OCLC Canada Newsletter

OCLC Canada Newsletter

Spring/Summer 2005

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OCLC Canada preserves Canadian heritage through digitization projects

The advent of digitization services is helping Canadian libraries share a wealth of resources with local and worldwide user communities, including resources that previously may have been difficult for library users to access. Special collections, newspapers, microfilms and many other resources find new life through digitization services that make access as easy as a few mouse clicks.

OCLC Canada, based in Chambly, Quebec, is taking an active role bringing digitization services to libraries in Canada. "Staff at our digital studio in Winnipeg bring great skill and expertise to their assigned projects," says Daniel Boivin, Director of OCLC Canada. "Demand for digitization projects is increasing enough that we're now recruiting for another digital technician to join our Winnipeg staff."

OCLC's expansion into digitization and preservation services is good news for Canadian libraries and their users, as OCLC Canada has several initiatives under way to expand access to digital resources across Canada.

The Manitobia: Life and Times

The Manitobia: Life and Times project Web site will use various lenses to magnify the early history of Manitoba and Canada.OCLC Canada is digitizing approximately 105,000 pages of microfilmed newspapers, capturing the images at 300dpi to create TIFF image files. The images undergo post-scanning processes to prepare them for successful distillation through Pipex™ to create an ActivePaper Archive™ XML repository, which will be made available online. Significant content for The Manitobia project comes from the newspaper holdings of the Legislative Library of Manitoba, covering the period from 1859 to 1919. The Manitoba Library Consortium, Inc. (MLCI), a group of government, public, school and academic libraries, is leading the project, which is funded by the Canadian Heritage Partnerships Fund.

Mark Leggott,Chair of the Manitoba Library Consortium

Archives of Manitoba

OCLC Canada has digitized 3,580 pages of microfilm from the Archives of Manitoba as part of the Archives Society of Alberta Populism project. Funded by Canadian Heritage through the Canadian Council of Archives and Library and Archives Canada, the project content includes records from the Winnipeg General Strike Trial.

CONTENTdm for in-house projects

For libraries and information repositories like museums that choose to digitize special collections in-house, OCLC offers CONTENTdm Digital Collection Management Software (developed by DiMeMa, Inc.). Canadian institutions (like the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta) are doing just that, using CONTENTdm to digitize special collections. Here are a few other examples.

The Memorial University of Newfoundland uses CONTENTdm to support a new Digital Archives Initiative (DAI) that's managed jointly by the Faculty of Arts and the Libraries on behalf of the university. The initiative focuses on the preservation of Newfoundland culture through the digitization of a variety of multimedia collections (audio, video, image and print). These collections are currently housed in the Centre for Newfoundlandland Studies, Maritime History and Folklore and Language Archives.

While the digitization project continues, access to the collections will be available through the CONTENTdm Web interface, Z39.50 search and retrieval, and via search engines using the Open Archives Initiative Metadata Harvesting Protocol (OAI-MHP).

Meanwhile, the Windsor Public Library is using CONTENTdm to build a collection of 1,500 images culled from the collections of Windsor's Community Archives, Windsor's Community Museum and the library's own local history collection. These images will become part of the Images Canada database, which provides centralized search access to thousands of images held on the Web sites of Canadian cultural institutions. The Windsor project is funded by the Canadian Heritage, Museum Assistance Program.

In the future, the library hopes to add images from the Heritage Planning Department and other local heritage organizations that lack the resources to create a similar digital collection on their own.

Looking ahead, Boivin sees a bigger role for OCLC Canada in helping Canadian libraries expand access to their special collections through digitization services. "Indeed, we are planning for additional specialized services to be offered from our Canadian digital studio," he explains. "We expect delivery of additional equipment in mid-2005 that will allow us to provide on-site digitization services, digitization of microcards and more."

The digitization of more and more resources in Canadian libraries means that library users across Canada—and around the world—will benefit from the vast knowledge these resources provide. OCLC Canada looks forward to playing a leading role in helping that to happen.

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Welcome to new Canadian member libraries

• Lethbridge Community College
• British Columbia Institute of Technology
• Northwest Territories Public Library Services
• Saskatchewan Legislative Library
• College of New Caledonia
• Inuvik Centennial Library
• Yellowknife Public Library

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Miscellaneous

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Joyce Garnet re-appointed University Librarian at The University of Western Ontario

Joyce Garnett, who is on OCLC Canada's Advisory Council and an Alternative Delegate to OCLC's Members Council, has been re-appointed University Librarian at The University of Western Ontario. Mrs Garnett has held that position since 1998 and has provided excellent leadership for Western libraries including the Business Library, the Educational library, the John & Dotsa Bitove Family Law Library, the Music Library, the Allyn & Betty Taylor Library and The D. B. Weldon library, and the University Archive. For more information visit: Western News.

Ernie Ingles, 2005-2006 Vice President/President-elect

On May 17, the OCLC Members Council elected Mr. Ernie Ingles (OCLC Canada Advisory Council) as 2005-2006 Vice President/President-elect, the first non-U.S. delegate elected to that office. He is Associate Vice President, Learning Systems, University of Alberta.

Winner of an MP3 Player during OLA

We would like to thank all the participants to our draw of an MP3 player during the OLA Conference. This special draw was offered to announce the recent availability of "audiobooks" through our NetLibrary service (more information can be found at Downloadable Audiobooks. Thus, the winner of the player was Mr. David Rushton, Manager, Support Services, Markham Public Library.

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OCLC Canada was there

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Canadian Library Association

 

OCLC Canada was very active at the past CLA Conference in Calgary. During our update luncheon, we presented a plaque and a check of $1,000 to the Public Library InterLINK for being selected as the 2005 winner of the CLA/OCLC Canada Award for Resource Sharing Achievement. We had a lot of activity going on at our booth this year. We had a draw for three prices and here are the lucky winners: Bernard Callebeaut Chocolate Western Style Gift Basket: Ada-Marie Atkins Nechka, Assistant Director Collections and Technical Services, MacKimmie Library, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. RCA Lyra MP3 Digital Audio Player: Elaine MacLean, Head, Technical Services, Angus L. MacDonald Library, Saint Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS. OCLC Shirt: Jean Foster, Director of Library Services, Windsor Public Library, ON.

On the picture from left to right, Rob Thiesen, Chair of the Award Committee and Head, Access Services at the University of Calgary Library, John Buckberrough, Chair of the InterLINK Board, and Daniel Boivin, Director at OCLC Canada.

Our local colleague from the West, Nigel Long, truly dressed for the occasion yet still delivering professional services and valuable information to one of our 950 library user.

Ontario Library Association

OCLC Canada was also at the OLA conference during the winter 2005. On the picture, the team that was working the booth.

From left to right: Mary Jane Gordon, Les Moor, Libbie Crawford, Daniel Boivin and Manon Barbeau.

The 2005 OLITA winners sponsored by OCLC Canada.

Conferences and meetings in Canada

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We want to hear from you!

Please do not hesitate to send us your questions, comments or topics for future articles to canada@oclc.org. For help or additional information, give us a call at 1-888-658-6583.