Updates

There’s been a lot going on in Digital Projects the past couple of months. Here’s the rundown of what we’re currently working on and how far we've gotten on each project:

• American Publishers Trade Bindings Collection (Ongoing)
  We are actively working on the fourth phase of this collection, which involves completing all titles in the Woman's Collection and the detective fiction sub-collection. We also hope to work on some user interface enhancements in the spring, following our CONTENTdm upgrade. 
• Bernard Greenhouse Project (Completion target: Spring 2012)
  This project will make available concert programs, photographs, correspondence, manuscripts, and interviews pertaining to the noted cellist and will be the first in what we hope will be many projects highlighting our important cello collections. A graduate assistant us working with the Libraries and the UNCG LIS Department to complete this project as part of the Real Learning Connections program.
• The Carolinian, 1930-2005 (Completion target: 2012)
  Issues from 1919-1930 were published several months ago. The remainder have been digitized and assembled. We are currently working on integrating an index--a work in progress for several years--into the metadata for the project. This project was undertaken in collaboration with Lyrasis through a Sloan Foundation grant.
• Greensboro Patriot, 1826-1922 (Completion target: Spring 2012)
  We will be publishing online the full run of Greensboro's weekly "newspaper of record" from the nineteenth century. Severl test issues from the Civil War era are already online. All the rest have been digitized and are being prepared for publication online, as we assemble the PDF files for each issue and create metadata. We also plan to publish an index of the earlier issues that was created several years ago. This project was also undertaken in collaboration with Lyrasis through a Sloan Foundation grant, and is part of our plan for a larger community-focused local history portal in coming years.
• North Carolina Runaway Slave Ads Project (Completion target: Spring 2012)
  This project, funded through LSTA funds administered by the State Library's NC ECHO grant program, will digitize and transcribe more than two thousand runaway slave ads that appeared in North Carolina newspapers between 1730 and 1841. A collaborative venture with North Carolina A&T State University, this project is expected to be of great value to historians and genealogists. We have digitized a high proportion of the advertisements and are now transcribing and extracting metadata. Our colleagues at A&T will begin working on ads that were not part of our original source material in January. Three student assistants are currently working on the project.
• Physical Education Pamphlets Collection (Completion target: Spring 2012)
  These 400+ pamphlets held by the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives document physical education and related activities over the past 150 years. Scanning is complete on this massive project (over 6000 pages scanned) and the pamphlets will be published online probably by early spring.
• University Archives Scrapbooks (Likely completion in 2013)
  We are digitizing approximately 110 scrapbooks that are part of UNCG's University Archives and were completed by campus organizations from 1917 to 1993. This has been a challenging project and we have uncovered new issues on a daily basis, but there is a wealth of information contained in these books and making them available online will allow us to preserve the originals, most of which are in a very fragile state.
• University Images Project (Ongoing)
  The University Archives photo collections are being reprocessed to facilitate digitization and  the first (and probably most difficult) part of this reprocessing, the Buildings and Grounds series, is nearly complete. We will be adjusting some of the items already uploaded to the online collection to "match" their new homes in University Archives, which will make both the physical photos and their digital surrogates easier to find.
• Women Veterans Historical Project (Ongoing)
  This is one of our signature digital collections, and we are currently working primarily on oral history transcription. However, a bigger project that will move the entire collection from a homegrown database platform into CONTENTdm, which will allow for easier updating and increased searching and browsing capabilities.
• WUAG/Dead City Radio (Completion target: Spring 2012)
  This project will digitize Dead City Radio, a zine published from 1985 to present by UNCG's student radion station, along with other material from the WUAG records, including playlists, program schedules, photographs, and some audio materials. Work will beging in January and will involve a practicum student from the LIS program at UNCG.