Present: Ashley Augustiniak, Ron Brashear, Hillary Kativa, Stephanie Lampkin, Erin McLeary, Jay Muhlin, Eddie Rubiez, Patrick Shea, Jim Voelkel
Absent: Gillian Magiure, Daniel Sanford
Abstained: Lee Berry, David Caruso
Updates on staff transitions and site development
- HK: Recapped recent staff transitions, including departures of Michelle DiMeo (Director of Digital Library Initiatives) in March 2018 and Cathleen Lu (Digital Projects and Metadata Librarian) in June 2018. Introduced Eddie Rubiez (Library Applications Developer), who joined the DCC for the first time. Provided updates on candidate search for new Digital Collections and Metadata Librarian: phone interviews conducted week of 6/25/2018 with intent to conduct in-person interviews in mid-July.
- During this interim period, curators are encouraged to continue selecting items for digitization and catching up on their metadata backlogs. Discussion of new criteria for selection and updates to digitization and metadata workflow deferred until after the new Digital Collections and Metadata Librarian is hired.
- New features added to the site following official launch of Digital Collections site on 2/1/2018 were presented to the DCC:
- Digital Public Library of America (DPLA): Our records were harvested by PA Digital (the Pennsylvania service hub for DPLA) in June and content is expected to go live in the DPLA sometime in July. Records will be harvested quarterly to capture new records and edits to existing ones. The next harvest is slated for September.
- PDF and ZIP downloads: For multi-image works, users now have the option of downloading all files as either a PDF of ZIP file containing full-size JPEGs.
- Recently added: Based on browsing behaviors documented through Google Analytics, a "Recently Added" feature was added to Digital Collections homepage. This feature consists of 6 thumbnails automatically generated from a bucket of 30 recently modified works, which periodically refreshes itself. The feature is intended to encourage browsing and serendipitous discovery of collection content.
- Related objects functionality: Copying and pasting URLs for works from the Digital Collections into the "Related URL" metadata field will generate a "Related Items" link on the front-end user interface. The intent of this feature is to encourage browsing and serendipitous discovery of collection content, not to provide a comprehensive list of related items. When adding related URLs, catalogers are encouraged to make curated selections and limit themselves to adding no more than 4-5 related items to a single work. Limitations: currently, the feature is one-directional and does not cross-populate if one work is linked to another; also, catalogers can only edit records shared with them (typically items they select for digitization), which limits the ability to create relationships across collecting areas. Following DCC discussion, HK and Digital Tech team will discuss potential for revising this feature to allow "Related URL" metadata to cross-populate.
- Thumbnail and Representative Media: Currently, thumbnails (images that represent a work on the search page) and representative media (images that represent a work on the item page) both default to the first image in a multi-file work. Alternately, catalogers can select different images to serve as the thumbnail and representative media using the "file manager" settings for a work. However, as of 6/22/2018, this feature appears broken in that the image selected to be the representative media will override the image selected to be the thumbnail. The DCC discussed potential use-cases for selecting different images to serve as the thumbnail and representative media: AA suggested that, for books, it would make sense to select an interesting or enticing image as the thumbnail, while selecting the title page to serve as the representative media. In light of this use case, HK and Digital Tech team will discuss potential for fixing this bug to satisfy the intended functionality.
Google Analytics
- Prior to the DCC meeting, HK circulated reports on Google Analytics compiled for February 1 - April 30, 2018 and May 2018. In addition to these metrics, general take-aways from Google Analytics were reported as follows:
Metadata matters: A common thread among the most viewed pages and the top landing pages is robust metadata. Materials generally lacking in extensive metadata (rare books and modern materials) are less trafficked and less represented.
Browsing is popular: Both collection landing pages and the topical “Focus” pages are well-trafficked and seem to be providing excellent entries points into the site.
Time well-spent: Analytics for session duration, page depth, and time per page are strong.
Broad interest: While some categories are stronger than others, users are engaging with a variety of content and all collecting areas are represented.
- Going forward, HK will continue to compile and circulate Google Analytics reports on a monthly basis.
Future Directions
- While consideration of "what comes next" was largely deferred until the new Digital Collections and Metadata Librarian is hired, some ideas for future projects were discussed:
- Digital projects built off of digital collections content: There is general interest in developing tool(s) that will allow us to present content from the digital collections in some kind of curated, narrative fashion, whether in the form of online exhibitions or other deliverables. EL shared information on Eddleman Institute's work with Google Arts and Culture and concerns about duplicating work if we pursue an online exhibition tool.
- Featured Topics: Google Analytics show that the "Featured Topics" presented on the homepage are popular entry points into the digital collections. DCC discussed adding more of these, perhaps with a dedicated "Featured Topics" page, or periodically rotating out some topics for others.
- Workflow improvements: HK discussed conducting user testing with curators to identify potential improvements to the metadata workflow, particularly to ease bottlenecks, as well as improvements to how content is presented on the site.
Other Business
- EL shared that the Museum refresh project is exclusively using images from the Institute's collections and relying heavily on content from the Digital Collections. ER suggested adding QR codes to encourage visitors to explore content on Digital Collections site. EL will follow up with ER and HK as project moves forward.