Project CHART

Project CHART- Cultural Heritage, Access, Research and Technology

 

 

 

Pratt-SILS in Partnership with Brooklyn Historical Society, Brooklyn Museum and Brooklyn Public Library is now in year three of an IMLS Grant launched in August 2010 completing in July 2013, in the amount of $971,401.  This Laura Bush Librarian for the 21st Century prepares Information Professionals as Digital Managers of Cultural Heritage across Museums, Libraries and Archives - Dean Tula Giannini, Principal Investigator.

Brooklyn Historical Society	Brooklyn Museum
Central Library, Brooklyn Public Library	Deborah Schwartz, President BHS, Tula Giannini, Dean, Pratt-SILS, Thomas Schutte, President, Pratt Institute

View photographs of historic Brooklyn digitized by CHART students at BHS -

http://brooklynhistory.org/exhibitions/chart.html

Project CHART is designed for students interested in pursuing a career in digital management for cultural hertiage across museums, libraries and archives -

SILS has now selected the six CHART students for acedemic year 2012-2013.

Student Benefits:  Tuition Scholarships for the Digital Management program ($18,630) The program awards tuition scholarships (18 credits/6 courses) to successful applicants, who will take courses in the following 5 key areas:

1. Management of digital collections, 2. Digital archives, libraries & social media, 3. Digital preservation/conservation, 4. Selection, description & access, 5. Cultural heritage collections across libraries, museums & archives

Project CHART participants must complete a two semester internship program at one of the three Project institutions. Internship projects include digitizing historical photographs pertaining to Brooklyn, applying metadata, description and digital preservation, identifying and cataloging related research materials, processing archival records, creating digital information for photographs and gaining competencies in both physical and digital archives and curation theory as well as practice.

Eligibility:

To be considered for CHART, an applicant must meet the following requirements:

• Be currently enrolled in the Pratt-SILS master's degree program.
• Need to complete 18 credits (6 courses) or more after the summer 2012 semester in order to graduate.
• Not have taken or currently be enrolled in LIS 698: Seminar & Practicum.
• Be able to commit to a 2-semester long internship which will begin
• in September 2012 and end in May 2013, (fall 2012 and spring 2013).

A 3-year grant, Project CHART prepares information professionals as digital mangers for cultural heritage institutions. To meet this challenge we will:
• Recruit a highly diverse and talented group of 18 students to Pratt's MSLIS program to increase capacity and diversity in digital management and in emerging field of digital curation.
• Award tuition scholarships for Pratt's new 18-credit digital management program.
• Prepare students with the knowledge and skills required to assume professional positions as digital managers.
• Develop curriculum in five key areas: 1. Management of Digital Collections, 2. Digital archives & libraries and Social Media, 3. Digital Preservation/ Conservation, 4. Selection, Description and Access, 5. Cultural Heritage Collections Across Libraries, Museums & Archives, 6. Fieldwork (practicum. internships at cultural institutions)
• Building on the digital management curriculum, develop courses leading to a digital curation certificate program.
• Graduate students from Pratt with an MSLIS having completed the digital management program.
• Students carry-out internships across BPL, BM and BHS and participate as team members in Project CHART gaining hands-on experience in digitization, selection, description, access and digital preservation.
• Through CHART's research and activities, produce a collaborative project Web portal for the newly digitized Brooklyn images representing the three partner institutions that integrates social media.
• Disseminate project results through conferences, symposiums, publications and Project Web site housed by BPL.
• Demonstrate the benefits of collaboration across libraries, museums and archives and their commonalities of purpose and programs as cultural institutions and provide professional opportunities for recent MLS graduates
• Advance the goals of BPL, BM and BHS for digital projects for increased access to their collections and services and for enhanced public awareness and participation through project internships and activities.
• Graduate students who pursue careers as digital managers in cultural institutions and leaders in the profession.

Left: Project CHART leaders at the Brooklyn Museum

Major Activities:
i. Internships at BPL. BM and BHS:18 MSLIS students over 3 years (six per year), participate in internships over fall and spring semesters for comprehensive learning experience, supervised by archives professionals at BPL, BM and BHS and work as team members of CHART to: digitize Brooklyn historical photographs, apply metadata, description and digital preservation, identify and catalog related research materials, process archival records, create digital information for photographs and gain competencies in both physical and digital archives and digital curation theory and practice .
ii. Program Curriculum Development:Building on Pratt's cultural informatics, archives and museum libraries curriculum and faculty expertise develop programs in digital management and the emerging field of digital curation by which students acquire the skills and knowledge of these fields. Use Pratt's Digital Media Lab with digitization workstation, DSpace for digital repositories and cultural Informatics lab for usability testing and interaction programming so students gain the technical skills required to be successful professionals after they graduate.
iii. Project Design and Team: CHART is designed to support student learning and experience. To form the project team, each of the three partner institutions employs a project manager who will be recent MSLIS graduate providing post-graduates professional opportunities. Interns work under staff professionals to carry out activities for digitization of Brooklyn images at BPL, BM and BHS for which each sets-up a dedicated student project workstation.
Digitization of Brooklyn Images and Dissemination: CHART partners create a shared Web portal hosted by BPL using social media for public access to digitized Brooklyn photography collections and for disseminating of project results.

Above: Project CHART leaders at Brooklyn Museum
iv. Recruitment for Diversity and Capacity:Pratt's diversity recruitment is accomplished by monthly open houses, new student orientations, Pratt's Website, listservs and presentations at professional association meetings and conferences.
v. Attend Professional Conferences:Each intern and two team member per institution per year attends a major conference related to digital management and curation such as ALA, SAA, ARLIS, WebWise, TDCL, etc.
vi. Symposiums and Workshops: BPL, BM and BHS each host one symposium and one workshop per year on current topics and issues in digital management and libraries, museums and archives. Symposiums are open to the larger museum and library and LIS student community.
Anticipated Results: 18 Students graduate with an MSLIS having completed the digital management program and internships and prepared for professional positions at cultural institutions. Pratt develops a model curriculum. Diversity and capacity are increased. Project results are disseminated via the Project Web portal, conferences and publications.
Impact: Through CHART's partners and Pratt-SILS graduates, the roles and responsibilities of digital managers and curators become more broadly recognized and accepted at the heart of the information professions defined across libraries, museums and archives for representing the knowledge and skills essential for managing, preserving and providing access to cultural heritage collections as well as born-digital assets from digital documents to digital arts. 

Downlaod Project CHART narrative and lean more about this IMLS funded project.