CHO From Project to Program

From Project to Program: Connecticut History Online

http://www.cthistoryonline.org

The Case Study• Little background on CHO• Our sustainability efforts• Lessons learned

Initial goal of CHO• Digitize and catalog items from collections

Museum-Historical Society-Library Collaboration–

Initially Three Partner Institutions


•The Connecticut Historical Society•The University of Connecticut Thomas J. Dodd Research Center•Mystic Seaport

CHO II• Expand ed on a cooperative model of

shared responsibility and equal project ownership

Added partners: Connecticut State Library New Haven Colony Historical Society

Evolving goals of CHO• Expand the scope and variety of

materials represented in the digital collection:

manuscript collections, maps, drawings, broadsides, oral histories, sound recordings, costumes, art and artifacts, and more...

Evolving Goals of CHO• Enhance site

usefulness and usability for our target audience

• Add more partners

Funding• IMLS Leadership Grants

– 2000-2001[note gap]– 2003-2005

• Some additional grants• Some costs covered by

institutions

Original Staffing• CHO I & II dedicated staff:

– Project Coordinator hired by project Management Committee – works with Management Committee and directly oversees all aspects of project, including training

– Three catalogers (hired by partner institutions)

• Outside vendors do some tasks

Building a Collaborative Framework:Strong Committee structureListservsDocumentation on Web site


Team approach: CHO CommitteesManagementSelectionCatalogingEducationTechnical/Web Design


Team approach: Management Committee

• Budgets• Task timelines• Overall decision-

making• Coordination of staff


Challenges:


•Structural/cultural issues –Diverse institutional cultures–Implementing decisions–Staff support of grant-funded work

•Sustaining the site

Opportunities/Benefits of Multiple Partners

• Complementary strengths in developing a digital collection of use to audiences– Museums: expertise in interpretation, educational

outreach– Libraries: organization of/access to collections,

technical expertise, familiarity with standards


Opportunities/Benefits• Improved access to institutional holdings

– Digitization of materials– Cataloging of materials– Web access to materials (alternative for some, sole

venue for others)• Acquisition of high-resolution surrogates

– Reduces or eliminates need to retrieve originals


Opportunities/Benefits• Greater public awareness of partner

institutions– Research inquiries– Reproduction requests (new income)

• Resource for public outreach (educational programming)


Opportunities/Benefits• Sharing knowledge and expertise— partner

institutions gain understanding of/facility with– Technical infrastructure involved in digital collections –

hardware & software– Best practices

• Digitization standards and options• Metadata standards and options

…That inform local planning, decision-making and practice


Challenges to DateCHO project partners have been trying to:

– Find permanent funding– Stabilize the platform– Add new partners– Move from contributed staff to “permanent” staff


Challenge of SustainabilityWords from WebWise*

• Users expect it• Integrate--Digital resources

as part of core mission• Collaborate• Project program • Identify audiences and their

needs (ongoing)


*IMLS WebWise 2005 Conference Business Planning Workshop

Planning for Sustaining CHO• Business plan• Non-profit corporation• New partners/members • Member services• Continue to develop

content, functionality


Sustaining the Project


Partners continuing to make individual contributions:

• Uconn – ContentDM and technical support• Mystic Seaport – administrative• State Library

• Grants• ContentDM

Late 2005: CHO II Web site launch


Collaborators in this project include:• Connecticut Humanities Council• Connecticut State Library and Iconn.org, and• Connecticut History Online,

Encyclopedia of Connecticut History Online (ECHO)

Late 2005: CHO II Web site launch


Project of the Connecticut Humanities Council• Funding both ECHO and CHO• Working together on Fundraising• Both are hiring staff

•CHO has hired a Coordinator

ECHO/CHO Partnership

Lessons Learned• Can’t count on grants• Adding new partners takes time and staff• One or more institutions have to take some

ownership for the “greater good”• Collaborations are not easy• Some partners will be more equal than others


Questions?


Thank YouKendall [email protected]

www.cslib.orgwww.cthistoryonline.org


mailto:[email protected]

http://www.cslib.org/

http://www.cthistoryonline.org/

CHO From Project to Program

Business

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