TOPICS :
The relevant topics include the following (but not limited to) :
· Planning, development, and management of digital libraries
· Online information management
· Content organization and knowledge management
· System scalability and interoperability
· Semantics, thesauri, and ontology
· Information storage and retrieval for global access
· Open archives initiatives
· User studies and system evaluation
· E-learning
· Multi-lingual information retrieval system and unicode
· Digital divide
· Digital preservation
· Standards in digital library design and development
· Dublin core and metadata standards
· DRM and copyrights issues
· Digital library services
· Digital library network and information sharing
· E-publishing
· Economic issues of DL and e-learning
· Tools and techniques for DL
· DL models and architectures

The cost for ContentDM? base software exceeds our budgeted amount by a few hundred dollars (we must have used 2005 pricing when preparing our grant proposal last February). However, that doesn't necessarily rule out purchase of JPEG2000 and OCR options because we may have the flexibility to transfer funds within project scope. For example, if digitizing comes in under budget, we should be able to apply any residual to other products or services. This leads to a dilemma though because committing to the optional features potentially leads to higher cost of digitization.

We're currently working on scanning specifications and hope to get an RFB out the door within two weeks. A collection of about (700) 8x10 photographs is the primary focus of this initial project; but we also want to have a few items digitized from other collections involving materials such as newspapers, a variety of historical documents, audio and video. These would be posted on our website as "samples" so patrons could better appreciate the benefit of having more of the Library's holdings fully digitized.

Even though it would be good to get ContentDM? installed sooner than later, we may need to defer its purchase and concentrate on establishing cost for digitization. We could ask potential vendors to provide two quotes; one with and another without consideration for JPEG2000 and OCR technology. After receiving bids, we'd know if the optional products would fit into the project budget.

From: Workman,Chris [mailto:workmanc@oclc.org]
Sent: Wed 1/25/2006 2:25 PM
To: Paul Carter
Cc: Gardner,Ron
Subject: CONTENTdm Pricing request

Paul,

Nice talking with you yesterday. As requested, I have attached pricing for Level 1, and JPEG2000 and OCR as options.

A few outstanding questions I need to address for you:

1. If the choice is made for JPEG2000, does this change the digitization services project scope?
Yes, the determination needs to be made in advance, if possible. The process of digitizing will change based on the resolution needed.

2. How does our OCR differ from that included with a scanner?
Ours will allow for a more efficient workflow process (indexing and marked up XML), as each object only needs to be "touched" one time, vs. multiple times if using a 3rd party, which then allows for cost reduction. Also, from the end user view, our OCR system will actually highlight the search term entered in the color yellow to make for easier identification. Please see attached document for further explanation.

If you need to contact other vendors, while there are several, some names that come to mind are Luna and ExLibris?.

As always, please contact either myself or Ron Gardner with any questions.
Thanks!

Chris Workman
OCLC, Online Computer Library Center, Inc.
800-898-6252 x3807
Fax: 614-718-7587
www.oclc.org

Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 11:29 AM
To: Bill@MediaCoast.net
Cc: Leslie K. Thomas; Dwight McInvaill?
Subject: Georgetown County - Digital Library Project

Thanks for taking time to learn about our project and discuss web-hosting considerations. Given the significant impact that high resolution image files can have on storage and bandwidth requirements, the hosting decision will be deferred until we’ve had a chance to work with our (yet to be selected) digitizing vendor to establish resource expectations.

The remote dedicated server concept you mentioned may turn out to be a good strategy for us to pursue; possibly allowing for both adequate storage capacity and high bandwidth for transmission of Digital Library content while offloading technical responsibility of routine server administration, including backup and disaster recovery.

We appreciate you explaining the business relationship between MediaCoast? and Georgetown County Government and will look for opportunities to leverage the provided capabilities in future projects. From our conversation, it’s clear that the current service level would not be appropriate for Digital Library content, related web applications, and websites requiring Microsoft FrontPage? Extensions.

The Digital Library Project (DLP) in well underway; some equipment has arrived - remaining hardware and software should be ordered soon. The next major milestone is to finish up the Digitizing Services RFB and get it to potential vendors.

Post anything related to DLP here. Eg., comments, questions, notes from conversations with vendors or other team members.