Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

5-16-2024

Abstract

The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections digitized over 78,000 items related to the UNO football program (1910-2011). In an effort to make the digital material approachable to the user community of alumni, the Digital Initiatives Archivist chose to utilize Flickr as the access platform. UNO football alumni and their families are the main users of the collection. Flickr allows alumni to easily interact with content on a platform with a familiar interface, similar features to a slideshow, and content that can easily be shared by archivists to connect with these users on Facebook. Additionally, the platform is affordable and facilitates access despite minimal descriptive metadata existing for vast quantities of the digitized archival content. UNO Football’s Flickr albums continue to grow (6,763 photos and counting), but the project began several years ago with an intentional effort to re-engage with alumni who had disconnected from the university following the elimination of the football program. Building trust with this alumni group was essential, and demonstrating the approachability of UNO archivists, Archives and Special Collections, and Criss Library was key to the Director of Archives and Special Collections successfully crowdfunding to support digitization. Those interested in community engagement, relationship building, crowdfunding, digitization, providing access to digital collections with minimal metadata on an affordable platform, and meeting users where they are will find this presentation useful.

Comments

This was presented at the Society of Ohio Archivists Annual Meeting 2024.

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