In the latest episode of Checked Out!, the official podcast of the University Libraries’, listeners get to hear from Katherine Dirk, digitization lab manager, for the Digital w88 casino games login department.
In the interview, Dirk discusses what it’s been like working remotely during quarantine, how she and others from the Libraries worked together to provide users with virtual access to the Libraries’ collection of high-use anatomical models. She describes working with born w88 casino games login files from the late 1970s found on floppy disks within the Joe Crowley Collection, the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company Records collection, as well as work completed for the Washoe County Recorder’s Office and more.
University Libraries Checked Out! Episode 7
Sean and Sasha talk to Katherine Dirk from Digital w88 casino games login about the cool projects they've worked on for the Libraries and for the community.
The Libraries’ w88 casino games login Archive houses approximately 50,000 objects that are available to users online via the Libraries website.
Katherine Dirk,Digitization Lab ManagerThe lean, two-person Digital w88 casino games login department is composed of Nathan Gerth, head of digital w88 casino games login, and Katherine Dirk. They are responsible for digitizing historical or unique materials or working with born digital materials. Gerth works primarily with born digital files, whereas Dirk is responsible for digitizing physical books, manuscripts and photos that come through the department.
Digital w88 casino games login collaborates with most Libraries departments. For example, they partner with Special Collections and University Archives, the Jon Bilbao Basque Library, DeLaMare Science and Engineering Library as well as with others from across the campus community.
Digitizing the Anatomical Model Collection
The Libraries has a collection of approximately 41 different anatomical models that users can check out for classes, studying, etc. In late 2019, over Winter Break, Libraries’ staff worked to disassemble and clean all of the models after final exams. As staff sanitized the models, someone had an idea.
“As models were being cleaned over Winter Break 2019, someone had the idea to take high quality photos of the models, Dirk said. “Because there was an understanding of the work performed by Digital w88 casino games login, they reached out to the department with the idea to take high resolution images of the models and load them online to the Libraries’ website providing users with virtual access to this highly used collection.”
As Dirk digitized the set of 41 models, she captured and edited more than 200 images. w88 casino games login took her approximately one week to complete the project. They anatomy models were then made available online via the Libraries website. The anatomy model digitization project was completed in mid-February, allowing students to use the materials for classes or to help prep for finals without having to physically come into the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center.
“We launched the w88 casino games login Anatomical Model Collection right before the mandated quarantine by the Governor,” Dirk said. “Getting the high-res images online and completing the project when we did was wonderful timing. We were able to see immediate impact in usage of the website as we moved deeper into the Spring semester.”
Dirk added, “When the website launched in late-February w88 casino games login received about one-thousand page views. When we looked at web traffic data for this site from last year we learned the page had only received about one-hundred page views. This information provided good insight that our users liked seeing the images of the bones, joints, muscles and other models we have in this collection online!”
To view this collection visit the Libraries website and search Anatomical Models Online.
The Process of Preservation
Digital w88 casino games login uses a high-resolution camera that is mounted to a column. The camera can move up and down along the column. The camera points down at a table. With the anatomy models for example, models were placed on the table below the camera. In order to ensure the proper digitization, Dirk had to figure out how to prop-up each model to make sure all angles, different parts are visible in the image she was capturing.
For the Anatomical Models Dirk said she had to get creative when staging the models for digitization.
“For certain models, I had to figure out how to prop the model up; I used tape to get different angles,” Dirk said. “Some models come apart – I could split the muscle from the bone and capture multiple images of the model together and split apart for users to view online for studying, etc.”
Washoe County Recorder Historical Records Collection
Digital w88 casino games login partnered with the Washoe County Recorder’s Office in 2019 to execute a pilot project in which the Libraries digitized 20 volumes of historically significant records from the Recorder’s Office library of nearly 4,000 volumes. The Recorder’s Office had a desire to create w88 casino games login copies of records from their library for preservation purposes. The Recorder’s Office was also interested in providing potential users with access to the records online.
Primary source materials digitized by the Libraries for the Recorder’s Office included a variety of official County records, land transactions, homestead claims, land surveys, liens, cemetery plots, court judgments, property claims. Records range from 1855 to 1964, covering the time from when Nevada was part of the Utah Territory, then became the Nevada Territory, and later became a state.
The University Libraries is a physical and virtual hub for preservation both on and off campus.
“Digital w88 casino games login is using its technology, equipment, and platforms to preserve records that lead to diverse and lasting impacts that exist well beyond the Libraries,” Gerth said. “The partnership with the Recorder’s Office is a perfect example of how the Libraries fulfill a critical need for a key player in our community.”
To view this collection visit the w88 casino games login Archive, and search Washoe County Recorder Historical Records.
Nevada Consolidated Copper Company Records
Digital w88 casino games login worked with this collection housed in Special Collections and University Archives in late 2019. The collection is composed of Nevada Consolidated Copper Company w88 mobile, later taken over by the Kennecott Copper Corporation. w88 casino games login includes 11 photo albums with cyanotype and black & white photographs from the Chief Engineer’s Office depicting mining operations, equipment, and progress from within the mining pits. There are seven boxes of company letters, telegrams, operating notes, manuals, surveys and procedures, as well as annual reports, and correspondence between employees and other businesses from 1906 -1938.
The collection brings to life the history of mining in Nevada. w88 casino games login is important because w88 casino games login fills in early 20th century information about mining in northeast Nevada as well as the company’s town of McGill, its smelter, and the Northern Nevada Railway that serviced the mine.
The Libraries Digital w88 casino games login Department plays a key role in academic advancement on campus and within the northern Nevada community. To learn more about Digital w88 casino games login visit the department website or feel free to reach out to Head of Digital w88 casino games login, Nathan Gerth.
About the University Libraries
The University Libraries embrace intellectual inquiry and innovation, nurture the production of new knowledge, and foster excellence in learning, teaching and research. During each academic year, the Libraries welcomes more than 1.2 million visitors across its network of three branch libraries: the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center, the DeLaMare Science and Engineering Library and the Savitt Medical Library. Visitors checked-out more than 80,000 items and completed more than 2 million database searches.
Nathan Gerth: Hello and welcome to another episode of Checked Out! The official podcast to the University Libraries and Teaching and Learning Technologies. My name is Nathan Gerth and I'm the head of Digital w88 casino games login. This week Sasha and Sean spoke with Katherine Dirk, our digitization lab manager about some of the fascinating work we do. Including how we are able to give students virtual access to those popular anatomical models while everyone was still in quarantine. Please stay tuned and enjoy the show!
Sasha Soleta: Thank w88 casino games login Nathan for that introduction, as always, I'm Sasha!
w88 casino games login Busey: and I'm w88 casino games login! Welcome to Checked out, the University of Nevada, Reno Library's podcast. Today, we talked to Katherine Dirk
w88 casino games login: Mmm-hmm
Sean:... from Digital w88 casino games login about just a bunch of the cool stuff that Digital w88 casino games login gets to do! I'm really jealous that more of us--specifically me!--don't get to take part in some of these things.
Sasha: I honestly feel like its a Venn diagram of all your jobs that w88 casino games login've had and what Katherine does is the intersection of all the former library jobs w88 casino games login've had so...
w88 casino games login: yeah... I should be jealous
Sasha: yeah w88 casino games login should be jealous!
*both w88 casino games login and Sasha laugh*
Sean: yeah, it’s the kind of job that's like perfect suited for like a specific person and knowing Katherine like I do, I'm pretty sure she's knocking it out of the park. Scanning and preservation and digitization... as the name Digital w88 casino games login might suggest!
w88 casino games login: Whaaaaaaaaa-?
w88 casino games login: I know its a weird concept! Try to keep up with all of us... loyal listeners!
*laughs*
w88 casino games login: All 12 of you
w88 casino games login: I mean shout out to those loyal listeners from day one, Yo!
w88 casino games login: We're gonna try to figure out who you are and then do like a raffle and then...
Sasha: w88 casino games login'll win absolutely nothing, yeah *laughs*
w88 casino games login: (underneath Sasha) I'm shaking my head the whole time...
Yeah, yeah... w88 casino games login win a shout-out and a crisp high-five when I pass w88 casino games login in the hallway
w88 casino games login: I mean would we get in trouble if we set up a Patreon without letting anyone else know...?! To just benefit us?
*both laugh*
w88 casino games login: Yeah! Totally!
w88 casino games login: Okay! Cool!
w88 casino games login: Never mind how overworked the rest of the team is.
Sasha: No, no! They don't need w88 casino games login!
w88 casino games login: We'll buy them beer! Yeah
*both laugh*
Sasha:I think that w88 casino games login’s a fair trade!
w88 casino games login: Yeah, totally! Especially if it’s a good beer!
w88 casino games login: *sarcastically* Mmm-hmmm!
*Both laugh again*
Sean: So... today we are talking to Katherine Dirk! She is the digitization lab manager up in Digital w88 casino games login. Thank you for being with us!
Katherine Dirk: Of course!
Sean: So to start with... tell us about what Digital w88 casino games login does and your specific role in the department.
Katherine: Sure! So Digital w88 casino games login is a small shop, it’s just two of us: myself and Nathan Gerth. We are responsible for digitizing historical or unique materials or working with born digital materials. So Nathan typically works with the born digital files and I'm typically in charge of doing the digitization of the actual physical books, some manuscripts, photographs that come through.
w88 casino games login: And you have students that help you with this? How many students do you typically have?
Katherine: So I have 3 students that are trained to use the software... one of them just graduated though, so...
w88 casino games login: You have two students!
Katherine: *dejectedly* Now I have two students
*all laugh*
w88 casino games login: So does this work in conjunction with Special Collections? I don't really know much about your two departments that much, so... I ask the simple questions...
*Sasha and w88 casino games login laugh*
Katherine: Sure! So we actually are part of Technical w88 casino games login because there is a lot of 'technical' work that goes into it, but we work very closely with Special Collections. We also work with Basque we work with DeLaMare. We've got a lot of historical maps that we've put up. We also have campus partners we've worked with as well.
w88 casino games login: Super!
Sasha: So one thing I do know about because my department was kind of part of w88 casino games login is: you helped to digitize the anatomy models so how did that project like kind of come about? Tell us a little more about w88 casino games login
Katherine: Sure! So as you guys have probably heard the anatomy models we're being cleaned over Winter Break and I'm not sure who thought of the idea, if it was Access w88 casino games login or Digital w88 casino games login, but somebody proposed that it would be a great time to actually take some high quality shots of the models. So Rainey Marvin was the person that sort of headed all that up. She got everything cleaned and scrubbed, her students worked on those a lot. And then once those were ready, we took them up to the digitization lab and I spent about a week digitizing models. So the models - I think there's about 41 of them - and we ended up taking over 200 shots.
w88 casino games login: Wow!
Sasha: So do w88 casino games login put them all together in to one epic shot? or do w88 casino games login just pick the best shot?
Katherine: So one of the things that I should probably describe is how we actually captured those. So we use a high resolution camera that's mounted on a column that can move up or down. The camera points down at a table and I would place the model on the table and I would have to figure out how to prop w88 casino games login so you could see the different parts of w88 casino games login because some models you have to look at all sides of w88 casino games login. So I would end up putting tape or putting something underneath to prop w88 casino games login up so I could get the different angles of w88 casino games login, I would have to turn w88 casino games login around. Some of the models actually come apart. So things like muscles or bones you would actually split them out. So we're trying to take shots where w88 casino games login was put together and split up so you could see all the different pieces of w88 casino games login.
Sean: That's really cool. So the w88 casino games login models then on the site are like composites of all these pictures and you put all the w88 casino games login pictures together? Am I understanding that right?
Katherine: So most of the images are single shot. We had some skeletons where I would pull them apart and take a shot like that and then I would leave them together and take a shot like that, but most the images w88 casino games login actually see I... w88 casino games login know had to place the bones out. In some cases I didn't know where they were supposed to go so I would have to get help on that. *all laugh* But most of the images w88 casino games login actuall see on the website are just single shots.
Sean: Okay... Cool! And then I guess another follow up: I don't know if you would have the information, but do you know how many uses the digital models have gotten versus the physical ones or is that something that Access w88 casino games login would know?
Katherine: So Access w88 casino games login had that information and when I stopped Rainey last, last year they only had a couple hundred views on the webpage and this year they had over 1,000! So my hope is that people were using that for classes or studying, especially in the COVID time.
w88 casino games login: Yeah Definitely!
Sasha: So another recent project I've heard tell about is the Digital w88 casino games login - your guys' department partnering with Washoe County Records Office? So how did all that happen and what are you guys actually digitizing for those sorts of things?
Katherine: Sure so back in 2018 Nathan Gerth attended a statewide digitization workshop and w88 casino games login was where several institutions and offices from around the state came together. I had the pleasure of attending last year but when he attended he actually met the former County recorder for Washoe County and they got to talking about things because the county has a lot of records but they don't have the equipment or infrastructure to digitize things. So I think w88 casino games login presented itself as a great opportunity for partnership with the county. So we had them come take a visit and then bring a sort of test batch, or pilot batch of materials we could digitize for them.
w88 casino games login: So like what kind of materials are we talking about here? What does the Recorders Office do, or like have?
*Sasha and w88 casino games login laugh*
Katherine: So they have official county records so we asked them to bring a variety of records, like what kind of materials represents what your office has, and what the public is interested in. So they brought, for example, cemetery records which we were able to contact one of the organizations for the Hillside Cemetery. They are interested in preserving that cemetery, in figuring out the plots and that sort of thing. They also had things that had marks and brands, so people used to have to register their marks and brands with the County. We actually have a library employee who found her family brand in one of the volumes.
w88 casino games login: So you said Hillside Cemetery? That's the one that's kind of up by the University?
Katherine: Correct. w88 casino games login's a couple blocks away from UNR.
w88 casino games login: Yeah in my undergraduate days, I used to be one of the many students who walked on through there to get to class so...
Sasha: Same with me, I used to live on Ralston street and would have to walk by w88 casino games login every day!
w88 casino games login: Nice, bringing the community together there! So this is obviously with the County... is there any sign that this will lead to any more work with the County or the State or City departments or anything like that?
Katherine: w88 casino games login has! So we've actually digitized some materials for the city and right before the pandemic hit we did a batch test for the County Assessor's Office. They have a lot of records for taxes and properties that they wanted to digitize. A lot of their materials are very large! Like if you imagine a 20x20, that's not a typical size, you can't just plop w88 casino games login on a scanner. So w88 casino games login works for us because our digitization equipment allows us to capture wide images.
w88 casino games login: How big is the table that your camera is on?
Katherine: w88 casino games login can capture 30x40 inches.
w88 casino games login: Wow and this is Hi-Def so you can get some really detailed images of really big items.
Katherine: Right, so one of the things I think is really unique about this is because this is historical materials, we are capturing things kind of like how you said 'Hi-Def' and we're able to really capture the image as-is. So whenever we do capture we actually do a calibration session and that makes sure that we're getting the right amount of exposure, the right shutter speed. We actually make sure we are getting the right Black and White so that when we do take an image, w88 casino games login appears on the screen how w88 casino games login would appear in person.
w88 casino games login: That's great! So when we were kind of prepping this interview you mentioned you had done some work with the 1000 miles Partner Project?
Katherine: Right!
w88 casino games login: I googled that and I just got really weird results so what is that? and what is the work you've been doing with it? *laughs*
Katherine: So The 1000 miles is a set of diaries that was written by husband and wife and they decided to take a prospecting trip across California and Nevada and they captured and wrote down all their encounters, where they were, what they were doing, if they found anything. So they wrote these diaries and published the volumes. So we have 3 of the volumes and my team digitized the three volumes and we have them in our w88 casino games login collection. Then when the pandemic hit it kind of presented an opportunity for w88 casino games login Collections and Special Collections who has the original physical diaries. It presented an opportunity for us to think about how can we reach out to people who are maybe not in school right now. The partner project is with the Washoe County Library and its gonna be focused mostly on school-aged children and the diaries sort of represent interesting things about animals, minerals, that sort of thing. So we've partnered with people from the community, for example we are partnering with the Keck Museums so they can talk about minerals. Some deals who can talk about animals or the landscape, that sort of thing.
w88 casino games login: That's cool! It sounds nothing like what the crazy Google results I got.
*All laugh*
Sasha: Yeah I just googled w88 casino games login right now and got like 1,000 miles by Vanessa Carlton.
w88 casino games login: Yeah
w88 casino games login: That's all good!
w88 casino games login: Yeah it sounds like a really good project and I hope that name gets out there so Google gets a little less strange.
Katherine: Yes I hope so too! *laughs*
Sasha: So is that already working for students in Washoe? Is w88 casino games login already an active thing that people are participating in or is w88 casino games login something that is coming out like for fall or...?
Katherine: It’s something coming out soon so it’s actually gonna be part of the County's Summer Reading Program. So, we already have the diaries digitized, they are already in our w88 casino games login collections so if people want to go look at them right now, they can. But what the partner project has done has created videos so we can show snip-its of the diaries, somebody's gonna read them out loud and then we'll have our partners do the lesson piece of the video. Its short videos that are for kids and hopefully it kind of introduces them to some of the primary sources that we have in Special Collections and our w88 casino games login Collections.
w88 casino games login: As someone that got a Master's in History, I feel really jealous of all the cool things like this that kids have now in school. It’s just so neat, I wish it would have been around when I was in my whole younger days!
Katherine: In your youth?
w88 casino games login: In my wee-days *laughs*
Sasha: Were any of your kids the guinea pigs for any of the materials, Katherine? Did w88 casino games login like run some stuff by them or...?
*everyone laughs*
Katherine: We actually did so I have two kids and one of them is in that target age, so I would say "what's more interesting to w88 casino games login? what image do w88 casino games login like the most?"
w88 casino games login: I don't have kids but that sounds like great parenting!
*everyone laughs*
w88 casino games login: So is there any other cool stuff that you've been working on that you wanted to mention? Any upcoming projects that you have?
Katherine: Sure, so right now the Library is working on a mining exhibit. The mining exhibit is actually gonna go up in the physical library but one of the collections we've scanned in preparation for the mining exhibit is the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company scrapbooks. These were scrapbooks that were taken out in the mining flats and they’re on Cyanotypes. Do w88 casino games login know what Cyanotypes are?
w88 casino games login: I don't... No...
w88 casino games login: No...
Sasha: I'm looking at w88 casino games login like... I know he knows! Just show off!
w88 casino games login: I'm sitting here like I know the word but I can't remember it so it’s just easier to say no.
Katherine: Did w88 casino games login ever make sun prints when w88 casino games login were kids?
w88 casino games login & Sasha: Yeah
Katherine: It’s that same sort of blue material where if you put something on it and then underneath will turn white. Cyanotype is the same kind of paper that they used to process things on so it’s pretty rare now. So they have all these scrapbooks that were really great images and obviously centered on mining. So we have already scanned it, we finished it before we all had to work from home and so right now I'm working with metadata team so we can get everything online. One of the other things we are working on... obviously we can't go to the building and do any digitization so Digital w88 casino games login kind of shifted toward born digital collections and I recently helped process the Joe Crowley collection, the born digital aspect of it, as you guys know, he was a president here for the University for I think 23 years. So he had a lot of born digital files!
w88 casino games login: That's really cool!
Katherine: You know, when people think of born w88 casino games login as being something more modern and new, but he actually had old files that went back to the 1970's. So one of the things that we have to do is make them accessible now. A lot of the files were Wordperfect andyou usually can't open a Wordperfect file anymore.
*w88 casino games login Laughs*
Katherine: So part of that processing is putting them into a file format that people can read now.
w88 casino games login: That's really cool! I bet it was - It sounds like it was pretty frustrating at some points. Where you just find something and you're like "now I have to find a computer capable of... this"
Katherine: Right!
*both chuckle*
w88 casino games login: I just imagine a box of floppy disks and being like... "okay!... That's cool"
Katherine: That's essentially what it was... Special Collections they have actual papers but then they had all these floppy disks that they brought to digital w88 casino games login and we have special equipment that allows us to read that and pull the files up so that we can then process them into more a more modern format.
w88 casino games login: Yeah, that's really cool! Very jealous.... well thank you for taking the time to talk to us!
Katherine: w88 casino games login're welcome!
w88 casino games login: And stay healthy for as long as quarantine lasts.
w88 casino games login: and I mean... after...?! *incredulously*
*all laugh*
Katherine: Yes! After too! That would be good!
w88 casino games login: No no no...! After that, you're on your own!
Sasha: w88 casino games login's well wishes only last til' the end of quarantine!
w88 casino games login: yeah, yeah
Katherine: I'll keep that in mind!
w88 casino games login: After that I'm taking the Rain Wilson approach from The Office. During quarantine you have my wishes! After that you're on your own! Survival of the Fittest!
Katherine: That means I'm gonna carry Lysol and when I see w88 casino games login I'll just spray w88 casino games login down!
*all laugh*
Katherine: That's fair
w88 casino games login: Okay, I deserve it, I deserve it
Sasha: So if you want to check out the awesome things that Katherine just talked about, all you have to do is go to our library website which is library.unr.edu and in that top little search-edy bar type the project you want to look at and it should pull up the page for that. And you can enjoy the magic of Katherine's w88 casino games login projects!!
w88 casino games login: To your hearts content! Recreate the museum experience right there in your own living room, or office, or garage, or car, or....
Sasha: I mean probably not your car unless I guess w88 casino games login're getting away from your kids and hiding in your car and its totally parked and stationary.
w88 casino games login: Yeah!
Sasha: I don't approve of driving and w88 casino games login projects viewing.
Sean: Yeah... yeahyeahyeah... that's not why Digital w88 casino games login does this! They do this so you can be safe!! *laughs*
Sasha: And there's nothing more safe than creating a museum in your own home by looking at these awesome w88 casino games login projects.
w88 casino games login: Yeah! Yeah, I mean, how likely do you think a museum heist would be if you did this in your own home?
w88 casino games login: I mean...
w88 casino games login: Some nimble cat burglar coming in through your skylight
Sasha: I don't think w88 casino games login’s very likely only because Nicholas Cage is busy filming Tiger King right now so he doesn't have time to plan a heist, National Treasure style.
w88 casino games login: I mean even...
Sasha: w88 casino games login guys are safe!
w88 casino games login: ...even if he did he would give it away by screaming at Elijah Wood or something
*both laugh*
w88 casino games login: So yeah... I enjoyed that, those projects are really fascinating to hear about. That was a good, informative conversation we had with Katherine.
Sasha: Yes and I know in the future... *SPOILER ALERT* if w88 casino games login will... we will be talking more about that 1,000 miles project in future episodes.
w88 casino games login: yeah or 'A' future episode, I think it currently in the planning stage so...
Sasha: That's like a real big spoiler that may never happen, so don't bug us about w88 casino games login.
w88 casino games login: yeah! don't @ us
Sasha: Yeah, I mean w88 casino games login can't... we don't have a twitter or Instagram so no @'ing will be had.
w88 casino games login: What happens if you @ us you basically @ the University Library's social media which it sort of gets back to Jill. *laughs*
w88 casino games login: Yeah i think....
w88 casino games login: Yeah, yeah, so basically if you want to yell at us you're going to make Jill feel bad and don't do that to Jill!
w88 casino games login: Yeah, we like Jill!
w88 casino games login: Yeah don't do that!
w88 casino games login: How about let’s not make anybody feel bad!
w88 casino games login: Yeah! Definitely!
w88 casino games login: Let’s all hippie love circle right now! We don't need to feel bad!
w88 casino games login: Yeah the world needs to feel good right now!
w88 casino games login: The world sucks enough, lets just calm down!
Sean: Yeah, yeah, the world needs to feel good right now so that's why we're talking to you about awesome things like Digital w88 casino games login... maaaaaan. Be coooool!
Sasha: All right, our credits for the episode: as always your host today were Sasha Soleta and w88 casino games login Busey. Our special guest today was Katherine Dirk, digitization Lab Manager.
w88 casino games login: As always thank you to the library's podcast team, Maggie Ressel, Michelle Rebaleati, Luka Starmer, Jill Stockton, and Reed Barrus
Sasha: A special thanks to Nathan Gerth, head of Digital w88 casino games login, who provided our introduction today. As always episode music is provided by Better Days by Luwen Wilkstrom, courtesy of Universal Production Music.
w88 casino games login: Thank you for listening! Until next time, this is 'Checked Out' Checking out!
