Presentation to
Judaica Europeana 2012-15:
Integrated Access to Jewish Heritage
Collections
Yitzhak Teutsch
Director, JDC Archives in Jerusalem
June 3, 2012
Ten minutes
Ten questions
Ten answers
No. 1 (Question)
Who is the digitization expert of
the JDC?
No. 1 (Answer)
Choice (a)
Choice (b)
Choice (c)
No. 1 (Answer)
Maria P. LaCalle,
Digitization Project Manager,
JDC Archives, New York
No. 2 (Question)
What is "the JDC"?
No. 2 (Answer)
•
•
•
•
Full name: American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee
Founded in NY in 1914
Original mission: to aid needy Jews
in Palestine
Expanded mission: to aid needy
Jews and non-Jews around the
world
No. 2 (Answer)
No. 2 (Answer)
No. 3 (Question)
What does the JDC Archives
hold?
No. 3 (Answer)
As an institutional archives, the JDC
Archives holds two basic types of
documents:
•
•
Documents created by the parent institution
Documents received by the parent
institution
No. 3 (Answer)
Because of its commitment to relief,
rescue and rehabilitation, the JDC
Archives holds a third type of
documentation:
•
Documents created by, received from, and
received on behalf of people under its care
No. 3 (Answer)
No. 3 (Answer)
•
•
•
•
•
•
17,000 linear feet
50 million pages of textual
materials
100,000 photographs
6,000 books
1,100 sound recordings
1,000 videos
No. 4 (Question)
What special challenges are
posed by the holdings of the
JDC Archives?
No. 4 (Answer)
High percentage of restricted material
No. 4 (Answer)
Poor quality paper
No. 4 (Answer)
Significant amount of material in esoteric languages
No. 5 (Question)
Where are the JDC Archives?
No. 5 (Answer)
Short answer:
• Jerusalem
• New York
No. 5 (Answer)
Full answer:
•
Bad Arolsen
•
Jerusalem
•
Moscow
•
New York
•
Prague
•
Shanghai
•
Warsaw
No. 5 (Answer)
From the International Tracing Service, Bad Arolsen, Germany:
No. 6 (Question)
What are the digitization plans
of the JDC Archives?
No. 6 (Answer)
•
•
•
Goal: To create an online text
archive with 1.8 million pages
digitized and made accessible to
the public
Time frame: 5 years (2007-2012)
Source of funding: Private grant
No. 7 (Question)
What is the digitization process
of the JDC Archives?
No. 7 (Answer)
1.
2.
3.
4.
Cataloguing
Microfilming
Scanning
Producing item-level metadata and
OCR
5. Uploading to website
No. 7 (Answer)
1. Cataloguing - Our implementation of the ISAD(G) model:
No. 7 (Answer)
2. Microfilming
No. 7 (Answer)
3. Scanning
No. 7 (Answer)
4. Producing item-level metadata
and OCR
No. 7 (Answer)
An international project:
Cataloguing – in Jerusalem
Microfilming – in Jerusalem
Scanning – in Washington, DC
Producing item-level metadata and
OCR – in Laos
5. Uploading to website – in New York
1.
2.
3.
4.
No. 8 (Question)
What is special about the
digitization process of the JDC
Archives?
No. 8 (Answer)
Digitization is done in Laos by Digital
Divide Data (DDD).
DDD:
•
•
•
•
Is currently the largest technology employer in Laos
Recruits youth who are very poor or disabled
Gives operators the opportunity to divide their time
between work and study
Produces graduates who earn six times the average
wage in Laos
No. 8 (Answer)
Jeremy Hockenstein, founder of DDD, with operators in Laos
No. 9 (Question)
How much has the JDC
Archives digitized to date?
No. 9 (Answer)
As of April 2012:
• 1.2 million pages scanned
• .9 million pages digitized
No. 10 (Question)
How can I see the digitized
material held by the JDC
Archives?
No. 10 (Answer)
1. Go to http://archives.jdc.org
2. Click on "Search the Archives" (upper
right)
3. In the "Search Our Text Collections" box,
enter a keyword or name
4. Hit "enter"
5. Click on the PDF icon
No. 10 (Answer)
No. 10 (Answer)
No. 10 (Answer)
No. 10 (Answer)
No. 10 (Answer)
Thank you for your attention!
Yitzhak Teutsch
Director, JDC Archives in Jerusalem
Work: +972-2-653-6403 x1
Mobile: +972-54-269-5325
E-mail: YitzhakT@jdc.org.il