Editing Digital Archivists 2016-06-23

'''Digital Archivists'''

2016-06-23

Attendees: Howard, Trent, Kate, Dany; Razzi

== Review from 2016-04-28 ==


* attendees were Dany, Mark, Miloh, Matt, Howard, Trent, Travis, Kate, Jay
* Dany talked about Bookscanner
* Miloh proposed clearing out digital archives room (done)
* Miloh proposed using an RFID system to ID books so they don't need to be organized on the shelf
* Trent wants to make a refresh button for the library
* Kate asked if the project to collect Open Library numbers (OLN) for unshelved books (yes)
* Miloh wants to include scope of digital archiving project beyond books to include AV, ephemera, etc
* Talked about toolchain for transforming images to other file types
* Dany wants to add workflow for where images go after capture
* Kate: step-by-step manual for bookscanner
* Dany demos page-turning scanner.


== Goals and Projects ==

* Labeling effort (Howard)
** how to sort books; in typical library, sorted by Dewey Decimal; have to reshelve as more books are added in that number range
** proposal: just label shelf with the location and add that location to the book's library record in library.noisebridge.net
** Each book will have a label on the spine listing its location
** Would allow users to easily replace a book by matching the location on the book to the location label on the shelf (Howard)
** What if we need to add, remove, or relocate books - does it still make sense to have the location on the book? Will it be confusing to see a shelf full of identical labels? Will readers still be able to read the title and author and other info on the spine? (Dany)
** We're not expecting to expand or contract the shelf contents very often; not anticipating the same volume or check-outs as a regular public library and we probably won't need to move the books very often, but there have been times when bookcases need to be replaced, repaired, or moved which shifts book locations (Trent)
** Howard suggests adapting the location designation: instead of using the bookcase and shelf number, we could create "buckets" which would have unique labels. Each bucket could contain 15 books (for example) so each book would be associated with a bucket, and each  bucket would be associated with a shelf. Buckets could be easily reassigned to a different shelf if needed. Buckets could be numbered or color-coded so users could find the location where they would return the book. Trent suggests having a living diagram or map showing where buckets are currently located which could be adapted when needed. Razzi and Howard also suggest being able to program the LEDs on the bookcases to highlight a bucket location
** Call them blocks instead of buckets? (Razzi) - agreed
** Average shelf capacity is 8-12 books; use between 1 and 10 books per block, 10 max: naming scheme: BLK-1 through BLK-999
** Blocks could wrap around between shelves; if only half a block fits on a shelf, the rest of the block will start on the next shelf
** Each book will have the Open Library number (OLN) and a barcode on the front cover
** Suggestion to use just one label which would wrap from the spine to the front cover. The block number would be on the spine, the OLN and the barcode on the front. Will use laser printing to print the labels
*** Label brand: https://www.amazon.com/Brother-DK-1201-Die-Cut-Standard-Address/dp/B0002VS6HG


*Location in NB Library records (Trent)
** Has added a field for pre-registered list of current locations (STX-BOX-01, STX-BOX-02, STX-BOX-03, STX-BOX-04, and UNASSIGNED)
** Anyone can assign an existing location to a book's record on library.noisebridge.net, and people managing the library may add additional locations


*Categorizing books into topics
** Currently there are very general topics: math, physics, programming, etc
** How specific do we want to have the categories- who chooses the categories, how do we determine the category for each book, what if a book has more than 1 category
** Categories could be general or whimsical, to help lead people to a broad topic but without needing to get too fine-grained


*People should be able to access and use the library without needing to figure out a complex system or needing to access the library database (Trent)