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Vol. 38 No. 4 — May 2018

FEATURE

In 2011, I drove through streets I used to explore with the musicians of my youth, and I passed the riverfront park where we used to dance in front of the big stage and the overlook where we used to talk about the music business and guess who would make it big—all before Nashville grew up. Looking around, I noted that the years had changed so much, but the city felt vibrant and fresh as I walked up to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum—an organization I had visited during my childhood, but a building that wasn’t there when I graduated high school just down the street.  

I’ll never forget that day. Taylor Swift was playing loudly on my radio. I met with the museum’s VPs and its CEO. We discussed how we could move forward with the collection in terms of digitization for preservation and access. As I walked through the archive, a seed was planted, and I knew what I was going to do. I was coming home.  

How We Did It

We assembled a team to engage in master planning for the digitization initiative we designed and created. We identified high-priority collections for digitization based on  rarity, fragility, use requests, and rights. We defined file-naming conventions and file formats for preservation and access. We wrote best practices and created metadata templates and workflows. We crafted a Digital Collections Mission Statement. This planning allowed us to move forward in a thoughtful way when we received funding. We wanted to jump right in, but we took the time to make sure we were clear on what we were going to do. Funding was limited, and we had to get it right.  

Since then, we have digitized more than 65,000 moving image, audio, photo, and print collections’ items. We focused on unique, vulnerable items in formats at-risk for deterioration and loss: 1", U-matic, and 16mm film in the moving image collection; glass and lacquer transcription discs and quarter-inch open-reel audio tapes in the recorded sound collection; photo negatives from the still image collection; and Hatch Show Print letterpress posters from the print collection. These digitized assets service exhibitions, programs, marketing, communications, creative endeavors, education, and third-party relationship building. They are publicly available to all for free. Since embarking on the digitization initiative, we’ve created and filled 11 new staff member positions, all with the focus on preservation and access: usability, searchability, and findability.  

The biggest mistake organizations make when pursuing digital collections management or digital asset management (DAM)  is that they purchase a really expensive piece of software and then expect it to work magic. But there is more to it than that, and the software is only one part of digital collections management. People are often looking for a software product to solve everything, but it’s better to think of the software as part of a system that has to be developed.  

In the image above, you will see that the word “people” is front and center. This is because human capital is the most important—it’s the workflows, the workstations, those creating metadata, and  the infrastructure that come together to make a successful deployment. If you are going to invest in digital distribution of your content, the first step is to invest in people. Train them, work with them, support them, and give them an environment that they can comfortably and successfully work in. Provide clear guidelines for what must be done, but give them the freedom in how they get there.  

Well-executed digital collections or DAM—I use the terms interchangeably—is the stuff dreams are made of. Smooth workflows, consistent file-naming conventions and file standards, metadata templates that are thoughtful and in accordance with library field standards, and workable software and infrastructure bring order to the collections world. Workable software and infrastructure are important because we had to think imaginatively as we launched our digitization initiative and as we continue to adjust our supporting systems. The majority of our budget went toward creating and funding the 11 new positions.  

We spent time creating consistent, descriptive file-naming conventions. This was so important because file-naming conventions are the most fundamental way of creating browsability and searchability of digital collections assets. By adding descriptive metadata to a file name, the user can determine some of what is in the file. Whereas, if the file name is simply a random or coded alphanumeric string of characters, the only way to know what is in the file is to open it or have access to the code—neither of which is time-efficient. Consistency rules in the library world; in the digital collections and assets management world, it is no different. By working in a consistent way, we create a pattern, a system in which—even if it is not instantly intuitive (although that would be our goal)—a user can learn how the files are labeled with relatively minimal effort, certainly less effort than if he or she has to decipher a different standard for each file or type of file.  

Public Access

While we created a most basic organization and search structure with the file names, we also created a web interface  for public access (digi.countrymusichalloffame.org). We made metadata templates based on the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, and we looked to the Library of Congress (LC), the Smithsonian, The Met, and the University of Indiana as guides for field consistency. Staff members input metadata based on known information that is helpful for the user and creates search results that are relevant to the user’s interest.

Through the use of analytics, we can see that more than half of the visitors to our site are repeat global visitors—we’ve had more than 380,000 page views. By providing online access, we increase the geographic mobility of our content, allowing people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to view the collection to experience it in digital form.  

Likewise, while we purchased network-attached storage (NAS) for our files, we use LTO tape and external hard drives for the larger moving-image preservation files and backup copies. Network-based storage can be cost-prohibitive for many organizations, especially during the early stages when they are trying to build momentum and gain support. External hard drives and LTO tape can provide significantly less-expensive alternatives, particularly for the larger preservation files. LTO tapes and external hard drives require a different type of maintenance and a little more time, but they are workable solutions. Three copies of each file is a best practice, with one of those three files being stored in a separate location.  

We also partnered with Google Cultural Institute as a way to provide ongoing public access to and archive our exhibitions (google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/exhibit/nwJyEalr-lV0LQ).

Keys to Success

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” is an expression attributed to Leonardo da Vinci and used as a slogan for Apple computers. It serves as the perfect business model for digital collections. If you can’t take something that is really complicated and explain it in simple terms, then you don’t really understand it. When we allow ourselves to let go of the ego that wants to impress by making our work sound more complicated, we are able to come up with simple solutions. They are relatable and, in many ways, brilliant. I regularly challenge my team to think of the cleanest, most simple way to make progress or address challenges.  

As I’ve already said, we invest heavily in staff members—or more specifically, super users. We look for staffers who are eager, who enjoy creating metadata, and who wholeheartedly believe in the digital collections mission and what we are trying to accomplish. We look for people who are solution-minded and can easily adapt to technology changes and challenges.  

It is important that collections managers understand the diverse needs of a broad range of users. It is equally important for internal users to understand that there are diverse needs from users. As such, sometimes compromises have to be made. We haven’t let imperfections stop us from progress. We’d like to live in a perfect world, in which every internal user has a system custom built for his or her particular job responsibilities. But that simply isn’t a good use of resources. Once again, we rely on human beings. By having candid, transparent conversations with staffers in which we explain that the relationship with software and with digital assets is dual directional, we have created a can-do attitude. Rather than just expecting a piece of software to automatically do everything, we think creatively in terms of solutions—and in terms of being smart enough that we can work with the resources we have to ensure a positive outcome.

It’s important to always have perspective. Drive with the radio turned up, cross-stitch, lift weights, read, write poetry—whatever it is for you, allow yourself time to reflect and recharge. For me, I love to go deep into nature—to places where the nearest cellphone reception is hours away—and push myself to trek long and challenging trails with breathtaking views. And while no cell service areas are increasingly hard to find, it’s still how I gain clarity. I find inspiration—and sometimes new ideas—for how to move forward with the digital world. Most importantly, it allows me to recharge and come back ready to talk about metadata and strategy for digital collections access and preservation. Digitizing a collection of 2.5 million items may seem to be quite the mountain to climb, but it’s only a mountain.

This article originally appeared as "Country Music Hall of Fame: Metadata Makes the DAM World Go Round."