Dear friends,
In 2005, with the relatively new capability to make archival materials available on the web, the West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC) launched the online photographs database, West Virginia History OnView. The digital collection was the WVRHC’s first large-scale digital project. Now, 20 years later, the History Center is making another leap forward in regard to digital archives.
After several years of planning, the WVRHC is investing in critical infrastructure and skills to improve our ability to preserve and provide access to digital materials for the long term. With the support of WVU Libraries, we are gaining on-site and cloud storage space to support the ever-growing amount of digital content we receive from donors and create through digitization. The WVRHC’s digital collections archivist and WVU Libraries’ Systems department staff are also implementing open-source applications, meaning community-supported and maintained, to this end.
The WVRHC’s new digital repository, Hyku, will enable us to share digital materials with the WVU community and public. Behind the scenes, WVRHC staff use a suite of tools to process and preserve content from obsolete media, such as floppy disks, and more modern applications and services, like email.
Additionally, the WVRHC and the WVU Libraries are part of a pilot group that is using and testing Seeklight, a human supervised artificial intelligence tool for archival description developed by JSTOR, one of the leading digital libraries and content aggregators.
Seeklight creates quick, first pass descriptions of digital objects, and WVRHC staff assess and refine their accuracy and relevance. This can accelerate the intensive process of describing large sets of digital objects and enhance their discoverability once online.
We are planning a soft launch of the new public digital repository in the spring of this year. Eventually our digital collections, including West Virginia History OnView, will look just a little different and will have improved and consistent descriptions. Over the next few years, we will be able to make thousands of digital files available online for the first time.
We will significantly expand our capacity to reach our researchers in West Virginia and across the world. These investments in digital infrastructure will ensure West Virginia history is preserved and only a few clicks away.
Sincerely,
Lori