DIGITAL LIBRARY PROGRAM
PROJECT PROPOSAL FORM
Please e-mail this form with all supporting documents to dlp_projects@indiana.edu
Date Submitted: 1/9/2008
Your Name: Lou Malcomb
Email Address: malcomb@indiana.edu Phone: 855-6924
Department/Campus: IUB
Project Name: Completion of the Yearbook of Indiana Project
1.
Please describe your project. In 2005, we received funding from the Indiana State
Library to digitize and make available the Year book of the State of Indiana, issued between
1917 and 1950 by the state government of Indiana. This is one of about 10 major
compilations of reports providing in-depth information about the activities of state
government agencies. The yearbook was selected because it would provide digital access to
primary state documents concerning the history of the state, including reports on the
development of historic parks, the state’s welfare system, and highways. The project
presented some challenges because of the large statistical tables but unlike the more historic
documentary journal (1830-1911) the Year Book had been printed on durable paper. We
also had an extra copy making it possible to disband it and outsource the scanning. This
work is available in the pageturner at: http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/general/pageturner/VAA3220
It was always the intent of the project to make the product searchable both by year but also
comprehensively, to provide chapter or agency based views with enhanced printing and
viewing functionality. So the current project would include these enhancements.
Additionally the project should include exploration of the conversion of tabular information
so that the data could be retrieved in spreadsheet format.
2.
Describe the significance of this project to the IU community and beyond. Will this
complement or enhance other digital resources?
Only a hand full of states have made progress towards providing state primary sources to
their citizens. This project has always held significance because of it would support
historical research at the college/university level, but additionally it would provide primary
information to high school teachers for use within their curricula. The project represents a
partnership with the Indiana State Library since it was begun during statewide discussions for
a Digital Library of Indiana. Additional funding might be available from the state library for
this or other digitization projects involving state documentary sources.
From a technological perspective, it is significant because IU could explore conversion of
statistical data sources for use at the research level. These need to be searchable by table
name but more importantly researchers want to be able to use the data with current
applications so they can manipulate the data, presenting time series data for instance.
3.
Describe current and potential users. Is there faculty, library, or departmental
interest and support for digitizing these materials for either research or teaching
purposes?
These reports are used by a variety of researchers from around the state, including local
genealogists that drive to Bloomington to use our collection of state documents but also
graduate students and faculty at IU who are exploring historical issues. An example might be
the recent review of property tax by the state. Several students requested reports of previous
investigations or changes in the states’ tax system and the related revenue/expenditures. This
data needs to be more easily available.
4.
Describe types of materials to be digitized and number of each (i.e.: 6 books with a total
of 700 pages, 600 black and while photographs). Include format, condition, and any special
handling requirements.
Since we already have the digital copy for this project, I do not believe digitization would be
required but the files would have to be encoded.
There are probably 5,000 pages of tables that would need to be input in some fashion so they
could be handled by spreadsheet applications.
5.
Do you have any existing descriptive information that could be used for searching these
materials? In what form does this descriptive information exist (on paper, in a Word
document, in an Excel file, in IUCAT, etc.)
IUCAT records exists see: http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/general/pageturner/VAA3220
6.
How do you envision people accessing your materials? Are their similar resources that
you could give as examples?
They need search capability. They need chapter access such as in quick pdf files for easy
printing and downloading. The best example of this type of project would be historical census
volumes on the census web-page; or some of the historical volumes on the IUPUI project with
Indianapolis.
7.
Describe the contribution you and your staff can make to this project. Please name the
project manager for your project.
We would be happy to supervise a trained SLIS student for the encoding. We would be happy to
provide review and feedback. The project manager would either be myself, Linda Kelsey or
Pam Glim.
8. Are you expecting to receive external funding for this project? Do you have funding sources
in mind? What are the dates for submission for these opportunities?
Since we only partially completed the project on the previous funds, I feel we need to complete
this Yearbook before requesting additional funds from ISL. I feel we could easily receive
funding for other projects such as the Annual reports from the Indiana Geological Survey or the
State Board of Agriculture, or for the preceding sets like the Documentary Journal (basically the
same as the Yearbook but covering 1830s-1910.)
Once we would get the process and workflow established for handling statistical information
there are any number of projects that we could proceed with and funding might well be available.
9. Do you have any other general comments, questions or concerns about this project?
This project compliments the one that has been worked on by Roger Beckman since the annual
reports for the Conservation Department are included in the Yearbook. While annual reports
may imply “boring”, many provide the facts, maps, tables critically needed by researchers to
study Indiana history and Indiana issues.
10. Copyright Status
Please refer to the Copyright Management Center at
http://www.copyright.iupui.edu/quickguide.htm for information to help you determine
the copyright status of your materials. Below, please explain your understanding of the
copyright status of the material.
________ Public domain
________ Owned and controlled by Indiana University
________ Owned by someone else, but permission secured
________ Situation unknown or unclear
Copyright explanation:
These are state documents and while many states control the copyright of current documents,
many view older documents as in the public domain or even at the time of publication they
were viewed as being public domain.
Revised September 27, 2007