Roping, Corralling and Branding Silos of information: Old West Techniques for a New World

Isolated silos of information are somewhat outdated in today’s fast paced, Google-ized search environment. At Utah State University Library we are creating strategies for aggregating unique primary source materials from multiple institutions and creating über-collections that preserve institutional level branding. Modeling our efforts on Indiana University and the American Folklore Society’s OpenFolklore initiative, we are “roping” the oral histories (and associated materials) of American Folklorists, corralling them with CONTENTdm and rich metadata records and branding each. The digital collection Collecting Memories: Oral Histories of American Folklorists is our first effort. Please join us for a discussion of lessons learned.

Presenters:

Randy Williams

Liz Woolcott

Handouts:

Roping Final Version.pptx