CONTENTdm at DePauw: Customization, Projects, and Tips Presented by, Sudha Anand Library Systems Admin, DePauw University CONTENTdm User Group Conference May 27 & 28, 2015
Agenda Customizing our Homepage The Audio Project Crowdsourcing using Flickr CDM Data Clean-up CDM Quick Tips Future Plans
Customizing our Homepage
Our Homepage Reason for Customizing: Went from being locally hosted to OCLC hosted to combat Find problems Contentdm/Digital Library is now part of the PALNI (Private Academic Library Network of Indiana) consortium Wanted a separate Institutional page similar to the old one to make sure our patrons remain unaffected by this move
Old Homepage
Homepage - W/O Customization
Customizing Our Homepage Getting the Code: Copy the View Page source code from any contentdm site to a file called index.php on the local desktop We got ours from our PALNI Consortia Digital Library Homepage Obtain the size of images used in the site and prepare your image files to match A handy tool that can be used for editing code: Notepad++ (helps keep track of the coding blocks like: div, head, link, style, script, etc.. ) Use w3schools Try it Yourself tool to test blocks of code before editing the file
Customizing Our Homepage Blocks to Edit: Page Title Top & Bottom navigation Banner Collection List and information Search list Advanced Search list(this is located in the footer block of the page) About the Collections information Add extra features like share widgets and spotlights Image Links
Customizing Our Homepage A Look at Notepad++:
Customizing Our Homepage Uploading the Index.php: Navigate to the Custom pages portion of the global settings on the Website Config Tool Using the manage files menu, upload the index.php file to the appropriate folder(based on single school or consortium) Also upload all the corresponding image files to the appropriate folder Save and Publish to see the newly updated site.
New Homepage http://digital.library.depauw.edu/
The Audio Project
The Audio Project Goals: Provide user copies of audiotape collections Protect original recordings from physical wear What we had: A Contentdm collection with only metadata What we decided to try: Contact OCLC support Ask if there is a way to attach audio files to pre-existing Metadata What OCLC said: YES there is a way
The Audio Project Audio Selection: First pick the record you would like to add audio to and download it to the CDM project client Get the path of the mp3 file to be attached Things to remember: Contentdm supports MP3 and WAV audio files Audio files that are H.264-encoded and Flash-compatible will play inline when selected by an end user. Other audio and video file formats can be stored but will be played via a plugin or browser capability to support the format. More information about supported files types can be found in the FAQ portion of this page
The Audio Project Adding Audio: In the project client right click on the item thumbnail and select Replace Item
The Audio Project Adding Audio contd: On the Replace Item box, click Browse and select the MP3 file to be added and click Open
The Audio Project Adding Audio contd: Coming back to the Replace Item box on selection, make sure that only the Create display image option is selected Do not select the Apply metadata template to replacement item as this will clear the items current metadata and replace it with data from your template
The Audio Project Adding Audio contd: Wait a few minutes for the audio file to be added and watch the thumbnail switch Now Upload the file for approval to add the record to the collection
The Audio Project Our Audio Collection: Successfully added audio to 1300 items
Crowdsourcing using Flickr
Crowdsourcing using Flickr Goals: Use Crowdsourcing as a way to transcribe a Civil War Journal written by Colonel James Riley Weaver What we had: Photocopied pages of an old and valuable journal A live Contentdm setup to display the transcribed work Dilema: Do we need another piece of software to setup the crowdsourcing? What we decided to try: Use the freely(1000gb) available photo storage with built-in backup Flickr
Crowdsourcing using Flickr The Journal s Significance: The Journal was kept by Colonel James Riley Weaver throughout his service in the Union Army and confinement in Confederate States prisons during the Civil War Colonel Weaver was a Professor of History and Political Science at DePauw 2012 marked DePauw s 175 th year and the diary adds to DePauw s significant history
Crowdsourcing using Flickr The Process: Grouped scanned pages into albums ready to be uploaded Setup a Flickr Account and uploaded all the images DePauw Archives
Crowdsourcing using Flickr The Process Contd: Used the Item description field to request help and provide instructions for transcribing Utilized the comments field as the place for entering transcription Archives staff monitored the Flickr account and the transcriptions
Crowdsourcing using Flickr Publicizing the Project: Made and distributed a brochure about the project
Crowdsourcing using Flickr Publicizing the Project: DePauw s Facebook and Contentdm pages were also used to promote and publicize the project
Crowdsourcing using Flickr Project Completion: The transcription was compiled, completed and uploaded for restricted use in Contentdm in late January 2015
CDM Data Clean-up
CDM Data Cleanup Goals: Periodic cleanup of Contentdm data Tools used: The Contentdm Export Utility Microsoft Access Project Client Project Client Spreadsheet view Contentdm Verify Utility
CDM Data Cleanup Getting the Data: Use the Contentdm Export Utility on the Administration portal to take an export of the data XML Standard export gives you all the metadata from the collection Custom export lets you pick fields of data you want to export Tab-delimited Creates a text file and exports all the metadata We used the Custom XML export for flexibility Make sure to include the ItemURL field for easier cleanup
CDM Data Cleanup Importing Data into Access: Create a new Access Database File Use the External Data option to import the Contentdm export file either XML or tab delimited text By default this will create a table called record with all the data from the export file
CDM Data Cleanup Importing Data Into Access contd: The following is a sample screen of data in the record table from our newspaper collection
CDM Data Cleanup Sorting & Filtering the Data: Use the filter function in Access to select outliers(spell check, wrong date format, etc.) - E.g. Our time periods are always in decades Use the ItemUrl field information to find the correct record on Contentdm and make the edit using the Project Client
CDM Data Cleanup Compound Objects & Spreadsheet view: During data cleanup for compound objects, due to the multiple pages requiring data edits, use the spreadsheet view on the Project Client to edit data on multiple pages at once
CDM Data Cleanup Controlled Vocabulary: Data issues happen even on Vocabulary controlled fields Very long vocabulary lists may prompt users to type it in from a paper list or memory, this leads to possible typing mistakes Human error while approving items also tends to have similar results
CDM Data Cleanup Verify Utility: Contentdm provides a way to locate such records using the Verify tool
CDM Data Cleanup The Verify tool is located under the controlled vocabulary Browse function in Collection Field Properties
CDM Quick Tips
CDM Quick l1br@ry1m@g1ng Tips Approval & Indexing: Periodically full index Contentdm collections to ensure better and faster searching If the approval list has a huge number of items(>100) consider approving them in batches of 100 to avoid adding terms mistakenly to the controlled vocabulary list Setup scheduled indexing to avoid multiple approving or indexing attempts by staff members If locally hosted, consider setting up scheduled batch scripts if you have trouble indexing
CDM Quick Tips Project Client: The Project Client sometimes locks up with the error message Unable to open most recently used project. An error occurred parsing xml file. EndElement is an invalid XmlNodeType. Line 8, position 5. This indicates that the project has been corrupted and a new project has to be created To avoid loosing work due to this message clear the project of items periodically
CDM Quick Tips User Permissions: Use rights and permissions to limit providing approve and index rights to people till they are familiar with using Contentdm Even with full rights on a collection, indexing might fail or clicking on index might just refresh the page In such scenarios provide full rights on all collections to that user to see if this resolves their problem, if it does, report it to OCLC s support team.
Future Plans Customize Landing Pages Dashboard for Contentdm Statistics
Thank you! Feel free to contact me with any queries, Sudha Anand Library Systems Administrator DePauw University Libraries sudhayegyanarayanan@depauw.edu Our Digital Library: http://palni.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/depauw/