Building Digital Archives with Minimal Staffing, Day 2

Building Digital Archives with Minimal Staffing, Day 2

Thursday, May 15, 2025 - 1:00pm to 4:00pm

Digitization can help bring your archival materials to life by making them accessible and easy to use in a variety of projects and settings. There are many reasons to start digitizing your institution’s holdings, and likely just as many stakeholders who want an institution's archival materials digitized. If you do not have a digitization department, this work can seem daunting—even if you do have a digitization department, you might have good reasons to supplement their output. This webinar will cover getting started on digitization projects in the archives when you do not have many resources.

We will cover equipment recommendations, digitization workflows, metadata, and platforms and tools for managing, accessing, and working with digitized or born digital materials. During the webinar we will discuss advocating for resources, project planning, and documentation, along with demonstrations and time for hands-on exploration of several content management systems.

This two-day webinar will be held on May 14 and May 15, 2025 from 1:00-4:00 p.m. (CDT) on each day. All sessions will be recorded. Here are the session descriptions for May 14, 2025.

Attendees are invited to join all the sessions or those that interest them. Registration is required. Please use the registration link at the bottom of this page. Register once for both days.

All times noted are Central Daylight Time.

May 15, 2025:

1:00 p.m. -
1:05 p.m.

Welcome and Introduction

1:05 p.m. -
3:10 p.m.

Platforms and Tools - Demonstrations

See below for the times that specific platforms and tools will be showcased.
1:05 p.m. -
1:30 p.m.

Demonstration: Preservica

Presenter: Marcella Lees, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

1:30 p.m. -
1:55 p.m.

Demonstration: Collection Builder

Presenter: Greer Martin, Loyola University Chicago
1:55 p.m. -
2:25 p.m.

Demonstration: ContentDM

Presenter: Karmine Beecroft, Illinois State University
2:25 p.m. -
2:30 p.m.

Break

2:30 p.m. -
2:50 p.m.

Demonstration: Omeka

Presenter: Rebecca Fitzsimmons, Illinois State University

2:50 p.m. -
3:10 p.m.

Demonstration: Digital Commons

Presenter: Ashley Howdeshell, Northeastern Illinois University
3:10 p.m. -
3:15 p.m.

Break
3:15 p.m. -
3:35 p.m.

Session Title: Outreach

This session will include:

  • Creating exhibits using:
    • Omeka
    • Digital Commons
    • Other tools
  • Teaching with digital collections
    • Working with faculty
    • Thematic digital collections
    • Digital publications

Presenters: Ashley Howdeshell, Northeastern Illinois University and Rebecca Fitzsimmons, Illinois State University
3:35 p.m. -
3:55 p.m.

Session Title: Making the Case for Digitization

This session includes getting administrators interested in supporting digitization including:

  • Project scope and realistic expectations
    • Developing accurate timeframes
    • Managing expectations and production promises
    • Compelling project proposals
    • Alumni and other interest groups
  • Documentation, Statistics

Presenters: Rebecca Fitzsimmons, Illinois State University, Ashley Howdeshell, Northeastern Illinois University, Marcella Lees, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
3:55 p.m. -
4:00 p.m.

Wrap Up

Register to attend.

Sponsored by the CARLI Archives Task Force.