Library Board of Trustees Agenda and Packet 2011 09 28

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preservation, but also from a lack of real access which increasingly means online access. Alone, smaller libraries and cultural institutions simply do not have the capacity to make hidden collections universally available, but the public increasingly expects digital services, including digital collections, to be a standard part of a public library's services. Several courses of action would help bring these hidden collections to light. Possible Solutions Creating a new national program. The most direct and comprehensive way to accomplish this goal would be to create a program that targets hidden collections for digitization and then creates a national digital repository to ensure public access to the digital files. The federal government funds large -scale digiti- zation initiatives through several agencies and insti- tutions including the Library of Congress, the National Endow- ment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Smithsonian Institution, and others and could develop a new program. Guidelines from the Federal Agencies' Digitization Initiative provide technical specifications and best practices that could be used as a starting place. Because of the wide reach and resources of a national program, materials would have the greatest chance of being found and Case Study: Bridging the Distance Connecting local resources would help Weston County Library in Newcastle, Wyoming. The library staff member who responded to the survey noted that distance is the biggest problem: "I have been told repeatedly about various libraries across the state that have good local history /genealogy collections but none is less than a 4 hour drive." NUMBER 1 JUNE made available to the public. Existing technology, staff skills, and other expertise could be applied to a new program for hidden collections. Pilot projects could begin the program on a smaller scale, testing workflows and models for a larger program. Incorporating smaller institutions into current Library of Congress or other federal digitization activities. The National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress jointly support existing initiatives that undertake digitization efforts, such as the National Digital Newspaper Program (which offers access to newspapers published in the United States between 1836 and 1922) and the National Digital Infrastructure and Information Program (which was created by an act of Congress to preserve at -risk historical materials). Programs such as these could be extended to smaller institutions. Both projects are major initiatives that include a tremendous number of items on a nationwide scale and work with dozens of institutions all over the country. This alternative would require raising significantly more funds or diverting funds from other priorities at a time when funding is especially scarce. Expanding the IMLS Digital Collections and Content (DCC) project. The IMLS collects information about digital projects from institutions that received funds through its grant programs. Participants can add their own collections to the DCC repository, Digitizing Hidden Collections in Public Libraries I 5