Services for Local History Digitization Projects

The South Central Library System (SCLS) has services and resources available to assist staff at SCLS member libraries with digitizing their local history materials. Many materials that are digitized can be added to the Recollection Wisconsin and the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) websites.

General digitization project workflow:

• SCLS staff assists with:
  • Project planning 
  • Providing digitization equipment and training on using it
  • Providing metadata templates and training on creating metadata
  • Coordinating having collections set-up in Recollection Wisconsin and the DPLA
  • Uploading digitized materials to the content management platform CONTENTdm for harvesting to Recollection Wisconsin and the DPLA

• Library staff, volunteers, or interns are responsible for:
  • Project preparation
    • Sorting and organizing materials
    • Obtaining copyright permissions as needed
  • Digitizing 
  • Creating metadata 
  • Promoting the collection 

For SCLS member libraries, Recollection Wisconsin set-up fees and hard-drives for storing digitized materials can be provided by the South Central Library System Foundation. CONTENTdm is hosted by the Milwaukee Public Library and the annual hosting fees are provided by the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium (WPLC). 

Subscribe to the SCLS Local History Digitization User Group email list.