University History Council (UHC) Minutes, December 7, 2011
Present: Jason Tomberlin (convener), Bob Anthony, Susan Ballinger, David Brown, Abir Chatterjee, Jill
Coleman, Stephen Fletcher, Lawrence Giffin, Wendy Hillis, Missy Julian-Fox, Linda Jacobson, Eileen
McGrath, Tim McMillan, Cecelia Moore, Peggy Myers, Judy Panitch, Gary Patillo, Natasha Smith, Tim
West. Not present: John Blythe, Anne Douglas, Jay Gaidmore, Speed Hallman.
Guests: Nick Graham, Tim Shearer, Fred Stipe
1. Introductions.
Jason introduced the newest member of the group, Lawrence Giffin of UARMS.
2. Digitization of Black Ink and the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center. Nick Graham gave a
brief overview of the work of the NCDHC’s college-based initiatives:
- Half a million yearbook pages from over forty schools.
- All UNC yearbooks published between 1890 and 1990
- Effort to digitize student newspapers from HBCUs
- Black Ink- 212 issues
College catalogs, including UNC, will be the next project. UNC catalogs can be a problem as they
include records schedules. Tim M. suggested that we do Civil War era catalogs first. There are no plans
to work on the DTH right now. As a daily there are too many of them. There are other options for the
DTH. Many have been digitized through Internet Archives as an experiment.
Fred Stipe explained the goals and work of the Digital Production Center of the CDLA—to facilitate the
digitization of UNC materials deemed of educational significance and provide them online.
The DPC can digitize just about any format. One exception is microfilm. Fred showed examples of
prints done for the NCC, the Library Public Art Committee, and discussed digital support for the NCDHC.
The DPC is now working with 1000 Museums, a print on demand company, to make prints of our digital
collections available to the public. The CDLA is there to help anyone explore ways to make a collections
or part of one available digitally.
3. Mobile Walking Tour. What would the work entail? How can we get support for this project? How
can we raise money to make this happen? Tim Shearer from Library Systems related the information
he has collected about creating a mobile tour for UNC. He has talked with NCSU which has such a tour
in place now. Designing for a mobile device is different than designing for the web. The port must be
much smaller. It’s hard to use a phone with a generic website, so content must designed for use on a
phone.
The layout and text will need to be designed specifically for use on the phone. Text needs to be kept
very short. Content, and information about x and y coordinates and where the person is located is all
needed. UNC has had no experience in mapping with objects. Geobrowse –the digital collections page
includes coordinates on digital maps. The Morton Collection is an example of a collection which is
geotagged.
There are two ways to build the tour. One is a website, which is less expensive, easy. The other is an
application. This is more complicated and requires more programming experience.
The Virtual Museum building exhibit includes brief mini essays, and buildings are geotagged on the
map. Systems could probably create a tour that would be in the form of a website. According to NCSU,
90% of users are using a phone app, less than 10% use a website. Before moving forward, we need to
think about why we are creating this and if a website will meet our goal. Can the website be marketed
to be used effectively? UNC Libraries has a mobile website now. Does University Relations need to be
involved? Admissions? There has to be a champion for this, like Bryan Paste, who has now left the
University. It’s now an unfunded interest at UNC. Would it be possible to build a tool other
departments would/could use? We now have 80% of the pieces, the other 20% pose a problem. We
need money and stewardship. Outsourcing is an option.
Nick mentioned that it is difficult to get things into the Apple store. Jill mentioned a coworker in
Facilities who has gone through that process successfully.
About the catalog-- CONTENTdm uses LOC subject headings. Hopefully the catalog will soon have
representations of digital objects.
4. Speaker Ban Marker follow-up and future plans. Cecelia reported that UNC unveiled the marker.
Many students active in the protest came back for the event. Jay tried to talk to alums about their
papers. A SOHP grad student would like to create an oral history project around this topic/event, but it
needs funding. The event set the stage for upcoming exhibits and events in 2013.
5. Priceless Gem Tours. Missy provided a list of tours sponsored by the Visitors Center this fall. Most
had a great turnout, and overall the tours were a success. There was a mix of attendees, including
visitors to campus/town, Chapel Hill residents, students, faculty. Tours provided included a Black and
Blue tour, a Carolina Classic tour, tours on sustainability, archaeology, and architecture, tours of the
Arboretum, the cemetery, campus trees, and Franklin Street. For spring, Missy would like to add a tour
of the Carolina Inn and Carolina behind Closed Doors. Also, another Super Day of Tours.
Other suggestions for the future include tours about women on campus, folklore, steam tunnels, Dean
Dome Command Center, Drama department, RBC room (now GRR), Di-Phi chambers, chancellor’s
house, Ackland, Morehead Bell Tower, Blue Zone and athletic study section, behind the scenes sports
tour, the helioport, and Prospect Point at Gimghoul.
The group discussed the feasibility of bus tours and charging a fee.
6. Outreach to Fraternities and Sororities. Abir reported that he and Jay are reaching out to fraternities
and sororities for materials. They are spearheading a one-week campaign in which members of
fraternities and sororities will search their closets for artifacts and documents for Wilson collections.
7. Update on the Coates University Leadership Series. Bob reported that authors are now working on
volumes on David Swain (Judge Whichard) and Aycock, Sitterson, and Sharpe (Lynn Rountree). Soon,
someone will be offered a contract to write a single work on Graham, Stacy, and Chase. No plans now
to write one about House.
8. Update on the work of the UHC student assistant from the Order of the Bell Tower. Diana Roycroft,
a member of the Order of the Bell Tower, began working in September. This position is being supported
by the General Alumni Association, the North Carolina Collection, and the Southern Historical Collection.
In addition to helping with the display for the Speaker Ban Marker dedication, Diana has been tasked
with revising the historical bibliography of UNC history sources compiled by David B. Parker in 1989 and
revised by Edward L. Harrelson in 1992, and creating a comprehensive list of collections relating to
University history in the SHC. She has focused on the SHC this semester, reviewing collections for
University content, and creating a annotated list.
9. Other Business. Linda thanked Abir for his service. He graduates in December, so this was his last
meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 3:25.
Minutes submitted by Linda Jacobson