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Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to conduct a gap analysis for Kate Boyd, Digital Collections Librarian of the University of South Carolina's Digital Collections Department, located at Thomas Cooper Library. Design/methodology/approach – The approaches the researcher utilized are a personal interview, literature review and personal experience. The article attempts to identify, define, and then provide recommendations concerning the gaps needing to be bridged at the University of South Carolina's Digital Collections Department. Findings – After only five years, the University of South Carolina's Digital Collections Department has made significant strides in implementing their program. In conducting a comparative analysis of the University of South Carolina's Digital Collections Department to those surveyed in 2000 by the Digital Library Federation, the findings indicate the department is not immune to the same challenges experienced by previous institutions in developing their digital library program. Originality/value – The paper gives an insight into a gap analysis conducted on the digital collections department of an academic library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to describe the transition of a collection in Texas A&M University's institutional repository from single item submission to batch importation as a primary method of ingest. This transition was made possible with assistance and technical work on behalf of the library. Design/methodology/approach - The digital initiatives staff examined the workflow of the collection's manager and submitters. A process was created to produce the necessary data structures for batch import from resources that were already being generated by the collection workflow. Findings - It was found that batch importing assistance provided by the library improved the collection's growth rate and efficiency without interrupting the workflow of the collection management team. Practical implications - This paper demonstrates the benefit of libraries and other institutional repository hosts offering batch-loading assistance to managers of large repository collections. Originality/value - This paper should resonate with institutional repository managers and digital services librarians, as many have neglected to offer batch importing or other assistance to users citing a lack of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to address the challenges that special collections repositories face when creating digital surrogates driven by researcher demand, to link these digitization issues with archival practice, and to provide recommendations for improvement. Design/methodology/approach - Presents an overview of the development of the University of Maryland Libraries' digital imaging workflows and a critique of current practices. Findings - A viable digital repository can be built from surrogates created in response to researcher demand, but there are limitations to this approach, with opportunity for improvement. Research limitations/implications - As a case study, this paper is limited to one institution's perspective. Practical implications - Provides insight into constructing and managing digitization programs at special collections repositories. Originality/value - This paper offers a case study approach for an institutional digital repository influenced heavily by researcher demand, in contrast to a digital repository constructed with a more structured plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper seeks to discuss a grant-funded digitization project for unique Afghanistan gray literature. It aims to address the digitization tasks, workflow, challenges, and solutions. Persistent identifiers, file-naming conventions, page-naming rules, and a digitization management system are discussed in detail since they were critical to the success of the project. Design/methodology/approach - The paper describes the unique requirements of the project, and analyzes difficult issues related to the separation of pre-digitization and post-digitization in two remote locations. The approach includes persistent identifiers, file-naming rules, page-naming conventions and a digitization management system. After one and a half years of operation, the approach has been effective and efficient. Findings - The paper analyzes the unique challenges for a long-distance collaboration on digitization. Pre-digitization and digital imaging were carried out in Kabul, Afghanistan, with all the physical materials located there, while post-digitization and quality control were performed in Tucson, Arizona. The paper found that several components such as persistent identifiers, file-naming conventions, page-naming rules, and digitization management system were critical to the success of the project. Practical implications - The project demonstrates an approach to address a unique digitization project due to the separation of pre-digitization and post-digitization. In addition, the approach has served other digitization projects well. Originality/value - The paper was written for both project managers and technical staff. Project managers can find out the usefulness of a digitization management system and understand digitization issues; while technical staff can find interests in a persistent identifier scheme, file-naming conventions and page-naming rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to describe the Prange Children's Book Reformatting Project as an example of bi-national cooperation to provide the broadest possible access to a collection of historical significance to both nations, when most of the materials are still under copyright. Design/methodology/approach - The paper examines the joint project between the University of Maryland Libraries' (UM Libraries) and the National Diet Library of Japan (NDL) to preserve and provide access to the children's books in the Gordon W. Prange Collection. It highlights the unique aspects of the project, including its international component, and describes the project's access tools and service products. Findings - The access tools developed as part of this reformatting project - an online digital collection for the UM Libraries and color microfilm for NDL - each have their limitations. Used in combination, however, these tools can support in-depth research. Originality/value - The comprehensiveness of the project (all 8,000 titles are being scanned), the use of digital-to-color microfilm technology, and the use of the color microfilm as an access point make this project unique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to describe the processes and procedures utilized by Jacksonville State University's Houston Cole Library to digitize an oral history collection and provide access to it through the Library's catalog, web presence, and the state-wide digital repository initiative, Alabama Mosaic (see www.alabamamosaic.org). Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on the Library's experiences in acquiring, digitizing, creating metadata for and making accessible a collection of oral histories. Findings - The paper describes the obstacles overcome, issues encountered, procedures established, and ramifications of the project. Practical implications - Many institutions are currently digitizing unique collections as part of repository initiatives, both institutional and collaborative. Effective practices and guidelines must be developed in order to streamline the process and provide the most complete access to these unique collections. The paper provides a practical model to address these issues. Originality/value - The paper provides common practices for the digitization, creation of metadata, and provision of access for unique oral history collections; it also provides insights into issues that can arise and how best to address them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the benefits and challenges of creating a shared institutional repository and to, describe the process by which a consortium was able to establish such a service. Design/methodology/approach - A case study is presented outlining the process through which the Washington Research Library Consortium selected and implemented the DSpace institutional repository software in a shared information technology environment. The issues confronted in dealing with a multi-institutional implementation are examined through both a detailed description of the implementation and a generalized description of the challenges the consortium faced. Findings - The paper finds that while a shared implementation of an institutional repository does present significant challenges that would not be present for a single institution, the collaborative approach also presents significant benefits in drawing on the breadth of expertise available among the Consortium and utilizing a shared information technology infrastructure. Originality/value - Institutional repositories have generally been implemented within the context of a single institution. An alternative model is described that draws on the experience and expertise of multiple institutions to achieve a common goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to chronicle the Lamar Soutter Library's effort to build an educational image database, and how the project developed into an institutional repository. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is divided into three phases and highlights the organizational, political, technological and resource issues that are unique to a specialized library with a medium-sized staff, lacking the resources of a traditional university campus. The case concludes with a list of barriers and facilitators to success and a summary of lessons learned. Findings - The paper finds that a library with limited staff, funding, and systems development resources can initiate and support an institutional repository. Facilitators of success include clear lines of authority, a strong champion, and the appropriate technology for the project. Originality/value - This paper serves as an example to libraries that are in the beginning phases of developing an institutional repository by discussing the barriers to and facilitators of success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to show how an institutional repository can be successfully created by university libraries with limited financial and technological resources. Design/methodology/approach - In this paper the library's experience creating an institutional repository despite financial and technological limitations is recounted. Findings - The paper finds that a serviceable repository may be created by focusing on its critical elements, and adapting existing resources, including a proprietary system currently used for other digital resources. Practical implications - The paper shows that librarians should not assume that open-source systems are the only vehicles for providing institutional repositories, or that such a service is necessarily beyond their capabilities. Originality/value - Academic libraries do not have to follow an involved, idealized process to create an institutional repository based upon open-source software. Systems already at hand, even if proprietary, may be adapted and real-world limitations surmounted to create such a resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to report on the impact and cost/benefit of implementing three - EPrints digital repositories at the University of Otago, and to encourage others to follow suit. Design/methodology/approach - Three repositories were successfully implemented at the University of Otago using existing commodity hardware and free open source software. The first pilot repository was implemented within ten days, and is now a fully functional system that is being championed for institutional-wide use by the University Library. The other two repositories emerged from different community needs. One is academic, concerned with collecting and researching indigenous content; the other is designed to preserve and manage collective memory and heritage content for a small rural community. Findings - The paper shows that digital repositories can be established quickly and effectively with surprisingly few resources; readily incorporate any kind of extant digital content, or non-digital material that is converted to electronic form; meet multifarious needs, from academic institutions seeking to enhance research visibility and impact, to individuals and small communities collecting and preserving their unique memory and heritage records; and establish connectivity with the global community from the moment they go live. Practical implications - The technology and global support community have matured to a state where a fully-featured repository can be quickly and easily implemented. Originality/value - This paper describes the short history, development and impact of the first live repositories of their kind in New Zealand. Their utility and implications for the unique communities that have given rise to them are also explored, by way of encouraging others to take up the digital challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — Aims to provide an overview of methods for digitizing maps, the creation and preservation of a digital collection, interoperable database construction, and an examination of the real costs associated with maintaining a digital collection. Design/methodology/approach — This paper is an examination of the tools, metadata choices, work with Open Archives Initiative (OAD research projects, and sustainability costs, associated with a digital project of 946 dynamic historic cartographic images. Findings — The Early Washington Maps project demonstrates how multiple tools may be integrated and interoperability between databases achieved. Realistic costs associated with digital collections and practical reference techniques are described. Practical implications — This is an extremely common-sense discussion of digital library issues for library professionals planning or enhancing digital collections. Originality/value — The paper describes ideas for enhancing access to digital collections during and after a grant award. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]