Digital Collecting in Times of Crisis: 2018 LYRASIS Catalyst Fund recipient report

Abstract

The University of Virginia Library applied for a 2018 Catalyst Fund grant to help cultural institutions and communities of all sizes be better prepared for and able to implement digital collecting strategies during and after rapidly evolving emergencies and/or community crises (such as controversies, natural disasters and public emergencies). Digital photos, videos, and social media content are major components of these community experiences, and collecting them as well as other materials (posters, ephemera, traditional media reports, etc.) is important to documenting such pivotal events. While some tools exist that can help a library or archives gather information, a range of technical, legal, and infrastructure issues are involved that hamper the ability of an organization to move forward quickly. This project had two parts: 1) Gather information from the cultural community about current practices, policies, planning, and past experiences in emergency digital collecting initiatives. 2) Solve some of the issue around readily available technologies by adapting default themes and templates in the open source publishing platform Omeka. This report discusses the successes, challenges, and next steps of the project.