CURIOSity OVERVIEW

CURIOSity is Harvard’s new Spotlight based digital collections platform. CURIOSity sites can be as simple as a prepared search, and as complicated as an independent-research filled digital exhibit. Houghton’s wealth of digitally accessible content makes CURIOSity a great tool for us to utilize, but the amount of time and energy required to make a display worthy digital exhibit requires some planning at the forefront. CURIOSity collections must be made of publically accessible, digitized content. If collection builders would like to add restricted or non-digitized content, they can provide a link to a canned search of the items in the source catalogs or manually upload images and info on exhibit pages, but they would not be searchable within the digital collection site. For detailed information on what can be included in a CURIOSity site and some of the responsibilities for collection builders, see “What are the Prerequisites?”

The HLComms and DSI teams have differentiated between CURIOSity sites as digital collections and “collections pages”- the text based pages we use to describe our holdings. Pages marked with the heading “Physical Collections” may have items that have been digitized, but the “Digital Collections” heading will only be used for CURIOSity sites. The “click here for digital collections” button that had previously been on “Physical Collections” pages has been removed. DSI is committed to maintaining CURIOSity as a service for building collections and supporting future migrations of technology in partnership with collection builders as stewards.

GOALS

“Promote intellectual coherence and sustainability” within a “reasonably controlled environment”
Showcase Houghton’s digital collections in a manner that highlights the diversity of media, format, and content in our holdings.

STRATEGIC APPROACH

CURIOsity sites can be divided into levels of complexity, requiring different levels of technical involvement and staff-time. The lightest weight site is a digital collection made by copying in text and images from a physical exhibit, and providing a list of digitized items that fit the exhibit’s theme. The most effort-intensive sites are completely new digital exhibits, requiring amounts of time and effort somewhat analogous to a physical exhibit or fully-fleshed out digital collection classroom guides.

Achieve intellectual coherence by instituting a review process, similar to Digital Collections Submission Process, where complex CURIOSity site proposals can be submitted and reviewed on a rolling schedule by a small standing review committee made of the Digital Collections Program Manager, the Director of Scholarly & Public Programs, and the Head of Teaching and Learning. A scheduled review process will assist with both intellectual coherence (reviews based on technical and content requirements), and with sustainability (additional staff time needed to create display-worthy digital collections).

Below are the four options for CURIOSity sites at Houghton, looking towards the goals of sustainable project building and intellectual coherence in the digital collections realm. A step by step process guide is included on the last page of this document.

OPTIONS

LIGHT: Digital Summaries for Physical Exhibits

Summary: All content pulled from exhibit texts and catalogs - truncated and simplified, but without new content
Use: To create digital access points that accompany our physical exhibits
Frequency: Accompanying major exhibits, but not to be used as a promotional tool without a plan for sundowning, i.e. no sites with “We will be hosting a speaker on November 8, 2019,” as the exhibit site will be stand-alone.
Roles: Public Programming- delivering content to Digital Collections Program Manager
Digital Collections Program Manager- submitting CURIOSity page and using pre-existing text and images to create digital site
Note: Exempt from the review process, part of ongoing workflow with crosswalks TBD

MEDIUM: Highlighted Digital Collections
Ex: Chinese Rare Books

Summary: Some extra contextual content (minimum: 1 page), primarily a curated selection of multiple search-groupings that create related collections for users to explore
Use: To create context and connection between digital objects- serving as “Collections Pages” for digitized collections
Frequency: Most frequent. This option is medium time-intensive, but has a high usefulness for users, as it allows added curation that Alma/ASpace cannot, as effectively.
Roles: Collections staff - writing collection description and creating list of digital objects
Digital Collections Program Manager - submitting CURIOSity page, and filling in templates. Troubleshooting with digital objects and DSI
Note: Complex digital collections can be scaled up to exhibits or learning guides, in consultation with Digital Collections Program Manager

HEAVY: Narrative Digital Exhibits
Ex: Daguerreotypes at Harvard

Summary: Fully realized digital exhibits with multiple curated pages and independent research
Use: To create educational exhibits accessible to the broader public, using digital possibilities to explore content in ways physical exhibits don’t allow due to fragility/scope/size/methods
Frequency: Much like a physical exhibit, a quality digital exhibit takes time. There is no limit to digital exhibits, but the time and effort required will most likely equate to 1-2 a year
Roles: CURIOSity Review Committee- reviewing scheduled submissions and making decisions based on the availability of digital objects, teaching/learning interests and objectives, and programming guidelines
Digital Exhibit Curator - creating content and object list, designing and laying out CURIOSity page
Collections Curator [optional] - when an approved exhibit is not coming from the collections curator, the exhibit will need to be discussed and guided by collaboration between the Digital Exhibit Curator and the Collections Curator
Outside Collections Curator [optional] - when an approved exhibit is heavily dependant on materials from other repositories, the exhibit will need to be discussed and guided by collaboration between the Digital Exhibit Curator and the Outside Collections Curator
Digital Collections Program Manager - Troubleshooting with digital objects and exhibit design/layout tools.

HEAVY: Digital Collection Instructional Aid

Summary: Fully realized teaching guide with exercises/pedagogical content relating to a collection of digital images
Use: To create an educational resource for teaching at Houghton, that is also accessible to educators outside of the library
Frequency: Teaching tools made for the public are an excellent opportunity to share our knowledge, but require a high standard of content and review. There is no limit to digital teaching guides but the time and effort required will most likely equate to 1-2 a year
Roles: CURIOSity Review Committee- reviewing scheduled submissions and making decisions based on the availability of digital objects, teaching/learning interests and objectives, and programming guidelines
Digital Guide Creator - creating content and object list, designing and laying out CURIOSity page
Head of Teaching and Learning - Consulting on pedagogical text and teaching mission
Digital Collections Program Manager - Troubleshooting with digital objects and exhibit design/layout tools.

CONSIDERATIONS

CURIOSity pulls via “LibraryCloud from Alma, JSTOR Forum, and ArchivesSpace, enriched with additional DRS metadata“ - they have selected the fields they want to appear and this content can’t be edited on the interface level. DSI has created a comprehensive metadata profile that pulls in metadata from each of the source catalogs, transforming them into a consistent schema in the process.
Digital exhibits are not the same as physical exhibits- there are various ways in which this is relevant, but three major points: 1) Copying physical exhibit catalogs into the text boxes of a digital exhibit can create static/non-engaging digital content. 2) Every CURIOSity site goes through a streamlined rights/legal approval process- things that can be physically displayed can’t always be digitally displayed. 3) CURIOSity pulls from LibraryCloud - borrowed materials that aren’t in our catalogs can be displayed on exhibit pages, but not as part of the digital collection.

Step-By-Step Guide

INTERNAL - Digital Collections Submission Committee

Submit CURIOSity @ Houghton review form
Submit complete list of materials - MMS IDs [Hollis numbers], ref IDs, and titles to Digital Collections Submission Committee
Committee review - on rolling basis and reports back to submitters with comments or acceptance

Reviewers are looking at content, time-availability, digital material availability

Submit CURIOSity Request form - Digital Collections Program Manager submits CURIOSity Request form for approved submissions

EXTERNAL - DSI CURIOSity Tean

Review items - CURIOSity Services cleans list and produces a set and review spreadsheets from the list of IDs.
QC/QA items - CURIOSity Services reviews, troubleshoots, and remediates metadata record issues with LTS and curator.
Conduct/confirm copyright review and risk assessment - CURIOSity Services/legal advisors conduct an initial review. Curator takes actions needed to answer outstanding questions about items that raise questions or concerns.
Finalize set list - Curator and CURIOSity Services finalize the item list based on outcomes of QC/QA and risk assessment.
Create collection description - Collection-builder provides brief representation of collection including: title, brief and full descriptions, representative image, and contact. Copy this template, fill it in with your collection info, and send us the filled in template.
Set up basic website - CURIOSity Services harvests the set for collection websites and creates a basic website including collection description information. Note: The URL for the CURIOSity website can not be changed once it is created. We will make a recommendation for the URL based on the collection title. All URLs will begin with https://curiosity.lib.harvard.edu/.
Create landing page - HL Comms creates a Library.Harvard card for the collection.
QC/QA website - Collection-builder and CURIOSity Services jointly reviews, troubleshoots, and remediates new website, collection display pages (metadata and digital content), and landing page.
Enhance or launch collection website - For Highlighted Digital Collections: Collection-builder has the option to Enhance their website OR go straight to Launch. For Narrative Digital Exhibits and Digital Collection Instruction Aid: Collection-builder will move on to Enhance.
Website admin training - If this is your first CURIOSity website, you will want to attend a training session on how to use the admin UI. See the Training page to sign up for an upcoming session.
Enhance website - Collection-builder creates and organizes custom webpages, and adds narrative text, illustration, teaching guides, lesson plans, etc. Collection-builders are responsible for maintaining and archiving the content they create.
Publish website - CURIOSity Services publishes websites at Collection-builder's request.
Maintain website - Collection-builders are responsible for maintaining custom text and web-content, and Digital Collections Program Manager is responsible for any necessary updates to metadata and maintaining analytics overviews. CURIOSity Services will troubleshoot technical issues as they arise.

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