Concerns

This is an effort to express our concerns (and frustrations) in our attempts to solicit the cooperation of the Monson Historical Society in our endeavors to research the history of the Flynt Quarry. (I call the informal group, the Quarry Quorum.) Most of the page was composed on May 19, 2010, but some detailed discussion was added on the following day. It is also intended to be critically constructive, but not confrontational.

The Monson Historical Society is a not-for profit organization with the stated purpose (from their web page)

I personally bring a background in multi-institutional cooperative projects in a related area (libraries) and some data processing experience, which undoubtedly colors my perspective.

First, some concepts and definitions are required to fully understand our concerns.

Artifact(s,) Photos, Documents, and Maps An Artifact is a physical item, which does include Photos, Documents, and Maps. The distinction is that the latter (listed sub-catagories) inherently convey information, which can be reproduced in other forms, such as in digitizing or imaging. Other catagories of artifcts include other physical items, such as chairs, desks, tools, etc., important, yes, but are not germaine to this discusion.

Accessioning versus Cataloging Accessioning is the process of indexing & recording information about the artifact for retrieval purposes - using (for the most part) local conventions. Modern cataloging (particularlly in the US, Canada, and Great Britain) on the other hand, if done properly, following a standard set of rules, regarding the form given to the author, title and related descriptive information - Most libraries in the countries listed, use the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules (AACR2.) This makes the sharing of cataloging more profitable,or cost effective. It (standardized cataloging) also makes possible the effective compilation of union lists (or shared catalogs) amoung institutions. To the end user, a shared catalog means that (s)he can ascertain whether the document is available in other institutions.

Digital Imaging and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Digital Imaging is the process of capturing Photos, Documents, and Maps in a machine readable format for retrieval purposes without having the user examine the physical artifact. Optical Character Recognition is the process of running a computer program, using those images as input, to generate a machine readable text version and/or an index of words used in/on that image. Both have requirements & limitations. The former (imaging) is subject to equipment limitations, as well as storage considerations, particularly if OCR is to be applied. Each sub-catagory has its own recommended requirements, with photos & maps, having the highest in terms of resolution (dots-per-inch.) Scanning documents (paricularly if OCR is to be applied) has additional requirements in terms of alignment. OCR programs are far from perfect in recognizing letters and thus words. The process is as much dependent on the condition of the original document, the spacing and font used, as well as the alignment of the image (tightly bound books are a problem for many scanners.)

The following summary is taken from an exchange of emails, between myself and the MHS. Because I have not reviewed it with others in the group ( I wanted to compose & distribute it to other members of the MHS, prior to the Annual Meeting for consideration) It does not claim to represent the opinions of all the Quarry Quorum. Some Detailed discussion follow the summary.

1. With respect to our Quarry investigation, it doesn’t appear the MHS is going to be of much help, given their impending move, and their other priorities, as stated.
2. I question the priorities & the speed at which they are likely to be accomplished before any on-line information will become available to the research community. Where ‘years away’ has been indicated, it might be more appropriate to say decades.
3. I would suggest that an effort could be made to accommodate current research, by (assuming related documents can be located) that these be given top priority for both cataloging, and more importantly (to me, at least) for scanning.
4. As an intermediate step (prior to all the assets getting accessioned & scanned,) I would suggest that citations to the scanned material be posted on the MHS website & in the newsletter – it might be an additional source of revenue.

First, I recognize that the MHS is a membership/volunteer organization, and some of the officers have other responsibilities, such as earning a living, which limits their in-office or appointment availability. Perhaps a wider distribution of responsibility should be considered.

Limited Office Hours. If MHS had 5 new volunteers for either accessioning and/or document scanning, could MHS accomodate them? Would this overload the training & supervising staff?

All processing being done inhouse. I can understand this requirement for the accessioning data entry, I doubt whether Past Perfect can operate in a distributed manner beyond a local area network. But regarding document scanning, that operation could be done anywhere and by almost anyone (Dennis's term - a trained monkey) after some training in document handling on most PCs and/or Mac with the appropiate scanner. The only impediment is the policy of not allowing any document out of the office, including with/to members. (I even volunteed my time & equipment to do some, but at home.)

Issues on priorities What I gather from various conversations, is that accessioning new acquisitions is the highest priority, followed by accessioning the retropsective collection, particularly the photos. Beyond digitizing the photos as they were accessioned them, document scanning was/is not a high priority. (If I am mistaken, please correct me.)

Issues of document availability & cost. Given that very few scanned documents from MHS (mainly the 1960 History of Monson) are really available at this time, it is not an immediate concern. However, by modern standards, the ordering, payment and delivery process is a bit cumbersome. One cannot order or pay (or take delivery) over the internet, as I do for most of my purchases, (with the exception of groceries.) So, as with groceries, I decided to walk over to 1 Green St on a number of occassions, to pay my money & respects, but to no avail. I even emailed and called to make an appointment, but again to no avail.

Historical Public Documents However, if MHS ever does scan its document collection, there are policy issues to consider, such as whether to charge anything for Town of Monson documents and other relevant public records, not likely to be available in other collections. I would futher suggest that arrangements be made with a university (perhaps UMass)or Cornell which has a large collection of such, to apply OCR, and host said documents on their website. MHS could still offer (and charge for) a collection of such public documents, but it could be an avenue for make the collection better known.

Historical Maps of Monson (This includes pages from out-of-print (and copyright) atlases.) I suggest that MHS consider putting up on the website, the various historical maps of Monson. While there are a limited number of such maps, there are several ways to accomplish this. First, MHS could provide the maps at a reasonable resolution, so that reseachers can enlarge the image to the area of concern; or Second, provide a low resolution version, and offer to sell a collection of such map(s.) I favor the former (higher resolution) approach for obvious PR considerations.

Historical Assessor's Maps. The Assessors Office has recently completed an update of their maps (about 130 of them.) These are freshly drawn, while based on the older maps (which were probably drawn in the 1950s or earlier and had been updated manually.) In a very public service oriented approach, a complete set of new maps are available on a memory stick for $20 (plus the cost of the memory stick.) The old maps contain in many cases, more details, such as old right-of-ways. They should be of interest to the MHS, at least in a digital format.

However, there are problems or considerations concerning digitizing them. These maps are about 2 x 3 (feet) and in relatively poor conditions. A purchase of a scanner to accomplish the task, is prohibitally expensive ($10k and up.) Having it done by a commerical firm with a large flat bed scanner or a sheet feeder, would probably cost over $10 per map, based on the research I have done. Using the typical intermediate (level) PC scanner would require multiple image stitching per map to acquire readable copy (image stitching is the process of combining a number of images for a panoramic view.) I have done some experimentation with my intermediate level digital camera, (hand-held) with a modicum of success. A stationary camera should produce better results, but still require some stitching.