Join the us virtually on June 12th, for Connecticut Digital Archive (CTDA) Virtual Open Meeting! Come Zoom with the CTDA and other archivists, curators, and librarians from across Connecticut to talk about all the work being done to advance digital cultural heritage across the state.

When: 9:00am, Friday, June 12th, 2019

Where: Zoom! (Supported by the Connecticut League of History Organizations (CLHO))!


A special thank you to the CLHO for hosting the 2020 CTDA Open Meeting on their Zoom account. Visit https://clho.org to learn more about the great work they are doing for cultural heritage organizations all around Connecticut.

9:00 - 9:15 am - Welcome and Opening Remarks

9:15 - 10:15 am - Key Note from Tom Scheinfeldt with Q&A and Discussion

10:15 - 10:30 am - Break

  • CTDA Q&A During Break

10:30 - 11:30 am - CTDA Annual Report (Download Presentation)

11:30 am - 12:30 pm - Break (Lunch on your own)

  • CTDA Q&A During Break 11:30 - 12:00

12:30 - 1:15 pm - Community Conversations

  • What is the CTDA?

  • Curated Collections

  • Documenting Pandemic

  • 1 or 2 community suggested topics

1:15 - 1:30 pm - Break

  • CTDA Q&A During Break

1:30 - 2:30 pm - Lightning Talks

2:30 - 2:45 pm - Wrap Up!

CTDA Staff will stay after the meeting for any discussion!


Key Note Speaker

Archives after COVID-19: It's About the Mission, Not About the Reopening

Tom Scheinfeldt

University of Connecticut

Director, Digital Humanities in the Digital Media Center
Associate Professor of Digital Media and Design
Associate Professor of History


Lightning Talks

When to add Coordinates (or not): Best Practices for Approaching Coordinates and Geographic Metadata - Michael Howser, San Diego State University

To include coordinates or not to include coordinates, is a challenge we all struggle with as we develop metadata. Including coordinates in metadata provides highly accurate location information which can enable spatial research or can lead to incorrect assumptions if applied to objects with less geographic specificity. This session will provide overview of best practices of how to approach including coordinates and geographic information in metadata records to enable spatial research.

The Islandora Ecosystem - Melissa Anez, Islandora Foundation

A quick overview of the Islandora community, how it supports the development and maintenance of the software, and how CTDA fits in to this international open-source community.

Let Me Google [Form] That For You: Using Google Forms to aid in the CTDA upload process - Jennifer Sharp, Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library

Jennifer will describe the Hartford History Center's process for entering item and collection metadata via Google Forms, which is ultimately uploaded to the CTDA through spreadsheet ingest.

Pandemic Projects: Avon's Digitization work during COVID-19 - Tina Panik, Avon Free Public Library

Since the closure of public libraries in mid-March, the Avon Library's reference team has uploaded 1,800 items to the CTDA repository. Hear about their projects!

Intro to Connecticut Collections - Diane Lee, CLHO/Connecticut Collections

This session will give a brief overview of the Connecticut Collections (CTCo) project from CLHO and what the benefits might be for your institution. CTCo is a combination cataloging, presentation, and preservation project to help all size ranges of Connecticut institutions manage and present their collections.

Husky ReVeiw - Brooke Gemmell, Greenhouse Studios, University of Connecticut Library

Husky ReView, an augmented-reality intervention, is designed to unearth and make more visible certain forgotten aspects of, and events from, the recent past of the University of Connecticut. In particular, this AR intervention draws from material in the UConn Archives and Special Collections, which explores student activism in response to issues such as race, white supremacy, and the Vietnam War.

Out of the Archives and Into Your Home: Teaching with Collections in a Pandemic - Rebecca Parmer, Archives & Special Collections, University of Connecticut Library

Alongside our faculty colleagues, UConn ASC had to rapidly transition to online teaching and learning to maintain academic continuity throughout Spring 2020. With over 100 classes scheduled using our collections, the pivot to digital-only instruction presented a set of challenges and opportunities to transform engagement with primary sources. This lightning talk will discuss some of the tips, resources, & lessons we learned in transitioning primary source instruction to the digital environment.

Creating CHS's Digital Catalog - Andrea Rapacz, Connecticut Historical Society 

In 2016, CHS embarked on a project to create a system that would allow researchers and staff to search both the museum and library collections through one portal. The result is CHS’s Digital Catalog. The Digital Catalog went live in May, and is now in its pilot phase. The catalog pulls from the CTDA, but allows for even MORE metadata to be included in each record. Director of Collections, Andrea Rapacz will give a brief overview of the project and the catalog.

Connecticut Collections Alliance Project: Resource Curation - Kathy Foulke, Mystic Seaport Museum; Hartford History Center at Hartford Public Library

The Connecticut Humanities grant-funded Connecticut Collections Alliance project is exploring ways to facilitate access, discovery and usability of digital heritage resources for a wide range of audiences. One project component is metadata enhancement and sharing of CTDA contributor resources to curated topical sets—new topics as well as topics curated by Connecticut History Illustrated through a 2017 Connecticut Humanities-funded project to support Connecticut History Illustrated and TeachIt!


Virtual Meeting Ground Rules 

We have learned a few things since we have moved to all virtual meeting in the past 3 months. Below are a few ground rules that we have found to be helpful while participating in an online meeting: 

  • Mute your microphone unless you are speaking

  • Please keep your camera off during presentations. You are welcome to turn them on to ask questions, during breaks and community conversations.

  • Pets, kids, significant others, etc. wandering into the frame are OK. (In fact, we encourage them to visit during breaks!)

  • Snacks and drinks are OK (even if you can’t share them!)

  • If you have to step out to deal with something—that’s OK, but please don’t take your video/audio feed with you while you do.

We have designed the meeting so you can pick and choose which sessions you would like to attend. You can spend the whole day, or drop in for any particular session. You can design your own meeting experience!


Zoom Breakout Rooms

We will be hosting the virtual meeting using Zoom (thanks to the CLHO for letting us use their account!). We will be using the Zoom Breakout Room feature for a number of events, including during breaks and for the community conversations. You can learn how to use breakout rooms in this guide from Zoom support.

We will also have a support person available during the meeting if you need any help.


Meeting Zoom Backgrounds

Download one of our custom Zoom background images for the meeting! Or make your own, https://photofunia.com/categories/all_effects/retro-wave!