10 Weeks to Success: How to Quickly and Effectively Build a Collaborative Digital Collection

Creating a digital collection typically requires a lot of time and thoughtful planning. But what would happen if you only had 10 weeks to plan and build a digital collection from scratch? That was the dilemma faced by the University of Texas at Arlington when the Center for Greater Southwestern Studies, the Library, and the Department of Modern Languages collaborated on the digital collection “A Continent Divided: The U.S. – Mexico War.” This ambitious effort involved scanning and describing dozens of items, writing detailed essays and biographies, translating Spanish language materials, and designing/building a MySQL database and website to access the collection. All of this and more was accomplished in less than 3 months. Digital Projects Librarian, Christy Allen, will discuss the project and offer insights, guidance, and lessons learned, relevant to anyone who may be implementing a digital collection in a brief period of time.