Crowdsourcing the Civil WarAt the State Library of Pennsylvania

January 25, 2014 American Library Association

Alice L Lubrecht, Director of Library ServicesWilliam T. Fee, Digital Collections and Authority Librarian

1. Library BackgroundDigital EffortsSoftware Selection and ImplementationResults to Date

January 25, 2014 American Library Association

Session Agenda

The primary role of the State Library of Pennsylvania is to collect, preserve and provide access to materials for, by and about Pennsylvania for the information and research needs of all branches of state government, libraries and the public.

Mission:State Library of Pennsylvania

January 25, 2014 American Library Association

Origins of the State Library• Traces origins to 1745

• Ben Franklin and the General Assembly

• The Statutes at Large and English maps

• First housed in Independence Hall Philadelphia, PA

January 25, 2014 American Library Association

January 25, 2014 American Library Association5

PA State Capitol, Burning Feb. 2, 1897

Dauphin County Court House circa 1820

Main Entrance to the Forum/Education BuildingAnnex Building, Capitol Complex

circa 1930

Ben Franklin’s Kite & Key Experiment19 October 1752 – Pennsylvania Gazette

January 25, 2014 American Library Association

Digital Projects of the State Library

• Online collection of historical documents, articles and publications

• Full-text resources on Pennsylvania history, including the Civil War, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln and Fort Necessity

January 25, 2014 American Library Association

Focus in the Last Year?Gettysburg Materials

January 25, 2014 American Library Association

Researching Crowdsourcing

January 25, 2014 American Library Association

http://manuscripttranscription.blogspot.com/2011/02/2010-year-of-crowdsourcing.html

WinXP as a test box

• Commonwealth standard• Not Linux or Unix

– No apt-get or sudo commands– Completely wrong file structure– Permission problems– Only certain versions of programs and underlying dependencies are

usable

• Missing documentation– Zend version– Installing Scripto– Can require a knowledge of both Linux and Windows structures, etc.

January 25, 2014 American Library Association

Testing• Bitnami stacks

– Multiple Apache servers– One dependency fails, they all do

• Encyclopedia of Life– Underlying dependencies failed– Wouldn’t fully install

• FromthePage– Git client from GitHub– Installed somewhere– Never found it

January 25, 2014 American Library Association

Scripto• Requires Zend 1 framework

– 2 weeks to get an answer• Documentation assumes Linux knowledge• Little to no information on Windows install• Documentation scanty• Eventually installed in Drupal• Moved to outside servers due to firewalls and security• Outside server techs installed WordPress version• Registration through MediaWiki

January 25, 2014 American Library Association

Scripto main page

https://civilwardiaries.klnpa.org/

January 25, 2014 American Library Association

Scripto registration page(MediaWiki)

https://civilwardiaries.klnpa.org/wiki/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Main+Page&type=signup

January 25, 2014 American Library Association

Scripto image page

January 25, 2014 American Library Association

Scripto image page (2)

January 25, 2014 American Library Association

Scripto transcription page

January 25, 2014 American Library Association

Contacting us:Alice Lubrechtalubrecht@pa.gov717-783-5968

Bill Feewfee@pa.gov717-783-7014

Thank you

January 25, 2014 American Library Association

Questions?