Digitizing A Collection, Lessons Learned

• In Event: Addressing Issues in Preservation and Access

Abstract

In 2013 the Minnesota Historical Society made available its entire catalog of oral histories online. The collection had previously only been available in hard copy to our library visitors. MNHS has been doing oral history projects and interviews since the 1960s on topics ranging from World War II to recent immigrants, politics, business, art, and much more.

More than 1,300 oral history interviews have been digitized since 2010 and uploaded to the Voices of Minnesota website, the new online portal for the MNHS collection. Interviews are now available online in two formats; the Voices website delivers oral history interviews unabridged in audio and transcript form while the Becoming Minnesotan site offers excerpts designed to help teachers of grades 4-12 teach immigration using primary sources. While our online collection has been well received, the websites continue to evolve as they are updated and improved.

This paper will cover the successes, mistakes and lessons learned along our journey. Specific experiences to be discussed will be: gathering funds for digitization, digital preservation, issues putting material online, marketing a new website, tracking site usage, and using focus groups to find out how ‘consumers’ want content delivered. This paper is not meant to be a step by step guide for every organization but rather a review of the MNHS transition to providing online content, the benefits it has provided, and to start a discussion about how digital options change the way we use oral history.

Author

• Ryan K Barland, Minnesota Historical Society