Kicking & Streaming! Enhancing Digitally-Born Oral History Collections in Digital Commons

Oral history collections pose unique challenges for archival institutions. Making these important histories available to researchers is often impeded by complex issues of access, privacy rights, and media obsolescence. These challenges are magnified when histories are digitally-born. Not only do they face the same issues as their analog counterparts, but digital materials have their own unique preservation and access issues with which archivists are still struggling to identify best practices. Digital Commons offers archivists a platform for sharing digitally-born oral histories that mitigate many of these complex issues. Not only does the platform allow for the consolidation of files from multiple fixed storage media to a single location, but it also allows archivists to safely preserve donor information, release forms, and robust, descriptive metadata, providing researchers with immediate access and discoverability. This presentation will highlight the process of creating and enhancing digitally-born oral history collections in Digital Commons. Particular attention will be made to enhancing the collection with native streaming capabilities. While still in its beta phase, native streaming has allowed staff to present the collection in an attractive, more user-friendly way while avoiding the need for complicated third-party software. The presenter will also share plans for hosting additional oral history collections in the repository

Kicking & Streaming! Lessons Learned Building Oral History Collections in Bepress

Presentation given by Georgia Southern faculty member Autumn M. Johnson at Digital Commons Southeastern Users Group Meeting

Unintentional Scholarly Communications Librarians: What You Need to Survive a Launch

As newbies to scholarly communications, Autumn Johnson and Sarah Kirkley launched Savannah State’s repository, Tiger Scholar Commons, in 2015. Using the platform Open Repository, they were involved in all aspects of planning, executing, and promoting the repository within a calendar year. These are the lessons they learned and recommended resources for institutions launching their first repository. This presentation will include information on the following topics. Strategies for workflows (building a team, developing a timeline, assigning duties) Working closely with vendor to build/customize repository Developing a mission statement and key submission processes Identifying stakeholders with key departments and faculty Creating outreach materials and seeking opportunities for promotion Needed knowledge of copyright Recommended resources Continued challenge