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Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, has the second largest population of elderly citizens in the United States (second only to Florida's Miami-Dade County).  Such a community is bound to have a higher-than-usual interest in the past--and a consortium of libraries in suburban Pittsburgh has discovered how to make the most of this fascination with history. 

Mt. Lebanon Public Library is an independent library that serves the 33,000 residents of Mt. Lebanon and about five times more from the South Hills area just outside of Pittsburgh.  The library's circulation is third highest in Allegheny County. 

One of the library's prime assets has been an enormous collection of photographs and print items--all neatly organized in boxes, of course--but access was a real problem.  The items were popular, and the process for managing them (finding the right image, pulling it, reproducing it at a camera shop, charging the patron for reproduction costs) was time-consuming and labor intensive.  Mt. Lebanon Director Cynthia Richey decided that the time had come to make the collection available online.

"The Hultz Family Farm was located near Washington and SunnyHill Roads. The Unitarian Church is now located on the property." 
Photo courtesy Mt. Lebanon Public Library; more info here

Her original thought was to have the Friends group and volunteers come and do some scanning--but it quickly became clear that the project was too big and complex for that kind of solution.  The next step, then, was to look for funding to "do it right."  Since grantors like collaborative projects, she reached out to two other local libraries to work with her.

Cynthia applied for an LSTA grant to digitize the collection in the Mt. Lebanon library as well as the collections of nearby Dormont Public Library and the Community Library of Castle Shannon.  Castle Shannon and Dormont are much smaller communities, each with a population of about 10,000.  

"1920's class from public schools."
Photo courtesy Mt. Lebanon Public Library; more info here

For Castle Shannon, the time was right: the library had been putting its own extensive collection of historical items together in binders as “photo essays,” and occasionally would mount them as temporary exhibits.  The library wanted to get its binders and exhibits out into the larger community to illustrate the rich landscape of development in the suburbs and rural communities around Pittsburgh--and also to share its story with the wider world.

It was a win-win partnership: IMLS loves to give grants to organizations working together, and Cynthia agreed to split the funds in equal thirds--giving her smaller counterparts proportionally more of the money.  Each site received its own equipment and did its own work, but they all worked together to get the funding.

The $15,000 grant enabled the consortium to purchase scanners, computer workstations, CD burners, and preservation media and to provide training to volunteers.  Thanks to a pro bono donation from a local law firm, some of the training money was freed up to acquire more software and storage.

Once they got into the project, they realized that there was a whole lot more involved to the work than getting the equipment and learning how to use it.  They learned about copyright issues from a pro bono workshop provided by one of Pittsburgh's premier law firms (this session was open to every library in the county and was very well attended).  In addition, there was learning the "dpis" and other technicalities of scanning, training volunteer scanners, and getting a handle on the ins and outs of cataloging digital images.  Using Dublin Core metadata and Library of Congress subject headings, then-University of Pittsburgh Information Science student and Castle Shannon library employee Craig Hayward was able to lay a good conceptual foundation for the data.  They discovered, however, that cataloging takes longer than the scanning.  Though they've worked hard to make it as easy as possible, finding volunteers willing and able to do the cataloging has been a bit challenging.

An important factor in the project's success has been that each of the three communities has an active historical society.  These community groups have been invaluable source of expertise and volunteer help throughout, and they've taken on the lion's share of the cataloging effort.  In addition, the school systems have been a wonderful source of volunteer effort.  The kids are great volunteers; they're good at the details and are enthusiastic about helping out.

Part of the process has been improving the preservation and protection of the original images themselves, and they're now stored in a fireproof, lightproof, temperature-controlled space.  Taking care of the scans is also important: regular backup procedures, including off-site storage, will help ensure that the historical record survives.

The initial project took about a year and a half.  The goal of the initial grant was to scan 100 photos for each partner library.  Mt. Lebanon now has commitment from its board to use some FOL funds every year to support ongoing expansion of the digital collection.  With most of the hardware and software needed now in house and processes in place, the question now is mostly one of volunteer management, with staff providing cataloging and training support.

You can see the initial results of Mt. Lebanon's part of the digitization project at www.mtlebanonhistory.org (an independent domain name separate from the library, making the history of the town something everyone owns).  This site is an upgrade from the original grant-funded effort and still a work in progress--it will show images arranged in categories to make them easier to navigate.  Dormont's historical photos are here and Castle Shannon's here (Castle Shannon also has a good summary of the technical specifications for the project, which Craig created while working on their project).

As a result of making the project available on the Web, they've heard from people across the country who have said, "we have this item": the digitization project has been a great way to acquire more materials for the local history collection.

Cynthia and Craig's advice to others thinking about embarking on such a project? "You can do it!"  Running a digitization project is reasonably inexpensive, and LSTA grants are available.  Forming a consortium with other libraries helps bring in funds and get the most out of setting up processes and training.  It's best to start small (as Craig says, "It's difficult to eat the entire elephant at once!").  To balance the project with other library duties, they agreed to spend some time on digitization every two weeks.

Next steps for the project include creating a database-driven design, integrating a content management system (as Craig says, "We do it all with scotch tape and scissors and glue"), and launching a blog to point out the considerable community activity that's been stimulated by the digital collection (including a walking tour of the sites pictured in the collection, attended by over 100 people!).

The feedback from the community has been enthusiastic.  Here's an email Mt. Lebanon received: "Thanks so much for the memories. I grew up on Lebanon Ave. and now live in Dayton, Ohio. My grandfather…was the caretaker of the library when it was first built. Keep up the great work!"

You can reach Cynthia Richey, Director of the Mt. Lebanon Public Library, at richeyc@einetwork.net, or by calling 412-531-1912.  Craig Hayward is now Reference and Information Technology Librarian and Webmaster at Mt. Lebanon, and he can be reached at haywardc@einetwork.net or at 412-531-1912.

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