General
Does the BC Digitization Coalition engage in digitization projects?
The BC Digitization Coalition’s role is to advocate, educate and coordinate digitization projects and not to do the work of digitization.
Is it necessary to share metadata multiple times with the different metadata aggregating portals (e.g. MemoryBC, West Beyond The West, Canadiana)?
For the time being, the answer is “YES”. There are discussions in the works about a provincial portal automatically sending metadata to the national portal but at this point in time, they are not coordinated.
How do these portals integrate?
The metadata portals are currently not integrated. They are their own separate entities. Please visit their respective web sites to learn more.
West Beyond the West
My organization would like to add its digital collections to WBTW. How can I do that?
Please contact us! We’re very interested in hearing from organizations that have BC-related collections and would like to be included. At present we are not able to add new collections to the search engine due to its ongoing redesign. We hope to begin adding new material in 2012.
Do you host the entire collection, including the digital objects themselves?
At present the search engine stores only metadata. The collection must be hosted on your organization’s server (or on a rented web server). When a user clicks on a link in WBTW, they will be taken to your website to view the object.
With the WBTW planned redesign in 2011, we hope to launch an optional collection hosting service for organizations that would like their collections hosted.
What types of metadata do you accept?
At present we’re flexible. We seek to work with all types of heritage organizations including archives, libraries, museums, heritage societies, etc. We’ll work with what you’re able to provide us.
A number of other similar search portals for historical material exist, such as MemoryBC and Alouette Canada. Is it necessary to share my metadata with each of these?
For the time being, the answer is “YES”. There are discussions in the works about portal automatically sharing metadata; we hope to make that a reality in 2011.
Where does the title “West Beyond the West” come from?
This is the title of Jean Barman’s classic history of British Columbia, The West Beyond the West: A History of British Columbia. The title is used with her permission.