Document Type
Presentation
Publication Date
11-2-2018
Abstract
The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Libraries have been using Omeka.net both for online exhibits and as a portal for access to selected special collections, including Omaha Histories and the Queer Omaha Archives. This presentation highlights the best practices for metadata, workflows, and exhibit-based storytelling using the hosted Omeka.net service. UNO Libraries Archives & Special Collections has created metadata best practices for the Dublin Core metadata in Omeka.net, including a guide for community partners who might be willing to create their own descriptive metadata. The presenters have experimented with batch loading metadata into Omeka.net using the CSV Import plugin and conducted an ambiguously successful pilot of transferring metadata from Omeka.net into ArchivesSpace. Carefully planned and tested workflows have allowed them to improve the productivity and efficiency of their digitization process. The presenters have established workflows to request and complete the digitization and cataloging of digital objects, to align metadata between items in Omeka and their related catalog records and finding aids, to perform digitization quality control, and to track progress by the student assistants. Using an online exhibit platform to showcase items from a huge archival collection, as they have done with the U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel Archives, is a challenge. The difficulty is in selecting just a few dozen items from hundreds of thousands of pages, but this same difficulty exists in selecting items for a physical exhibit. It comes down to one question: “What story can be told with these items?” At the Hagel Archives, UNO Libraries Archives & Special Collections has tried our hand at storytelling through five Omeka.net exhibits so far. Omeka.net has proven itself a valuable tool for collections and outreach efforts at UNO Libraries Archives & Special Collections.
Recommended Citation
Kroeger, Angela; Ohira, Yumi; and Schwartz, Lori, "Adventures with Omeka.net: Metadata, Workflows, and Exhibit-based Storytelling at UNO Libraries" (2018). Criss Library Faculty Proceedings & Presentations. 94.
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/crisslibfacproc/94
Presentation Slides
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Comments
This presentation was given at Brick & Click: An Academic Library Conference in Maryville, MO.