Guidance
There are a number of resources that the owners and managers of the Nettie J. McKinnon collection could turn to for guidance when developing a better online collection. We have included several such resources in the annotated bibliography; we will share some highlights here.
Barry Cropper (in Leslie, 2004) recounts the lessons learned during years of developing the Corporation of London Library and Art Gallery Electronic (COLLAGE):
Visual Resources Association provides guidelines for the acquisition, attribution, display and oversight of images in non-profit educational visual resources collections: http://www.vraweb.org/resources/ipr/guidelines.html
Georgia Harper (2012) provides and excellent introduction to copyright, including "quick guides" on fair use at http://copyright.lib.utexas.edu/copypol2.html#rules. For example, she offers the following "Four Factor Fair Use Test":
With a particular use in mind,
Barry Cropper (in Leslie, 2004) recounts the lessons learned during years of developing the Corporation of London Library and Art Gallery Electronic (COLLAGE):
- Define and agree the objectives very clearly at the outset – it sounds simple but it is easy to overlook.
- Establish a strong identity for the project and generate enthusiasm for it outside the project team themselves – remember, for everyone else it is extra work.
- Generate ongoing commitment from expert collections staff.
- Weigh up what you can do in terms of pragmatism versus assessment of public need.
- Balance ambitions and expectations versus achievability – review where you are versus where you should be on a regular basis.
- Prioritise. It is better to have a few complete collections online (i.e. a “product” that will stand alone) rather than lots of part collections.
- Implement progress monitoring and contingency plan assessment at the outset – not when things start to go wrong.
- Count how many items you have to digitise – do not take a ballpark figure because there is a cost per item attached to digitisation.
- Copyright clearances can take a while to gain – the COLLAGE team still have not cracked it. Initially they sought copyright clearance and obtained it for many items but then realised that they had to specifically ask for copyright clearance for colour reproduction so had to reapply in many instances. If the rights holders can not be found, the item can not be shown over the Web interface; if it is out of copyright, then it is automatically cleared to be shown on the Web.
- Consider sustainability – plan for longer term software licensing costs and ongoing in-house IT and other staff support.
- Plan for the effect of the new procedures and new skills on staff – and how you will retain the new skills required in-house.
- Manage expectations. It is unlikely you will be able to digitise all your collections – so some staff and users will be disappointed.
Visual Resources Association provides guidelines for the acquisition, attribution, display and oversight of images in non-profit educational visual resources collections: http://www.vraweb.org/resources/ipr/guidelines.html
Georgia Harper (2012) provides and excellent introduction to copyright, including "quick guides" on fair use at http://copyright.lib.utexas.edu/copypol2.html#rules. For example, she offers the following "Four Factor Fair Use Test":
With a particular use in mind,
- Read about each factor
- Answer each factor's question about your use
- See how the balance tips with each answer
- Make a judgment about the final balance: overall does the balance tip in favor of fair use or in favor of getting permission?
- What is the character of the use?
- What is the nature of the work to be used?
- How much of the work will you use?
- What effect would this use have on the market for the original or for permissions
if the use were widespread?