National Library News July 1998 Vol. 30, no. 7-8

What's New from the National Library's Digitization Program

by Doug Hodges,
Information Resource Management

What do the names Emile Berliner, Claude Champagne, Michael Kusugak, Louis S. St. Laurent, Vincent Massey, and Jeanne Mance have in common? Yes, they all have a Canadian connection! And each of them features in one of six new National Library digitization projects recently established on the National Library's Web site (www.collectionscanada.ca/index-e.html). This article provides an update on the National Library's digitization projects and activities.¹

The past 12 months have seen improvements to many of the National Library's digitization sites. The Glenn Gould Archive (www.collectionscanada.ca/glenngould/index-e.html), for example, has been extensively augmented in 1997-1998, and now includes audioclips from Gould's recordings, a discography, and new materials. And several new sites have been added, including:

• Virtual Gramophone: Canadian Historical Sound Recordings is a multimedia Web site devoted to the first half-century of recorded sound in Canada. When completed, this site will provide researchers and enthusiasts with a comprehensive look at the 78-rpm era in Canada, which began with the first 78-rpm releases of the Emile Berliner Company of Montreal in 1900, and ended with the advent of 45-rpm and 33 1/3-rpm recordings in the 1940s and 1950s. The first phase of the project, carried out during the winter of 1997-1998, covered the 2 000 seven-inch and eight-inch discs released by the Berliner Company between 1900 and 1908. On this new site you can listen to more than 175 complete recordings from the early days of the E. Berliner Company, a pioneer of flat disc audio recording. Also included are catalogue entries for 78-rpm recordings issued by Berliner before 1925, images of all of the disc labels, photos and biographies of some Canadian performers of the era, and a history of the company.
• Bring A Legend to Life is based on the National Library's 1993 Read Up On It kit, created to mark the International Year of the World's Indigenous People. That year, the annual Read Up On It kit described the best books written for children and young people and dealing with Canadian Aboriginal peoples. Baseball Bats for Christmas (Toronto: Annick Press, 1990) and Hide Hide and Seek (Toronto: Annick Press, 1992), both by Michael Kusugak, are among the works noted in the kit. Also included is a list of children's books that have received national and regional literary awards, as well as selections from the Canadian Children's Book Centre and Communication-Jeunesse. This resource will be very useful to librarians and teachers for promoting an enthusiasm for reading. (www.collectionscanada.ca/read-up-on-it/index-e.html)
• Canadian Prime Ministers 1867 to 1998 is a collection of speeches by Canadian Prime Ministers which will interest those pursuing research in Canadian history, public policy, and biography. The site includes speeches, in English and French, by Prime Ministers dating back to Confederation, biographical notes, and links to related Internet resources. For example, a researcher interested in Louis S. St. Laurent can follow a link that leads to an "online visit" to the Prime Minister's birthplace, which can be found at the "National Historic Site" established on the Web by Parks Canada (http://pc.gc.ca). In some cases, a speech gives the only recorded statement of a policy position or government decision; consequently, such speeches are important as primary source materials for Canadian studies research. The site incorporates materials from two earlier SchoolNet Digital Collections projects: "Canada Speaks" and "Canadian Prime Ministers: 1867-1996".

The following National Library Web sites were developed with assistance from Industry Canada's SchoolNet Digital Collections program (http://collections.ic.gc.ca/):

• Claude Champagne Virtual Exhibit celebrates the achievements of Claude Champagne, a pioneer not only as a composer and musician, but also as a teacher of music and an administrator. His work, with its emphasis on precision and conciseness, was inspired partly by French aesthetics at the turn of the century and partly by elements of French-Canadian poetry and folklore. His careful attention to method made him an excellent teacher, composer, and performer. In 1972, the National Library of Canada's Music Division acquired Claude Champagne's archives. The National Library paid tribute to Champagne's importance to Canadian music and marked the centenary of his birth by mounting a major exhibition in 1990-1991, which was the basis for this virtual exhibit.
• Heroes of Lore and Yore holds some surprises. Heroes are admired for outstanding achievements and noble qualities. Since the qualities we esteem reflect the forces and values that characterize our society, a consideration of Canada's heroes leads to a better understanding of the history, attitudes, and influences that have shaped this country. Twenty-one Canadian heroes are included here, and a short list of some names -- Jeanne Mance, Poundmaker, Terry Fox, Sir Sandford Fleming and Grey Owl -- hints at the liveliness and diversity of this site. Based on a National Library exhibition, "Heroes of Lore and Yore" is of particular interest to a younger audience, although the suggested readings and links to other Internet resources offer useful possibilities to anyone interested in Canadian heroes and heroism. (www.collectionscanada.ca/heroes/index-e.html)
• The Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters, and Sciences, often referred to as the "Massey Commission", was established by Privy Council Order on April 8, 1949, and chaired by the Honourable Vincent Massey, who later became the first Governor General of Canada born in this country. The Commission was instrumental in the establishment of the National Library; its recommendations were strongly influenced by the positions of the Canadian Library Association, the Association des bibliothécaires de langue française, the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Historical Association, and many other groups. The Commission also made recommendations on broadcasting, cultural agencies, aid to research and Canada's relations with UNESCO. This site incorporates the full text of the Commission's 1951 report in English and French, and a representative selection of more than 450 formal submissions.

Several of these Web sites also incorporate the results of research and development work carried out by the National Library as part of its ongoing digitization program and in connection with other digital library initiatives. For example, "Virtual Gramophone" is the National Library's first digitization project to use the new digital library infrastructure resulting from Phase 2 of the Digital Library Infrastructure Project (DLIP). ² For the Massey Commission project, the value of embedding GILS (Government Information Locator Service) metadata in HTML files was examined. And a modest test of full-document digitization methods investigated book-cradle scanning and compared digitization costs when different approaches are used.

Partnerships continue to play an important role in many projects and programs of the National Library, and digitization is no exception. An important joint project for the National Library is the Early Canadiana Online Project (www.collectionscanada.ca/cihm/ecol/), in which the Library is working with the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions (CIHM), the Université Laval library, the University of Toronto library, and the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec. This project will make available on the Web over 3 000 titles from the CIHM microfiche collection of pre-1900 monographs, and the comparative use and economics of online publications, microforms and print copies will be documented. Another key partnership concerns the Canadian Initiative on Digital Libraries (www.collectionscanada.ca/cidl/index-e.html), for which the National Library provides the secretariat. ³ And the National Library is continuing to collaborate with the SchoolNet Digital Collections program of Industry Canada.

Since January 1997, CAN/MARC field 856, which contains the URL for Web sites, has been included in the CAN/MARC records distributed by the National Library. The National Library makes available the results of its digitization efforts, adding new Web sites and other electronic networked resources to its electronic collections. These resources are also catalogued for the national bibliography, Canadiana. Those libraries that receive these records and have access to the Web can incorporate the resources into their own virtual electronic collections. Users can then find the records online, and link directly to the resource.

And during the next year? The National Library intends to augment the recordings and other information at its "Virtual Gramophone" site, and there are other projects at the planning stages. The National Library will continue to focus its digitization efforts on its area of greatest strength: Canadiana. In doing so, the National Library will help to increase Canadians' access to works from the nation's published heritage by employing the most modern technology.