Ohio Memory Project

About the Project

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Ohio Memory Project Progress Report
November 2001 - February 2002

OVERVIEW

Work on the Ohio Memory Project during the reporting period focused on processing submissions received for the November 15, 2001 deadline and preparing for the public debut of the Ohio Memory Online Scrapbook in March 2002. More than 700 collection description forms arrived at the Ohio Historical Center in November. Staff made significant progress evaluating these potential additions to the online scrapbook and accepting those that met project selection criteria, although more work remains to be done in this area. The project team also made improvements to the scrapbook interface and added nearly five hundred collections to the online database.

ACTIVITIES

Submissions

For the November 2001 deadline, the following 128 institutions submitted collections (a complete list of all 256 participating institutions is attached as an appendix):

Adams County Historical Society
Akron-Summit County Public Library
Antioch College
Archdiocese of Cincinnati
Archives of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati
Attica Area Historical Society
Belmont County Historical Society
Belpre Historical Society
Birchard Public Library
Bluffton-Richland Public Library
Brimfield Memorial House Association
Brumback Library
Buckeye Hills Hocking Valley Regional Development District
Bucyrus Historical Society
Campus Martius Museum
Carroll County Genealogy Society
Carroll County Historical Society
Centerville Washington Township Historical Society
Chagrin Falls Historical Society
Champaign County Historical Society
Champaign County Library
Children's Hospital
Cincinnati Art Museum
Cincinnati Museum Center
Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden
Clark County Public Library
Cleveland City Council Archives
Cleveland Public Library
Clinton County Historical Society
Cuyahoga Falls Historical Society
David N. Myers University
Dawes Arboretum
Dittrick Medical History Center
Dover Historical Society
Dr. Samuel L. Bossard Memorial Library
Edison Birthplace Museum
Elyria Public Library
Findlay-Hancock County Public Library
Firelands Historical Society
Garnet A. Wilson Public Library
Geauga County Historical Society
Greene County Public Library
Hancock Historical Museum
Hardin County Historical Museums
Harrison County Historical Society
Haydenville Preservation Committee, Inc.
Hiram College
Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
Historical Society of Mount Pleasant
Hocking County Historical Society
Holmes County Historical Society
Killbuck Valley Museum
Knox County Historical Society
Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives
Jefferson County Historical Association
John Paulding Historical Society
Johnny Appleseed Society/Museum
Lane Public Library
Lorain County Public Library
Lucy Hayes Heritage Center
Madison County Historical Society
Madog Center for Welsh Studies
Mahoning Valley Historical Society
Manchester Historical Society
Marietta College
Marion County Historical Society
Mary Lou Johnson-Hardin County District Library
Massillon Museum Foundation, Inc., Spring Hill Historic Home
McCook House Museum
McGuffey Home
McKinley Memorial Library
McKinley Museum and National Memorial
Meigs County Historical Society
Mercer County Historical Museum
Miami University
Miamisburg Historical Society
Mill Creek MetroParks
Montgomery County Historical Society
Moreland Hills Historical Society
Munroe Falls Historical Society
National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center
National Heisey Glass Museum
Noble County Historical Society
Oak Hill Public Library
Ohio Dominican College
Ohio State University Orton Geological Museum
Ohio State University Rare Books
Ohio University Archives & Special Collections
Otterbein College
Pemberville Public Library
Piatt Castles
Pickaway County Historical Society
Pike Heritage Foundation Museum
Pontifical College Josephinum
Portage County Historical Society
Procter & Gamble Company Corporate Archives
Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County
Putnam County District Library
Raymond-Newton Historical Society
Rose Melnick Medical Museum Youngstown State University
Ross County Historical Society
Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center
Selover Public Library
Seville Historical Society
Shelby County Historical Society
Sisters of the Precious Blood
State Library of Ohio
Strongsville Historical Society
Summit County Probate Court
Tallmadge Historical Society
Toledo-Lucas County Public Library
Union County Historical Society
Union Township Public Library
University of Cincinnati
University of Rio Grande
Urbana University
Ursuline College
Ursulines of Brown County
Ward M. Canaday Center, University of Toledo
Washington County Library
Watt Center for History & the Arts
Western Reserve Historical Society-Shandy Hall
Westlake Porter Public Library
Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library
Wood County Historical Center
Wornstaff Memorial Public Library
Worthington Historical Society
Worthington Public Library
Wright State University

The project team is in the final stages of evaluating collections submitted for the November 15, 2002. Thus far 375 collections from 721 submissions have been accepted. Every effort is made to accept at least one item from each institution. As collections have been accepted, staff made arrangements for transfer of materials, digitization, and creating descriptive metadata. More than 8,300 pages from 240 collections have been digitized for the project. Slightly more than 3,500 pages were digitized during the reporting period.

At each quarterly deadline, submissions increased significantly.

Deadline	Participating Institutions	Collections Submitted	Collections Accepted
November 15, 2000	13	65	59
February 15, 2001	31	92	85
May 15, 2001	46	131	128
August 15, 2001	79	293	245
November 15, 2001	135	721	375*
Total	304**	1,302	892
* as of March 1, 2002
** some institutions submitted materials for multiple deadlines

Analyzing all accepted collections reveals a notable diversity of institution types, historical subjects, geographic focus, and time periods. Any areas or subjects not currently included will be addressed in the future phase of the project. Project Web Site

Currently, the Ohio Memory web site (http://www.ohiomemory.org) features project information, such as the history of the project, frequently asked questions, staff and contact information, links to digitization resources, and listserv subscription information. Also available for downloading in multiple formats are presentations, handouts, and forms. Online submission is possible via this site.

The following statistics summarize web site usage over the past four months:

	Entire Site	Home Page	Page Views	Visitor Sessions
November 2001	68,407 hits	959	5,406	2757
December 2001	28,458 hits	454	3,689	2107
January 2002	45,042 hits	674	4260	2769
February 2002	42,361 hits	639	4157	2679

Online Scrapbook Interface

Project staff worked closely with OhioLINK staff to develop the online scrapbook search interface functionality. Most recently, staff has worked to develop several features, including:

changing "snapshot" images from scrapbook collections on the front page
browsing by subject, contributor, place, or format
browsing by county, using a clickable Ohio map
zooming into images to view more detail
refining options in "My Scrapbook"

Presentations and Outreach

Ohio Memory Project staff gave presentations at the Ohio Educational Library Media Association's GOTEC conference, and the "Historians at Work" Lecture series sponsored by the Kent State University Department of History. Staff also updated the Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board (OHRAB) at their December meeting and provided information to the OHS Board of Trustees.

Project staff met with staff from the following institutions to encourage project participation and review potential submissions: Johnny Appleseed Museum, Ohio State University Rare Books, and Urbana University.

Staff also made follow-up visits to the Cincinnati Medical Heritage Center, Kent State University Special Collections and the Ohio Research and Development Center (OARDC) to examine collections and discuss scanning options.

Project staff has also made visits to photograph items at:

Ashland County Historical Society
Gahanna Historical Society
Jackson Center Historical Society
Killbuck Valley Museum
Oak Hill Cottage/Richland County Historical Society
Piqua Area State Memorial
Piqua Historical Society/Flesh Public Library
Shelby County Historical Society

Representatives from the following 21 institutions visited the Ohio Historical Center to meet with staff and have materials digitized: Allen County Historical Museum, Antioch College, Ashland University, Bellevue Public Library, Children's Hospital, Columbus Metropolitan Library, Dayton and Montgomery County Public Library, Greene County Records Center, Lake Erie Islands Historical Society, Massillon Public Library, Mechanicsburg Public Library, National Heisey Glass Museum, Ohio University, Putnam County District Library, St. Mary of the Springs, Tiffin-Seneca Public Library, Tuscarawas County Historical Society, Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, University of Toledo, Wornstaff Memorial Library, and the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor.

Arrangements have been made for materials from the following institutions to be digitized during March 2002: Athens County Historical Society, Clark County Public Library, Garst Musem/Darke County Historical Society, Logan County Historical Society, OSU Theatre Research Institute, Pickaway County Historical Society, Ross County Historical Society and the State Library of Ohio.

Inquiries and Contacts

Project staff communicated with 1,124 current and potential participants via phone, fax, and email. Staff also distributed information about scanning to 10 institutions interested in digitizing materials at their own facilities.

Articles and Press Releases

Staff wrote articles for various publications:

An update will be provided during the chapter meetings of the Ohio Association of Historical Societies and Museums (OAHSM) meetings.
Article appeared in the Fall 2001 Society of Ohio Archivist's Ohio Archivist available at: http://www.ohiojunction.net/soa/oa

Advisory Group

The Ohio Memory Advisory Group, which is composed of twelve members, provides oversight for the project. Advisory group members were asked to test the scrapbook interface. The Advisory Group met November 9th to review progress and assist in future planning.

During this meeting, the advisory group focused on the next steps for the project. The group decided that since Statehood Day in March presents an excellent opportunity to draw attention to the project, there should be a ribbon-cutting event to announce the availability of the online scrapbook. The event should honor sponsors and participating institutions, and look ahead toward the bicentennial year.

Scrapbook Premiere

While work is still progressing on the scrapbook, there been an overwhelming amount of interest in making the scrapbook available. Thus, on March 26th the scrapbook will be available at http://www.ohiomemory.org.

The Ohio Historical Society will host a reception on March 26th in the atrium of the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus to celebrate the premiere of the Online Scrapbook. Mrs. Hope Taft, First Lady of Ohio, will be an honored guest Project partners will be recognized including:

OPLIN
OhioLINK
Ohio Library Council (OLC)
Ohio Historical Society
INFOhio
Ohio Bicentennial Commission

At the event, recognition will be given to several institutions as representative of similar institutions that have submitted their treasures to the scrapbook including:

Representing special libraries: Athenaeum of Ohio
Representing academic libraries: Center for Archival Collections-Bowling Green State University
Representing historical societies: Dover Historical Society
Representing museums: Kelton House Museum and Garden
Representing public libraries: Massillon Public Library

Invited guests include representatives from participating institutions, Ohio Memory Advisory Group members, Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board (OHRAB) members, and legislators.

Next Phase

The first phase of the project will end in June 2002. Project staff developed a budget for the second phase of $1.2 million for two years. This level of funding would allow the Ohio Historical Society to hire additional staff and purchase additional equipment. Both staff and equipment are necessary to expand the scope of the online scrapbook to include historical materials from 1903 to the recent past. Possible sources for funding include OPLIN, LSTA, and the Ohio Bicentennial Commission (a request for a $75,000 Bicentennial Legacy Grant was submitted in October 2001). The Ohio Historical Society's Office of Institutional Advancement will attempt to attract private funding. In addition, the society included Ohio Memory in its request for capital bond appropriations for the fiscal years 2003-2004.

Conclusion

Important goals for the final quarter of the first phase include the completion of the selection process for materials submitted in November 2001, addition of digitized images and descriptions of collections to the online scrapbook database. Once the scrapbook is available to the public, additional usability testing and user surveys will be done and modifications made to the interface based on user input. The project team and other society staff will also work to secure funding to continue the project and expand its scope to include materials created after 1903.

Ohio Memory Project Participants

As of March 1, 2002

Academic Libraries/Archives