Presentation given by Julia Barrett, Head of UCD Library Research Services, and Audrey Drohan, Senior Library Assistant, Research Services at the Association for Church Archives of Ireland Annual General Meeting event on May 12th, 2018, at All Hallows College, Drumcondra, Dublin 9, Ireland.

1. UCD Digital Library:
Creating digitised content
from archival collections -
partnerships, processes and
possibilities
Julia Barrett and Audrey Drohan
UCD James Joyce Library An Leabharlann UCD
Contact julia.barrett@ucd.ie
audrey.drohan@ucd.ie

2. Digital.ucd.ie

3. • IVRLA (2005-2009)
• Migration/Building (2010-2012)
• UCD Digital Library (2012 – present)
• Data Seal of Approval 2015
• 81 Collections
• Approx. 1 million digital objects
• 27 repositories/partners
• 353,991+ page views so far this year
© University College Dublin
High Profile Collections
- Fr. Gleeson papers
- De Valera press photos
- Desmond FitzGerald photos
- Kevin Barry papers
- Michael Collins papers
- Roger Casement letters
- Loreto 1916
- Osi 19th century historic maps
- G. & T. Crampton photograph archive

4. Content Diversity
• Variety of content types
– Archival: letters, books, pamphlets, ephemera,
manuscripts, diaries, ballads, essays
– Text: journals, pamphlets
– Audio: sound recordings
– Video: video interviews
– Images: photographs, slides, paintings
– Cartographic: maps
– Datasets: databases
– Records: registers

5. Fr. Francis A. Gleeson Papers
https://digital.ucd.ie/view/ucdlib:36570

6. “What is it all for? Here
are men, during long,
cold, winter nights,
standing in the middle
of water-cum-mud
trenches planning how
they will get one
another to pop up
their heads til they get
them shot off.”
“…after 23 miles march
and on empty
stomachs, they
charged the German
trenches and were
mercilessly cut up in
the mud-fields near
Festubert”.

9. Repository Diversity
© University College Dublin
G. & T. Crampton Photographs
G. & T. Crampton
OSi 19th Century Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey Ireland
Irish Poetry Reading Collection
Special Collections, UCD
Savoy Cinema Album
Irish Architectural Archive
Postcards of the First World War
National Folklore Collection, UCD
Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP)
Prisoners Books
Garda Museum & Archives

10. Working With Religious Archives
• Dublin Diocesan Archives
– Fr. Francis A. Gleeson Papers
• IBVM (Loreto) Institute & Irish Province Archives
– Loreto 1916
• Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
– The Collected Nano Nagle Letters (new)
• UCD-OFM Partnership
– Florilegium insulae sanctorum, seu vitae et acta sanctorum
Hiberniae
– Luke Wadding Papers
– Material Culture of the Mendicant Orders in Ireland
– Press Photographs of Eamon de Valera (1882–1975)

11. Why Digitise?
• Makes primary sources
freely and easily available
for all – development of
new points of entry to
collections, archives, etc.
• Increases the visibility and
impact of archives /
collections; increases
discoverability via Google
• Memory
– Conflict
– Places
– Written accounts
– Hidden
– Institutional
• “The memories held in
collections can both connect us
with the past, immersing us in
experiences through the eyes of
others, and inform the future
through innovative research and
the development of new ideas,
technology, science and art”.
– http://dcdcconference.com/cfp/

12. Conflict

13. Places

14. Places

15. Written Accounts

16. Hidden
• “…forgetting and the absence
of memories can be as
powerful as their presence.
There are fundamental
questions to be asked around
the collecting of memories.
Which communities and
individuals are, or are not,
represented within collections,
and what can we do to ensure
their voices will continue to be
heard?”
– http://dcdcconference.com/cfp/
• Eithne Coyle O’Donnell was an
Irish Republican activist. She
was a leading figure within
Cumann na mBan and a
member of the Gaelic League.
UCD Archives

17. Institutional - UCD News
UCD News was an internal, informal publication
published initially by the Information Officer and
later by the Office of Public Affairs for the staff
and students of University College Dublin.

18. Discoverability via Google

19. Why Digitise?
• Enables new interpretations
– Increases “the complexity of the narrative” (Caitríona Crowe,
National Archives)
• Enables the use of technologies to enhance the user
experience
Iberian Books
http://iberian.ucd.ie/

20. • Dispersed, valuable and
fragile archival
materials can be
brought together on a
secure, virtual platform
• And made available
freely to a global
audience

21. Transforming Teaching
“I am working for Liverpool Hope
University developing an app to be
used by English Literature students
celebrating the life and work of Gerard
Manley Hopkins.
One of the main aims of the app is to
humanise Hopkins in a way he perhaps
hasn't been in a classic academic
syllabus.
I understand you hold letters from
Hopkins would there be any chance I
could use any images you have of his
handwritten letters?
I believe the letters give a truer sense
of his thought processes and a sense of
him as a man. “
bookhaven.stanford.edu

22. Why Digitise?
• Provides opportunities for partnership and collaboration
– Relationships built up over time with an organisation (e.g. OSi, IAA)
– building on existing specialisms in UCD
– Personal relationships within an external organisation (e.g. DDA,
Garda Museum) – may be opportunistic
– Relationships arising from connections within UCD – such as from
an individual researcher (e.g. religious orders, Crampton); joint
grant applications
– Facilitates the meeting of strategic objectives and opportunities
presented through anniversaries such as such as the Decade of
Commemorations

23. Criteria Used
• Collection Development Policy
– Demand, relevance, rarity, at risk material, metadata, copyright / IPR
– Adding to existing collections: Does the digitised form contribute to an
existing collection, bringing together materials in different ways,
complementing existing strengths in the physical collections?
– Collaboration: Will digitising this material provide an opportunity for
collaboration and partnership with repositories, academic centres
and/or external organisations?
– Is there funding available?
• Funding
– Would a “teaser” collection (e.g. sub-set of an overall collection)
provide leverage for future external funding opportunities?
• Loreto 1916
• Nano Nagle’s letters
• De Valera British Documents Re: 1916

24. Working With Partners
• Initial discussion
– Collection details; location; relationship to other collections;
related publications, websites etc.
• Does it meet our criteria for adding to the UCD Digital Library?
– Availability of descriptive information / metadata / catalogue
record / finding aid
• Or will we have to start from scratch?
– Copyright – status and owners
• How long / difficult would it be to sort out an in-copyright collection?
– Possible users
• Who will the main users of the collection be? Can they be targeted as
part of the publicity?
– Champions
• Would they be available to assist with interpretation?
– Hopes and concerns

25. Memorandum of Understanding
• Project
– Brief outline and scope
– Outline of respective responsibilities
• Who will do what
– Deliverables
• Who will get what, e.g.
– Repository will facilitate access to physical materials
– UCD DL will provide high quality digital scans to the Repository
– The Repository will provide administrative and technical metadata
– Procedures
• UCD Digital Library may expand the metadata, etc.
– Intellectual property rights
• Acknowledgements, copyright, license

26. The Publicity Journey: Build
• Partnering with Archives & Academics
– Visits & ceremonies
– MOUs, temporary transfer agreements, etc.
– Increases publicity opportunities
– Build trust
• Champions
– Involve
– Contextual information
– Conferences
– Acknowledge
• Think not only end-users but political dimension
– Impact and uniqueness
• UCD Strategic Objectives
– Funding opportunities

27. • Google Analytics
– Developing a more automated service for depositing
organisations
• Wikipedia Page Views
– Page views for whole page (e.g. Kevin Barry)
– “Relevant Wikipedia entries are gold!”
• SPEC Kit 341 (2014): Digital Collections Assessment and
Outreach http://publications.arl.org/Digital-Collections-
Assessment-Outreach-SPEC-Kit-341/59 (p. 47)
• Altmetrics
– Individual Digital Library collections
– Social media spread

28. UCD Library:
3/day
Kevin Barry:
170/day
Easter Rising:
4,665/day
(22,957/day
for March
2016)

29. Creating an Impact

30. Reality Check
• A collection can take between 1 and 3 years to
get into the UCD Digital Library
– (Fr. Gleeson took 1 year and 2 months)
• Time-consuming and complex - a variety of
different technical and niche skills are
required, in addition to the more standard
project management skills

31. Profiling
Digital Asset
Curation
Cataloging
Copyright
Ingest
Quality
Review
Publicity
Evaluation
© University College Dublin

32. Managing Expectations
“Fantastic map collection – are the Northern Irish maps
available?”
“Can you have this collection ready in 3 months time for the
anniversary?”
• Bringing a collection into the UCD Digital Library is similar to
publishing an article and is a lengthy process.
• From the initial profiling stage to going live in the UCD Digital
Library, the following steps are undertaken over several
months:
– Profiling
– Digital Asset Curation
– Cataloguing
– Copyright
– Ingest
• See an overview of the entire workflow:
– UCD Digital Library - Workflow Overview

33. Managing Expectations
UCD Digital Library Is... UCD Digital Library Is
Not...
An infrastructure where
digital collections are
curated and preserved
into the future.
A website for a digital
collection.
An environment from
which digital collections
can be freely and globally
accessed.
A storage platform or
inaccessible (“dark”)
archive.
An environment in which
digital collections are
organised and managed
in a structured way.
UCD Digital Library Can... UCD Digital Library Cannot...
Enhance existing descriptions
or listings for a collection, or
provide a template to compile
an initial description of the
items in a collection.
Undertake the arrangement
and description of unlisted
collections.
Digitise print collections and
add to the UCD Digital Library
providing it meets the criteria
in its Collection Development
Policy – see link below.
Archive websites or social
media.
Add digital collections to the
UCD Digital Library providing
they meet the criteria in
its Collection Development
Policy and are compatible with
the UCD Digital Library
infrastructure.
Undertake data analysis e.g.
network / pattern analysis.

34. • Use of technologies to enhance
the user experience
– Geospatial data
– Viewing images
• Embedding materials as part of
teaching
– Virtual Learning Environment
– Lesson plans (Military Archives)
• Assisting users
– Training, guidance materials
– Re-use of images
• Services to depositors
– Analytics etc.

35. © University College Dublin
Collection
Workflow
Preservation
User Services
Change
Management
PR &
Marketing
Analytics
IT
Infrastructure
&
Development

36. Profiling
Digital Asset
Curation
Cataloging
Copyright
Ingest
Quality
Review
Publicity
Evaluation
© University College Dublin

37. © University College Dublin
Profiling

38. • Appraisal
• Initial Description
– Quantity
– Format
– Size
– Anomalies
• Equipment Needed
• Document Condition
• Content Modelling
• Copyright Status
• Selection Criteria
– Increase access
• High profile collection
• Key historical collection
• High demand collection
– Commercial value
– Insurance purposes
– Teaching and learning
© University College Dublin
We use:
• Collection Development Policy
• Collection Profiling Document

39. Collection Object
Parts

40. Digital Asset curation
© University College Dublin
Profiling
Digital Asset
Curation

41. • Acquisition through Deposit
– People give us digital files and metadata
– We have a workflow to enhance and upload the collections to the
UCD Digital Library
• Creation through Digitisation
– We get a loan of physical material from archives/ libraries
– We digitise, image process, describe and upload the collection
through several workflows
– We return the physical material, along with a digital copy of the
scanned files.
© University College Dublin

42. Retrieving archival collections…

43. • Resolution
– 400-450ppi (up to 600ppi )
• Anything above 300ppi is
preservation standard
– Cost involved
(larger size = more storage)
• Bit depth
– 8 bit per channel
• Colour mode
– RGB
• Colour Profile
– sRGB
International imaging standards:
FADGI and Metamorfoze
© University College Dublin
Types Preservation Access
Images TIFF - Tagged Image
File Format
JPEG2000
JPEG
Text PDF/A - Portable
Document Format
PDF or MS Word
Datasets CSV - Comma-
separated values
MS Excel
Audio WAV - Waveform
Audio File Format
MP3
Video
(codec, frame rate,
bit rate,
resolution, audio
codec, audio
data rate, audio
sample rate)
MPEG-4 Part 12
(ISO Standard based
on
QuickTime File
Format)
QuickTime File
Format (MOV)
uploaded to Vimeo
Cross-platform compliant
Capable of migrating to new standards
File Formats

44. • Flatbed scanners x2
• Book scanners x2
• High-end workstations
• Virtual Machines (Servers)
• Cataloguing workstation
• Image processing workstation
• NAS (network attached storage)
• External hard drives
© University College Dublin
Software include…
• YooScan
• Adobe Photoshop
• XnView
• Adobe Bridge
• Total Commander
• oXygen
• etc

45. © University College Dublin
• Rotating
• Cropping
• File re-naming
• Appending administrative metadata
• Conversion between file formats e.g. convert TIFF to JPEG
• Backups
• Standardisation
• Decompression
• Redacting
• OCR
Digital File Processing

46. Overnight in Special Collection’s
B&B!!!

47. Profiling
Digital Asset
Curation
Cataloguing

48. • MODS 3.6 – descriptive (bibliographic/digital)
– Main standard used in UCD Digital Library – everything gets a MODS record
• EAD 2002 – descriptive ( collection level only for archival collections and to create
hierarchical structures)
• Dublin Core – descriptive (digital)
• MADS – descriptive (name authority)
• MIX 2.0 – technical (images)
• METS – structural
• RDF – descriptive, technical, structural
• Datacite 3.1 – descriptive (citations)
• PREMIS - preservation
• Inspire – geo-spatial
• NUDS XML – descriptive (numismatics)
• DDI 2.1 – descriptive (datasets)
• Content Standards: AACR2 (Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules), ISAD(G)
© University College Dublin

49. • Getty Art & Architecture
Thesaurus (aat)
• Library of Congress, Basic Genre
Terms for Cultural Heritage
Materials (bgtchm)
• Library of Congress Thesaurus for
Graphic Materials (lctgm)
• Library of Congress Genre Form
Headings (lcgtf)
• MARC Relator (for roles)
• CERIF (for roles)
• MARC Genre Term List (marcgt)
• Library of Congress Subject
Headings (LCSH)
• Library of Congress Name
Authority File (NAF)
• Virtual International Authority File
(VIAF)
• Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
• ISO639-2 Languages
• ISO8601 Date and Time Formats
• GEONAMES
• etc.
© University College Dublin
Currently using 34…and counting!

50. © University College Dublin
From finding aid… …to IMAD object records

51. © University College Dublin
http://dx.doi.org/10.7925/drs1.ucdlib_39106
Series
Subseries
Item

52. © University College Dublin
But this object (item) level record is created from MODS!

53. © University College Dublin
Profiling
Digital Asset
Curation
Cataloging
Copyright

54. © University College Dublin
UCD Digital Library…is a publisher of digital data!

55. © University College Dublin
Data Protection
Licenses for re-use
Copyright Status

56. © University College Dublin
Embedded in the digital file
Displayed in the descriptive record
‘Behind the scenes’ as part of the technical infrastructure

57. Who created it?

58. Are they dead?

59. An bhfuil cead againn?

60. Copyright Status
• Public domain
– Copyright has expired
– Creator has relinquished copyright
• In Copyright
– Copyright holder is alive
– Copyright holder is dead, but not yet 70 years
• Orphan works
– Copyright owner is unknown
– Copyright owner cannot be located
© University College Dublin

61. © University College Dublin
UCD Digital Library Take Down Notice
On receipt of a complaint a member of UCD Library Research Services staff will:
1. Acknowledge the complaint, in writing usually within 30 calendar days of receiving it;
2. Make an initial judgment (obtaining advice from a suitable individual of university staff if necessary) of the
validity of the complaint and:
1. if the complaint is plausible based on Irish law, the resource will be removed or access will be suspended
pending verification of the complaint ;
2. if the complaint is judged to be implausible or incorrect, we will inform the complainant of this and our
reasons;
3. Where necessary we will seek professional legal advice on the complaint;
4. We will advise the person who deposited the resource in question, outline the nature of the complaint and give
them the opportunity to refute the complaint;
5. We will investigate the complaint in full, obtaining advice as required, and contact the complainant and the
depositor with the result of this investigation and what action we have taken/will take;
6. If the investigation finds in the complainant's favour, then we will remove the resource permanently from the
repository unless the complainant gives us permission to retain it. The records of an item will only be withdrawn
from view for reasons such as their being found to violate the legal rights of any person.
digital.library@ucd.ie is the email address to be used for any complaints.

62. © University College Dublin
Profiling
Digital Asset
Curation
Cataloging
Copyright
Ingest = Upload!

64. © University College Dublin
Profiling
Digital Asset
Curation
Cataloging
Copyright
Ingest
Quality
Review

65. © University College Dublin
Documents include:
• QR checklist
• MODS Templates
• EAD Templates
Tools include:
• Digital Library Website
• Various web browsers
• Various devices
• Mirador
• Universal Viewer
• IMAD
• EAD

66. © University College Dublin
Profiling
Digital Asset
Curation
Cataloging
Copyright
Ingest
Quality
Review
Publicity

67. Launch events…
Fr Francis A. Gleeson
Kevin Barry Papers
20182015
2015

68. …and publicity…

69. …online exhibitions (new!)

70. © University College Dublin
Profiling
Digital Asset
Curation
Cataloging
Copyright
Ingest
Quality
Review
Publicity
Evaluation

71. © University College Dublin

72. © University College Dublin

73. © University College Dublin
Search

74. © University College Dublin
Search
Browse

75. © University College Dublin
Search
Browse
Zoom

76. © University College Dublin
Search
Browse
Zoom
Crop

77. © University College Dublin
Search
Browse
Zoom
Crop
Save

78. © University College Dublin
Mirador Image Viewer
• Pan across the images
• Annotate the images with notes
• Modify the image properties
• brightness,
• contrast,
• saturation,
• colour inversion)
• Rotate the images

79. © University College Dublin
Mirador Image Viewer
• Change the layout of the viewer
• View two or more images side by side (from our collections or external IIIF digital libraries)
• Navigate using the thumbnails of all the available images

80. © University College Dublin
Mirador Image Viewer
• View Transcriptions when they are available
• Help transcribe the work

81. © University College Dublin
• Open access, primary source material for research, teaching and learning
• Trusted Digital Repository
• Image and text comparison, using the Mirador Image Viewer
• Re-use of the images (crop, download, embed, share) using IIIF
(International Image Interoperability Framework)
• Online Exhibits, with Google Cultural Institute
• Crowdsourced transcriptions, with FromThePage
• Download as TEI, for future research purposes
• Tool for teaching, e.g. Palaeography
• Build communities of practice
Into the Future…
• Annotations (user tags, academic notes, authorised keywords, etc)
• Capture and long term preservation
• Audio Visual material
• Streaming audio and video, long term preservation

82. © University College Dublin
Any questions?
web: digital.ucd.ie
email: digital.library@ucd.ie
twitter: @UCDDigital
For further details on our systems, metadata
standards, & technical infrastructure:
http://digital.ucd.ie/about/
Digital Library managers
Dr John B. Howard, Julia Barrett
Digital collections team
Dani Montes, Peter Clarke
Audrey Drohan, Órna Roche