management of their
records, to preserve
those records of
enduring value, and
to provide quality
access to public
information. 2

3. About the Digital Program
3
Senate Bill Files
2011
House of
Representatives
Bill Files
2008
Death
Certificates*
2007
Governor
Leavitt’s
Records
2006
One-time
Appropriation
Microfilm Roll
Scanner
CONTENTdm
2005
*not in CONTENTdm

4. Partnerships
4

5. DEFINE “LARGE” 5

6. Growth 2006-2013
0
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
CONTENTdm Indexes
6

7. 7
One
Million
Items

8. Largest Collections
Public Access
8
159,789
141,781
76,948
54,848
36,091
15,085
13,021 8,163
1,696 1,371
Total Images Senate Bills
House of
Representatives Bills
Birth Certificates
Board of Pardons
Death Certificates
Territorial Executive
Papers
Indian War Service
Affidavits
Utah Constitutional
Convention
Brand Books
Executive
Reorganization

9. Largest Collections
Staff Access (Governors)
9
23,389
21,483
15,752
15,530
5,092
2,214
1,665
1,616
1,610
1,506 Total Images Governor Leavitt State
Olympic Office
Governor Leavitt Chief of
Staff Records
Governor Leavitt Programs
of the First Lady
Governor Leavitt
Newspaper Clippings
Governor Walker
Photographs
Governor Walker
Newspaper Clippings
Governor Leavitt Press
Releases
Governor Leavitt 2K2
Program Records
Governor Walker Executive
correspondence
Governor Leavitt
Photographs

10. DIGITAL PROJECT WORKFLOW 10

11. It Feels Like
“The natural condition is one of
insurmountable obstacles on the road to
imminent disaster.”
“So what do we do?”
“Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out
well.”
“How?”
“I don't know.
It's a mystery.”
ULA2013
11

12. ULA2013
12

13. Project Planning
Propose Digital
Project
• “Building Good
Collections” 
Discuss in monthly
Team Meeting
• Processed?
• Public?
• Partner or
vendor?
ULA2013
13

14. Track
ULA2013
14

15. ULA2013
15

16. Best Practices
ULA2013
16
archives.utah.gov/digital/best-practices.html
Digital
Imaging
Dublin Core
Metadata
Building Collections

17. USING CONTENTDM 17

18. I Still Miss Job Lists*
• Government records, like many archival materials,
must retain context to be both useful and retain
meaning
• Almost all digital objects = compound objects
*not really
18

19. Page 2 of a letter means little without Page 1 19

20. Directory Structure
20
Series Number and Title
tiff
Directory Name (matches “Caption” field in metadata)
seriesboxfolder_001.tif
seriesboxfolder_002.tif
seriesboxfolder_003.tif
Directory Name

21. Especially with “More Product Less Process” 21

22. Metadata
Container List
Identification
and
Digitization
Information
Digital
Metadata
22
• EAD
• database
• inventory
• Collection
• Creator
• Dates
• Scanning
• Rights, etc.
Tab-delimited
text file

23. Access Query 23

24. Text File 24

25. Add Compound Objects > Object List 25

26. LINKING TO DIGITAL 26

27. 27

28. 28

29. Open “export.xml” in Excel as XML Table 29

30. Resulting Container List in Excel 30

31. 
31

32. 32

33. Review of Tools
• Microsoft Excel
• Project tracking
• Collection inventories
• Links to inventories
• Microsoft Access
• Add digitization for metadata
• Quick File Rename 
• Folder Creator  or Folder Maker 
33

34. Questions?
archives.utah.gov/
digital/
Gina Strack
gmstrack@utah.gov
(801) 531-3843 34