Collaborating across workflows: Managing creative assets from legacy works
Channel: CPN-DAM
Date: 2016-12-12

Collaborating across workflows: Managing creative assets from legacy works

Patrice-Andre Prud'homme, Illinois State University
Jennifer Hunt Johnson, Illinois State University

From the perspective of two distinct workflows, this presentation will illustrate how library departments, Digital Collections and Conservation collaborate on the production of digital assets. In essence, both digitization and analog preservation workflows aim to guarantee that collections are easily retrieved and usable. This case study will illustrate two examples. The first one is more linear yet regional; it aims to create digital assets to engage the community by means of crowdsourced transcription. The second one is hands-on, as it addresses the long-term research value of the physical material for use in classrooms by Special Collections. While these workflows may exist within the constraints of restricted resources, collaboration is key to creating successful outcomes. In small departments collaboration helps units to advocate for each other through shared knowledge and promotion of services. In this way legacy projects are managed more efficiently, through sustainable solutions, where digital assets then become the primary points of access for the public. For example, the Historical Costumes book by Charles Bianchini is extremely fragile to handle and its binding has greatly deteriorated over time. Making the decision that this legacy piece can be digitally transformed is to offer a secondary pathway to preservation and alternative mode of access ensuring that the passage of time does not lessen the educational asset it represents and the value it offers. The management of creative assets produced from legacy materials, including accessioning those assets within a digital preservation schema are important steps to ensuring the sharing of knowledge.