In addition to completing the collection description on Omeka, I spent this week compiling a spreadsheet of metadata for the digitized items in the Ambuehl collection.
While I had started a spreadsheet for the scans I was working on when I first started the project, in talking with Mark, I learned he had different parameters in mind than what I had put in the spreadsheet. Fortunately, most of the information carried over, so I was able to do a fair bit of copy-and-paste. I also generated subject headings and tags for each item.
In attaching metadata to the photos, I’m using a combination of LCSH and user-generated tags from the WWPL flickr pageAll items have the LCSH for WWI (World War, 1914-1918). I also tagged the pages of the photo album and photos from the album with the LCSH Photograph albums.
Finally, I began transcribing some of the documents in the collection. Transcribing really isn’t my favorite thing to do, but this is a good exercise in an area I don’t have much experience in and I can use the opportunity to brush up on my skills. It’s also a great way to make the digital images more accessible to users on a variety of levels. Since these PDFs aren’t searchable, adding transcriptions gives the images a better chance of turning up on search results. They will also help users who have more trouble than I do reading 100 year-old handwriting and typewritten pages; users who require sight reading technology will also be able to access the text, which wouldn’t be possible if the PDFs were uploaded without transcriptions.
