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Page History: Interim Reports

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Page Revision: 2009/02/04 10:19


Reports

July 1, - December 31, 2008

NDNP Awardee Interim Performance Report
NEH Award Number: PJ-50038-08
NDNP State: Washington
Submitted By: Marlys Rudeen, Project Director
Report Date: January 31, 2009

INTERIM PERFORMANCE REPORT NARRATIVE

1. Changes in Workplan or Methodology

There have been few changes in the preliminary workplan to this point in the project. However, with the advent of the new DVV and adoption of the new technical specifications, there will be some adjustments in future months. At present, despite occasional bureaucratic delays, the project is on schedule for the first deliverables at the end of January.

The Project Coordinator, Laura Robinson, was hired and began work full-time in September. It was decided that it would be advantageous to have her work part of each week at the University of Washington (UW) campus. This enabled her to supervise student workers directly, and continue to work closely on selection issues with UW staff.

2. Selection or Film Acquisition/Evaluation Activities

Title selection is continuing, and the decision was made to focus on a particular time period with a wide geographic distribution. Accordingly the selection committee looked for titles that covered 1900-1910, with at least one title for each region and the significant towns of the period: Bellingham, Everett, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Vancouver, Walla Walla, Wenatchee and Yakima. At a meeting between UW and WSL on Sept. 12, 2008 both organizations decided on the first titles to be duplicated/purchased. Since both UW and WSL own master negatives, it was decided that each organization would be responsible for managing its own negatives and obtaining the required duplicates for the titles they own.

Both partners have spent some time working with their service bureaus to get acceptable 2nd generation negatives and the required density readings. Since many of WSL’s negatives are held by a third party, this required some research to confirm the location and availability of certain titles.

While this was happening, Laura hired a work study student and began developing the workflow for examining the film and collecting metadata. She began by experimenting with an Access database supplied by our vendor (OCLC) and with Excel spreadsheets. However it was not always possible to get the required programs on the computer available for the student worker, so they began to use the spreadsheet function on Google Docs, a free web-based set of applications. This has worked well, ensuring that Laura and the student can reach the files from any location and providing the ability to link the film evaluation data to the NDNP wiki (see section 3). They are consulting with OCLC to firm up the respective metadata responsibilities.

The first reel was scanned and run through OCLC’s OCR process, and the data and images were shipped to WSL. Laura ran it through the DVV to make sure it validated before beginning the quality assurance process. Using the sample reel, the internal quality assurance processes are being developed.

We did find some incorrect metadata and are creating a work plan to best deal with such errors. One such example of an error was the incorrect attribution of ownership of the tiff images to ‘Minnesota State Historical Society’ in the validated data files (_1.xml files). Laura investigated and determined it came from embedded metadata in tiff files. She located a command-line tool used to extract, write, and view embedded data in image files and is working with the vendor to develop a plan of correction.

Since the latest version of the DVV has arrived, the decision was made to adopt the 2009 technical specifications for metadata on future reels.

3. Award Activities with Collaborating Institutions

A contract with the UW was executed to allow the Washington State Library (WSL) to reimburse UW for two functions: purchase of duplicate film from negative masters owned by UW; and payment of work study worker(s) at the UW Library. Arrangements were also made to provide office space for Laura and student worker(s) at UW.

Laura has established a wiki for the project to use for maintaining files and communicating. The NDNP wiki is located at http://wiki.secstate.wa.gov/ndnp/MainPage.ashx

The wiki provides a method of storing and making available a variety of documents generated during the project, and will provide a coherent record of the project. News and updates also circulate on a project listserv to all participants and committee members.

4. Conversion and/or Vendor Selection The RFP for scanning and OCR was issued on Sept. 15, 2008 and responses were due Oct. 15, 2008. Three proposals were received and evaluated by staff according to a procedure and scoring process developed in consultation with WSL’s contracts office. On Oct. 24, 2008, WSL announced that the successful vendor was OCLC. WSL and its contract office immediately began working on the contract which is now completed.

While contract negotiations were going on, the portable hard drive and mailing cases were purchased, named (after boats in the Washington State Ferry fleet), and shipped to the vendor in Bethlehem, PA.

Film examination and metadata collection were completed for the first title, five reels of the Seattle Republican and related titles. The first reel will be used as the sample reel to be submitted to LOC by January 31, 2009.

A kickoff meeting with OCLC staff has been scheduled for January 7, 2009 to discuss metadata specifics, project structure, communication, and scheduling of work and shipments.

5. Do you have any questions or comments regarding the use of the tools provided by LC (Digital Viewer Validation)?

The DVV has been very helpful and generally easy to use. There were very minor issues with the install and a suggestion made to LOC staff to add text to the documentation for future users. We’ve found that the GUI has been less helpful and more limiting than the command-line options of validation. We intend to use the GUI and perhaps Adobe Bridge for visual validation of the image files.

We are hoping to create scripts and that can output the batch, reel, and issue metadata into various formats for testing and validation.

6. Provide an update on your planned schedule for delivery of digital assets for the award, including samples, to the NDNP repository.

The hard drives purchased for the project have a capacity of 1 TB, requiring between 18-20 reels to fill. Shipments of drives will take place every 6-8 weeks. The table below represents the list of titles and possible substitutes divided by six month periods to assist the staff members responsible for acquiring the negatives, performing the film evaluation and quality control.



7. State briefly the status of any other digitized newspaper activities in your or collaborating partners’ institutions (non-NDNP-funded).

Since July the State Library has put up two more newspaper titles in their internal digital newspaper project, the Yakima Herald (1889-1890), and the Puget Sound Herald from Steilacoom (Mar. 1858-1860). Several more titles are in process. This internal project has been significantly slowed down by budget and staff cuts, and by the fact that some of the personnel involved have significant roles in the NDNP project.

8. Please provide copies of or URLs for any public presentations or publications on topics related to your participation in NDNP (or describe future plans for such).

WSL’s NDNP related news:
9. Describe any follow-up issues or questions you would like convey to the NDNP program committee as you begin your digital conversion project.

It is our understanding that the new DVV includes validation of embedded metadata in the image files. Because of such issues as described above we are looking forward to having more robust checking of the metadata in the image files.

Please submit to your NEH Program Officer (preservation@neh.gov) with a copy to ndnptech@loc.gov, by January 31, 2009.

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Template

COVER PAGE

Provide the following information in the order requested:

  • type of report (interim or final performance report),
  • grant number,
  • title of project,
  • name of project director(s),
  • name of grantee institution (if applicable),
  • date report is submitted.

NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION

The items listed are provided as guidance to the project director in developing the narrative description of project activities. Because projects vary considerably, not all items will be relevant to a particular project. Please feel free to organize this portion of the report in the way that most clearly presents what has taken place during the grant period.

Interim Performance Reports

  • Compare actual accomplishments with goals established for the report period. Whenever possible, describe the work accomplished in both quantitative and qualitative terms. If project goals have not been met, explain the reason for this, what steps have been taken to get the project back on schedule, and whether it seems likely that the project will be completed by the expiration date of the grant. Favorable developments that will enable project goals to be realized sooner or at less cost than anticipated should be described.
  • Describe any changes that have been made or are anticipated in the project work plan or methodology.
  • If the role of consultants, as outlined in the approved project plan, has changed, explain how and why it has changed.
  • If applicable, describe how automation contributed to the project and whether hardware, software, or staffing problems have been encountered.
  • If federal matching funds are a component of the award and the full amount of gifts has not yet been raised, provide information on ongoing fund-raising activities and the prospects for raising additional gifts.

The narrative description of an interim performance report should average between one and three pages in length.

APPENDICES

Enclose with the report one copy of any supporting material that would contribute to an understanding of the project and its accomplishments to date. This would include:

  • representative samples of completed work,
  • preliminary products such as conference or workshop papers,
  • course syllabi and manuals,
  • written evaluations of a project,
  • consultant reports, if required,
  • articles submitted to journals,
  • illustrated field reports,
  • copies of published announcements or other formal efforts to recruit participating scholars,
  • copies of any mailing, fliers, newspaper releases or articles, or other media coverage.

It is not necessary to append work in progress, such as draft chapters of a book or other manuscript materials. However, unless otherwise specified in the conditions of the grant award, two copies of any publication, film, videotape, or slide presentation resulting from the grant should be forwarded to the Endowment with the final report.

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