Project Proposal
Special Collections is proposing a project that will begin the process of digitizing the Yeager-Osterhout Papers and open the door for the digitization of other College-owned Special Collections materials (documents, images, analog media, and rare books). This project will include the following components:
- An enhanced partnership with the UNT Digital Projects Unit, whereby UNT will host all of our digitized content and provide AC and the world with access to the content.
- Two or more days of training for Justin in the UNT Digital Projects Unit’s lab.
- Establishment of a digital projects unit within the AC Special Collections department (based on recommendations of the UNT Digital Projects Unit) capable of digitizing documents and images up to legal size and creating effective metadata to associate with the digitized items. The first major project will be the digitization of the Yeager-Osterhout Papers.
- Outsourcing the digitization of the oversized elements of the Yeager-Osterhout Papers to the UNT Digital Projects Unit.
The primary purpose of this project is to provide digital content that can be used by AC faculty and students in courses and scholarly projects. The secondary purpose is to teach AC students to digitize primary source materials and create effective metadata for digital resources.
Additional Funding
I need the funding to be split differently for this project: $4000 for equipment and outsourced digitization; and $2000 for a stipend. An explanation is provided below.
$4000 is requested for the purchase of scanners and related hardware and software necessary for establishing a digital projects lab and for the cost of outsourcing the digitization of a portion of the Yeager-Osterhout Papers to UNT. Although the exact cost cannot be determined until we provide UNT with a spreadsheet detailing the items to be scanned (to be completed as a part of this project), I anticipate the outsourced scanning to cost between $1500 and $2000. During my time at UNT, I will work with various scanners and will determine which one(s) will best meet our initial needs. At the minimum, I anticipate the scanners costing around $800 – $1000 each. Although UNT may provide us with some software, I expect that we will need to purchase a license or two of related scanning software such as Optical Character Recognition software. Special Collections has 2 computers that it will provide for the lab if the specs are sufficient.
Remaining funds, up to $2000 is requested as a stipend to fund my time in Denton at UNT and the extra responsibility related to the project.
