Presentation toJudaica Europeana 2012-15:

Integrated Access to Jewish Heritage Collections

Yitzhak TeutschDirector, JDC Archives in Jerusalem

June 3, 2012

Ten minutes

Ten questions

Ten answers

Who is the digitization expert of the JDC?

No. 1 (Question)

No. 1 (Answer)

Choice (a)

Choice (b)

Choice (c)

No. 1 (Answer)

Maria P. LaCalle,Digitization Project

Manager,JDC Archives, New York

What is "the JDC"?

No. 2 (Question)

No. 2 (Answer)

• Full name: American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee

• Founded in NY in 1914• Original mission: to aid needy

Jews in Palestine• Expanded mission: to aid

needy Jews and non-Jews around the world

No. 2 (Answer)

No. 2 (Answer)

What does the JDC Archives hold?

No. 3 (Question)

No. 3 (Answer)

As an institutional archives, the JDC Archives holds two basic types of documents:

• Documents created by the parent institution

• Documents received by the parent institution

No. 3 (Answer)

Because of its commitment to relief, rescue and rehabilitation, the JDC Archives holds a third type of documentation:

• Documents created by, received from, and received on behalf of people under its care

No. 3 (Answer)

No. 3 (Answer)

• 17,000 linear feet• 50 million pages of textual

materials• 100,000 photographs• 6,000 books• 1,100 sound recordings• 1,000 videos

What special challenges are posed by the holdings of the JDC Archives?

No. 4 (Question)

High percentage of restricted material

No. 4 (Answer)

Poor quality paper

No. 4 (Answer)

Significant amount of material in esoteric languages

No. 4 (Answer)

Where are the JDC Archives?

No. 5 (Question)

No. 5 (Answer)

Short answer:

• Jerusalem• New York

No. 5 (Answer)

Full answer:• Bad Arolsen

• Jerusalem

• Moscow

• New York

• Prague

• Shanghai

• Warsaw

No. 5 (Answer)

From the International Tracing Service, Bad Arolsen, Germany:

What are the digitization plans of the JDC Archives?

No. 6 (Question)

No. 6 (Answer)

• Goal: To create an online text archive with 1.8 million pages digitized and made accessible to the public

• Time frame: 5 years (2007-2012)

• Source of funding: Private grant

What is the digitization process of the JDC Archives?

No. 7 (Question)

No. 7 (Answer)

1. Cataloguing2. Microfilming3. Scanning4. Producing item-level metadata

and OCR5. Uploading to website

No. 7 (Answer)1. Cataloguing - Our implementation of the ISAD(G) model:

No. 7 (Answer)

2. Microfilming

No. 7 (Answer)

3. Scanning

No. 7 (Answer)

4. Producing item-level metadata and OCR

No. 7 (Answer)

1. Cataloguing – in Jerusalem2. Microfilming – in Jerusalem3. Scanning – in Washington, DC4. Producing item-level metadata

and OCR – in Laos5. Uploading to website – in New

York

An international project:

What is special about the digitization process of the JDC Archives?

No. 8 (Question)

No. 8 (Answer)

Digitization is done in Laos by Digital Divide Data (DDD).

DDD:• Is currently the largest technology

employer in Laos• Recruits youth who are very poor or

disabled• Gives operators the opportunity to divide

their time between work and study• Produces graduates who earn six times the

average wage in Laos

No. 8 (Answer)

Jeremy Hockenstein, founder of DDD, with operators in Laos

How much has the JDC Archives digitized to date?

No. 9 (Question)

No. 9 (Answer)

As of April 2012:

• 1.2 million pages scanned• .9 million pages digitized

How can I see the digitized material held by the JDC Archives?

No. 10 (Question)

No. 10 (Answer)

1. Go to http://archives.jdc.org2. Click on "Search the Archives"

(upper right)3. In the "Search Our Text

Collections" box, enter a keyword or name

4. Hit "enter"5. Click on the PDF icon

No. 10 (Answer)

No. 10 (Answer)

No. 10 (Answer)

No. 10 (Answer)

No. 10 (Answer)

Thank you for your attention!

Yitzhak TeutschDirector, JDC Archives in Jerusalem

Work: +972-2-653-6403 x1Mobile: +972-54-269-5325

E-mail: YitzhakT@jdc.org.il