The importance of marketing digital collections: including a case study from Harvard s Open Collections Program

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1 Theimportanceof marketing digitalcollections: includingacasestudyfromharvard sopencollectionsprogram Introduction ChristineMcCarthyMadsen Anessentialbuteasilyoverlookedstepinthecreationofonlinedigitalcollectionsis makingsurethatpeople potentialusers knowtheysitesexist.makingadigital collectionpublicallyavailablemeansthatyourpotentialuserbase yourpotential patronpool isthewholeworld.sowhatisbeingdonetoletthat(significantly)wider audienceknowthatyourcollectionexists?academiclibrarieshavewaysofletting patronsknowwhatpaperbasedcollectionstheyhaveandwhennewtitlesofinterest arrive;andtheyhaveoutreachprogrammestoletincomingstudentsandfacultyknow whatservicestheyprovide.butthereseemstobeadisconnectwhenitcomestoonline digitalcollectionsandoftena builditandtheywillcome attitudeprevails. Thispaperispresentedinthreeparts.Thefirstwillintroduceamethod inlink analysis thatcanbeusedtoidentifyandunderstandthecurrentandpotential audiencesfordigitalcollections.parttwowillpresentsomeevidencefromacaseat HarvardUniversity sopencollectionsprogram( marketingeffortshaveasignificantimpactonthenumberofusersofdigitalcollections. Thethirdpartwilllookmorebroadlyatmarketinginlibraries;atwhatexactlyacademic librariesareandshouldbemarketing. InlinkAnalysis Inlinksaredefinedsimplyasanylinktoawebsite.IffourdifferentwebsiteslinktoWeb sitea,itissaidtohave4inlinks.inlinkanalysisissimplycountingandanalyzingthelinks toagivenwebsite.webloganlaysisandtoolslikegoogleanalyticscanprovidebetter dataaboutyourownwebsite,butlinkanalysisallowsyoutogetdataaboutsitesfor whichyoudonothaveaccess.inthiswayinlinkanalysistoolscanhelpyoucompare yoursitetoothers whichcanbebothaninterestingexerciseinunderstandingyour audienceandanimportanttoolforsharinginformationwithfunders. InMarchof2008,289humanities baseddigitizationprojectsiteswereselectedfor inlinkanalysis. 1 Thegoalofthisprojectwasthreefold: 1. Tofindoutwhichoftheinitial289siteslistedwasthemostlinkedto; 2. Todetermineifanyvisiblepatternorperceptiblesocialnetworkemergedfrom thelinkingpatternsbetweenthesesites;and 1 Digitizationprojects refersheretoprojectsthatinvolvethedigitalreformattingof texts,images,movingimage,oraudiointosomesortofdigitalformat. Page1of9 C.Madsen

2 3. Toevaluatelinkanalysisasameanstodeterminetherelative authority ofthese librarydigitizationprojectsites. ThisprojectreliedonthebasicassumptionthatalinkfrompageAtopageBisa recommendationofpagebbytheauthorofpagea.itis,ofcourse,notdifficulttofind exceptionstothis,butforthispurposesofthisprojectitwasgenerallyacceptedas valid oratleastasvalidasintraditionalcitationanalysisandbibliometrics.thesuccess ofcitationanalysisrecognizesthatthereisachancethatsomeonehascitedanarticleas anexampleof whatnottodo, butreliesontheassumptionthatifanarticleisvery heavilycited,itcanbeconsideredsuccessfulorauthoritative. The289siteswerechosenbasedonanexistingknowledgeofthefield,combinedwith targetedsearchesonprojectdomains.allprojectlinkswereverifiedasdigitization projectsites(asdefinedabove)ratherthanjustsitesthatdescribedprimaryresources orlibrarycollections.sitesthatcontainedentireworks(books,manuscripts,etc.)were favouredoverthosethatcontainedonlyafewpageimages. UsingacombinationofLexiURLSearcher 2 andyahoo!siteexplorer 3,thenumberof inlinkstoeachofthesesiteswasgatheredandsortedindescendingorder.thesesimple countsofinlinksrevealatleastoneinterestingpatternandunexpectedresult.looking atthehistogramsforthetopfiftyandtoponehundredsites(appendixa),itisclearthat thenumbersitescontainingnumerousinlinksdropsoffsharply.thefourthmostlinkedtositecontainsonly16%oftheinlinksofthemostlinkedtosite,whilethetenthmost linkedtositecontainsonly4%.itseemsthatveryfewsitesdominatethisdomain. CrossreferencingtheinlinkrankingofthesesiteswiththeirusagerankingsbytheAlex SearchEngine 4 (AppendixB) althoughnotaprecisematch doessupportthatproject GutenbergandLibraryofCongressAmericanMemory(thetwomostlinked tosites)are alsocomparativelyheavilyused.butthereislittlewecanknowabouthowthesesites gainedsuchsizeableaudiences.thelibraryofcongresshasmadesignificanteffortsto connectdirectlywithteachersthroughtheirlearningpage ( brochuresandposters,butonecanonlyinferhowprojectgutenbergcametobeso heavilycited. Oneoftheinteresting andserendipitous findingsofthisprojectwasthattwoofthe sitesthatiworkedonforseveralyearsatharvardhaveconsiderablydifferentnumbers ofinlinks.injulyof2009,womenworking( inlinksandonthesamedayimmigrationtotheus 2 LexiURLandLexiURLSearcher: 3 Yahoo!SiteExplorer: 4AlexaSearchEngine,fromAlexatheWebInformationCompany: Page2of9 C.Madsen

3 ( discussionofhowithinkthatcametobeandwhyithinkitissignificant. TheHarvardOpenCollectionsProgramCaseStudy TheMarketingCampaign TheOpenCollectionsProgramwasestablishedin2002withagrantfromtheWilliam andflorahewlettfoundation.thereweretwoinitialgoalsoftheprogram: toincreasetheavailabilityanduseofhistoricalresourcesfromharvard's libraries,archivesandmuseumsforteaching,learning,andresearch toofferanewmodelfordigitalcollectionsthatwillbenefitstudentsand teachersaroundtheworld 5 Theprogram sfirstcollectioniscalledwomenworkingandisabouttheroleofwomen intheuseconomybetween1700and1930.thecollectioncontainsover500,000pages ofdigitizedprimaryresources 6 including7,500pagesofmanuscripts,3,500booksand pamphletsand1,200photographs Theprogramwasalsobuiltaroundthreemainprinciplesofquality: SelectionStandards Createcomprehensive,topic baseddigitalcollectionsby carefullyselectingtopics,andmaterials; ProductionStandards Createdigitalsurrogatesthatarebothfaithfultothe originalpublicationsandofsuchhighqualitythattherewillbenoneedforredigitizationbyotherinstitutions; AccessStandards Provideeasyonlineaccesstodigitalcollectionswithinthe Harvardcommunityandaroundtheworld. 7 Withinthelastprinciple accessstandards westronglybelievedthatthereexisteda commitmentnotjusttomakingthematerialsfreelyavailableonline,buttomakingsure peopleknewthesecollectionsexisted.withagrantrenewalin2004weembarkedonan outreachcampaigntomakepeopleawareofthenewlyreleasedbutstillnotcomplete WomenWorkingcollection.Thisincluded: Hiringan outreachandevaluationcoordinator. An announcementcampaigntargetedatfaculty,teachers,researchers, andlibrariansinrelevantsubjectareas. 5 ThistextwasontheinitialhomepageoftheOpenCollectionsProgram.Itwasunfortunatelytaken offandisnotarchivedpublicly. 6 StatisticsfromthehomepageofWomenWorking: 7 Ibid. Page3of9 C.Madsen

4 Usinginlinkanlysisandbasicsearchingtoidentifycoursesyllabianddescriptions tocompilealistofrelevantcourses,instructors,andinstitutionsandcontacting individualinstructorstoengagetheminusingmaterials. Contactingthecreatorsofsimilarsitestoaskiftheywouldlinktooursite. Amailingofprintedbrochurestoover2,000librariansinrelevantsubjectareas withinformationincludedonhowtheycouldreceivemorebrochuresfortheir library. Amonthly newsletterlettingusersknowwhatwasnewtothecollections andincludingsmallcasestudiesofourusers. Pressreleasestomediaoutlets. Full pageadvertisementsinconferencepublicationsandrelevantjournals. Targetusersandnetworksofuserswereidentifiedasakeypartoftheoutreachplan: Thismarketingcampaigncostroughly2%ofourprojectbudget. Page4of9 C.Madsen

5 Websitetrafficincreasedsignificantlyastheoutreachactivitiesbeganandwasfollowed bytheexpecteddipattheendoftheschoolyear 8 : Bytheendofa6 monthperiod,alargevolumeofvisitswasgeneratedbyagrowing numberoffaithfulusers. 8 Thefollowinggraphswerefromthe2005Q1 Q2UsageStatisticsfortheWomenWorking CollectionandareavailablethroughtheInternetArchive swaybackmachine: Usage Stats 2005 Q1 Q2.pdf Page5of9 C.Madsen

6 Visitstothesitecontinuedtogrowconsistently,andbytheendof2005,approximately 13%ofthesite svisitorswerefromoutsidetheunitedstated. 9 Throughtheoutreach campaignwewerealsoabletogatheracoregroupofuserstoconductfocusgroups, onlinesurveys,andinterviews.allofthisdatacontributedtosubsequentredesignsof theprojectsites. ButThat snotourjob Theprogramstaffwasconfrontedbysignificantresistancefromthelibrary administration.themostoverwhelmingcommentseemedtobe butthat snotour job wedon tdo marketing. Iwouldarguethatitispreciselythejobofthelibrary, though.andwithouttakingresponsiblemeasurestoletpeopleknowthatthese resourcesexist,theyaren treallyaccessible. Lessthan10monthsintotheoutreachcampaigntheprogrambowedto pressuredtoreducecostsandtoincreasetheamountofmaterialsdigitized.the campaignendedprematurely,andthenextcollection,immigrationtotheunited States( sameattention.thevisitstothissitewereconsistentlylessthanhalfofthatof WomenWorkingandinlinkstothesiteremainatapproximatelyonequarter. Therecouldbeanynumberofreasonsforthisdiscrepancy(scope,topic,etc.), butistronglybelievethatlackof marketing contributessignificantlytoan overalllackofaccessibility.ialsobelievethatmarketing(oroutreachasmany prefertocallit)isoneofthecorefunctionsofalibrary. MarketingtheLibrary In1931,SRRanganathanwrote: Itisnowonderthat,whenthelibraryhasbeenextendingitsscope, changingitsoutlookandalteringitsverycharacterandfunctions,there shouldnotbeadequateunderstandingamongthepublicastowhatwas beengoingon. 10 RanganathanwasamathematicianandlibrarianinIndiainthefirsthalfofthetwentieth century.heismostwellknownforcreatingthefivelawsoflibraryscienceandhis workinincrediblyprescient. Ranganathanwasadamant ashisfirstlawstates that booksareforuse. Andin supportofthislawhecalledforlibrarianstomaketheircollectionsknownandavailable, 9 Ibid. 10 S.R.Ranganathan,TheFiveLawsofLibraryScience,Madras:MadrasLibraryAssociation,1931.p Page6of9 C.Madsen

7 andtohelpreadersfindrelevantmaterialswithinthem,evenandespeciallywhen patrons donotknowenoughaboutavailableresourcestoknowwhattorequest. 11 Themajorityofreadersdonotknowtheirrequirements,andtheirintereststakea definiteshapeonlyafterseeingandhandlingawell arrangedcollectionofbooks, he wrote.hechargedlibrarianstobringrelatedbookstogether toarrangebooksinways thatwouldsupportthedevelopmentofthereader sinterestsandquestions. 12 Hehad adviceonthebestlocationforalibrary, alibrarywhichiskeenaboutitsbooksbeing fullyusedwillplantitselfinthemidstofitsclientele, 13 theproperheightoflibrary shelves, norackshouldbehigherthanwhatcanbereachedbyapersonofaverage height,whilestandingonthebarefloor 14 andthecomfortoflibraryfurniture.he believedthatlibrariesshouldstayopenlonger Innocountry,wheretheconcept, BOOKSAREFORUSE,hastakenrootinthePublicMind,willanylibrarybeallowedto closetillthemajorityofhumanitygotobedandcannotuseit 15 andchampionedwhat hecalledthe openaccess movement openbookstacksversusclosedones.his thoughtsonlibrarianshipencompassedpsychology,sociology,andphilosophy: Inaword,thelibrarianshouldbe friend,philosopherandguide to everyonewhocomestousethelibrary.itissuchsympatheticpersonal serviceand suchhospitalitythatmakesalibrarybig,notitssize 16 Ispeakhereaboutlibrariesandlibrarianshipbecauseitthecorefunctionofacademic librariestosupportscholarlycommunities.andwhenthosescholarlycommunities moveontotheweb,itisstillthefunctionofanacademiclibrarytosupportthatthem. Librariesarenotplacesforsimpleinformationretrieval.Theyaredynamicspacesfor discovery,learning,knowing,andcreation.librariesareessentiallytheretofacilitate thecreationofknowledge.theydothisbyconnectingpeoplewithinformationand providingthetoolsforthemtoorganize,evaluate,andtransformit.theyareabout structuringrelationships betweenresearchers,andbetweenpublishers,researchers, information,andknowledge. 11 SeeMicheleV.CloonanandJohnG.Dove, RanganathanOnline:DoDigitalLibrariesViolatethe ThirdLaw? LibraryJournal,1April2005,< (cited25july2005),para RanganathancitedinCloonanandDove,para5. 13 Ranganathan,p Ibid,p Ranganathan,p Ibid. Page7of9 C.Madsen

8 AppendixA:Histogramsshowingthenumberofinlinkstothetop100andtop50most linked tosites Page8of9 C.Madsen

9 AppendixB:AlexatheWebInformationCompany:GraphofPageViewsfortheFive MostLinkedtoSites(3monthperiod) Page9of9 C.Madsen