Abruzzese Cultural Institutions
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1 2 3 Abruzzese Cultural Institutions: 4 Digitization Readiness & Project Viability 5 6 7 Fourth Quarter of 2009 8 9 Erich Kesse, Consultant for International Cooperative Digital Projects 10 [email protected] 11 12 13 Abruzzese Cultural Institutions : Digitization Readiness & Project Viability Erich Kesse, Consultant in Library Digitization 1 14 Acknowledgements 15 16 This assessment owes a great deal to the Embassy of the United States in Rome, Italy,1 and for its 17 response to the earthquake of 6 April 2009 in the Region of Abruzzo. Special thanks are due to 18 the U.S.A.’s Information Resource Officer for Southeastern Europe, Laura Kaspari Hohmann, and 19 to the Embassy’s Information Resource Center staff, Gimena Campos Cervera and Gian Carlo 20 Ronci. 21 22 This assessment owes its being to the initiative of Joshua Lawrence, an American living in 23 L’Aquila, who brought the needs Abruzzo’s citizens for the preservation of cultural resources to the 24 Embassy’s attention. His vision suggested that preservation by means of digitization could be an 25 engine for the support of education and, to some extent, for the economic recovery of the Region. 26 27 Assessment could not have been made without the generous assistance of the governments of 28 Italy, the region of Abruzzo, and the province and city of L’Aquila. A debt is owed to the four 29 Abruzzese institutions that agreed to participate in this project: the Archivio di Stato dell’Aquila,2 30 the Biblioteca provinciale “Salvatore Tommassi”,3 the Deputazione Abruzzese di Storia Patria,4 31 and the Università degli Studi dell’Aquila.5 Acknowledgement of their administrators, archivists, 32 and librarians, particularly of Grazia di Bartolomeo, Elpidia Marimpietri, and Paolo Muzi is made 33 with sincere thanks for their invaluable contributions to this assessment and input of considerable 34 time and forethought. Additional thanks is offered to Dottre Ferruccio Ferruzzi, Director of the 35 Archivio di Stato, and to Dottore Livio Sbardella, Pro-Rettore delegato per il Sistema Bibliotecario 36 di Ateneo, for their time, administrative insights, and support for the assessment process. Thanks, 37 too, is offered to Maria Rosaria Ciccarelli and to Maria Elisa Equizi, who together with Grazia di 38 Bartolomeo, who head the University’s various college libraries. 39 40 This assessment was also informed by Italy’s national archives, the Direzione Generale per gli 41 Archivi (DGA)6 and the insights of Dottore Luciano Scala; by the Consorzio interuniversitario per le 42 Applicazioni di Supercalcolo per Università e Ricerca (CASUR),7 one of Italy’s super-computing 43 centers, and the thoughtful remarks and perceptiveness of Dottore Paola Gargiulo; and by the 44 Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico (ICCU),8 which acts as coordinator for the Servizio 45 Bibliotecario Nazionale = National Library Service (SBN)9 and the Biblioteca Digitale Italiana = 46 Italian Digital Library (BDI),10 and its officer Dottore Guiliana Sgambati whose patient explanation 47 of the ICCU, SBN and BDI organizational structures, procedures and standards was greatly 48 appreciated. 49 50 Special thanks are owed to the Vigili del Fuoco, which made possible visits to restricted sites. 1 Embassy of the United States in Rome (http://rome.usembassy.gov/). In Italian see: United States Diplomatic Mission to Italy (http://italy.usembassy.gov/). 2 Archivio di Stato dell’Aquila (http://www.archiviodistatolaquila.beniculturali.it/). An English version is available. 3 Biblioteca provinciale “Salvatore Tommassi” (http://www.provincia.laquila.it/Biblioteca/). An English version is available. 4 Deputazione Abruzzese di Storia Patria (http://www.storiapatriabruzzo.it/). Available only in Italian. 5 Università degli Studi dell’Aquila (http://www.univaq.it/) and its Sistema bibliotecario di Ateneo (http://www.univaq.it/section.php?id=302). An English page provides only information about earthquake relief. 6 Direzione Generale per gli Archivi (http://www.archivi.beniculturali.it/). An English version is planned. 7 Consorzio interuniversitario per le Applicazioni di Supercalcolo per Università e Ricerca (http://www.caspur.it/). An English version is available. 8 Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico and the Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale share a common web page (http://www.sbn.it/). An English version is available. 9 Ibid. 10 Biblioteca Digitale Italiana (http://www.bibliotecadigitaleitaliana.it/). An English version is planned. Abruzzese Cultural Institutions : Digitization Readiness & Project Viability Erich Kesse, Consultant in Library Digitization 2 51 52 Executive Summary 53 54 Digitization of Abruzzese cultural resources aspires to be a forward step in the evolution of the 55 Abruzzese archives and libraries. It is nothing special. It should not be difficult to achieve these 56 aspirations. They are viable with additional planning, more targeted assessment, and a bit of 57 market analysis, all wrapped up in good grant or programmatic writing. There is nothing terribly 58 difficult about this either. These activities are tried and true. There is a body of literature that 59 will tell the Abruzzese institutions “How-To” achieve them. There is a small but dedicated army 60 of practitioners, many of whom should accept offers of partnership, willing to share their 61 knowledge and experience. Some of these individuals are likely to accept the offer without fee; 62 others are likely to seek funds to enable their own participation. There remains, of course, a 63 learning curve for the Abruzzese institutions. Climbing that curve begins with the appointment 64 of a Planning Committee, an Advisory Board, and the constructs of collaboration among 65 themselves. And, it continues – with great potential – with planning and assessment grants and 66 demonstration projects, as well as learning through the aforementioned partnerships. 67 68 The desire to digitize is complex. In addition to stepping forward – archives and libraries 69 everywhere are replacing old analogue technologies for new digital technologies, the Abruzzese 70 institutions have an awareness and desire to expose content for educational uses. The 71 diaspora resulting in the wake of the earthquake of 2009 gives the Abruzzese institutions both 72 the desire and the perfect conditions under which to move forward. Efforts like La Scuola per 73 l’Abruzzo have already established foundations. There is awareness and desire, too, that digital 74 content should meet economic value as well. The value, both research and economic, in 75 cultural resources for cultural tourism was well appreciated as early as the planning stages for 76 the Bibilioteca Digitale Italiano (BDI) to which, one expects, the Abruzzese content with be 77 contributed. BDI support is in place and, though it too requires some development, is 78 substantial. The value of building a digitization program, too, does not overlook University of 79 L’Aquila’s mission. A program is seen as providing opportunity for application and development 80 of skills in visual arts, architecture, geography, computing and other vocational as well as topical 81 studies. Again, the planning process should bring these desires into focus. 82 83 If there is nothing special about the process of moving forward, there is a great deal that is 84 special in the collections and content that the Abruzzese institutions hope to make digitally 85 available to themselves, to Italy, and to the world. Response to the earthquake of 2009 was 86 directed to sustaining the living and to the restoration of their cultural monuments and core 87 structures. Underlining these, underpinning the culture of Abruzzo, is another core founded 88 upon the archives and library, if not also museum, resources of Abruzzo’s cultural institutions. 89 Their restoration to civic life can be more than hyperbole, presuming the forward thinking of a 90 proactive planning process. 91 Abruzzese Cultural Institutions : Digitization Readiness & Project Viability Erich Kesse, Consultant in Library Digitization 3 92 93 Recommendations 94 95 Recommendations are listed below under general heading. Recommendation number is 96 followed by brief recommendation text. For full text of recommendations, see the narrative 97 assessment. Recommendations are given in numerical order in the narrative. 98 99 NOTES TO FUNDING AGENCIES 100 101 Funding agencies are encouraged to support 102 Proposals for preservation assessment of physical collections; 103 Projects to build technical competencies; 104 Digitization planning proposals; and 105 Grant applications for demonstration projects. 106 107 DIGITAL LIBRARY SYSTEMS 108 109 An original requirement for this report was discussion of “off the shelf digital library systems” 110 that might be recommended to the Abruzzese institutions. There are a number of systems 111 that might be suitable for their use but none is recommended. The narrative of the 112 assessment explains why. Instead, contribution to the Biblioteca Digitale Italiana (BDI) is 113 recommended. 114 115 Notwithstanding the rationale for recommending use of BDI services to those of off the shelf 116 systems, assessment finds room for improvement in the support systems that underpin the 117 BDI. Improvements stand to make the creation of digital resources more efficient and less 118 costly. Some of the following recommendations reflect development of a greatly matured 119 system. These are recommended, not for fancy, but to enable advanced digitization projects 120 that