2.
ABSTRACT
The Arctic Slope
Regional Corporation, a for-profit regional Native
corporation with headquarters in Barrow, Alaska,
proposes to implement the Tundra Times Indexing Project.
Funding for this project in the amount of $149,964 is
being requested from the Institute of Museum and Library
Services’ Enhancement Grant. This application is
supported by the eight councils of the Iñupiat Eskimo
communities of the North Slope Borough of Alaska:
Naqsragmiut Tribal Council (Anaktuvuk Pass), Native
Village of Atqasuk, Native Village of Barrow, Kaktovik
Village of Barter Island, Native Village of Nuiqsut,
Native Village of Point Hope, Native Village of Point
Lay, and the Wainwright Traditional Council. This
project is consistent with the communities’ vision of
the ongoing educational, technological and cultural
efforts currently under way on the North Slope.
The primary goal of
this project is to provide the people of the North
Slope, as well as Alaska Natives and researchers in
Alaska and beyond, with access to the articles which
appeared in the Tundra Times newspaper over a 35-year
period from 1962 to 1997. This important resource which
documents the history of Alaska Natives and their
pivotal political struggles during this period of
intense change has never been indexed. The project will
additionally enhance the ongoing projects being
conducted by the Tuzzy Consortium Library to digitize
the entire photograph collection of the newspaper, the
North Slope Borough School District to develop an Alaska
Native history curriculum, and the University of Alaska
to expand the coverage of their Alaska Periodicals
Index.
The project objectives
are to digitize the microfilm of the 35-year run of the
weekly Tundra Times newspaper, create a full text index
to the articles with links to the scanned newspaper
images, to provide the Alaska Periodicals Index with
3000 indexing records, and to develop local talent in
advanced library technology issues. The Library will
capitalize on existing technology to accomplish these
objectives and will do so in the environment of a small,
remote library. Training for staff in the most current
indexing techniques, support from a consultant and from
the Alaska State Library and Rasmuson Library at the
University of Alaska Fairbanks will guide Library staff
to achieve and maintain nationally recognized standards
for access to digital collections and newspaper
indexing.
On behalf of the Arctic
Slope Regional Corporation, the Tuzzy Consortium Library
of
Iļisaġvik College in
Barrow will provide leadership and management for this
project. The Library Director will serve as the project
director. The Library Archivist will be responsible for
day-to-day project operations. A technician will be
hired using project funding to perform the necessary
work. The Library along with its partners, the Ukpeagvik
Iñupiat Corporation, the Iñupiat Heritage Center, the
North Slope Borough’s Iñupiat History, Language and
Culture Commission and the University of Alaska
Fairbanks will provide project oversight. Each
organization has expertise in indexing or project
development and has expressed great interest in working
with the Library. They will assist and advise the
Library in managing the project and seeing it through to
completion.
3.
NARRATIVE
The Tundra Times was the voice of Alaska
Natives statewide from 1962 to 1997. At the time, the
idea of a newspaper written by and for Alaska Natives
was audacious. In the early 1960s, the state’s
indigenous residents were a disenfranchised people. With
its first edition, the eight-page biweekly established a
fascinating mix of articles ranging from politics and
Native issues to Native life. From the beginning, the
paper sought to unify Natives. “Tundra,” the basic
ground cover of Alaska was chosen as its name. The
masthead, designed by editor Howard Rock, an Iñupiat
Eskimo from Point Hope, incorporated Eskimo, Indian and
Aleut scenes that were flanked with “Iñupiat Paitot”
(the people’s heritage) in Iñupiat and “Dena Nena Henash”
(the land speaks) in Athabascan. The paper’s editorial
policy was two-fold: to serve as the “medium to aid
(Natives) in their struggle for just determination and
settlement of their enormous problems . . . (and) to
keep informed on matters of interest to all Natives of
Alaska.”
During its 35 years of publication, the
Tundra Times reported on events that transformed the
Native way of life, including settlement of land claims,
founding of Native corporations, and the transfer of
health and social services to Native-operated nonprofit
corporations. Writing about the Tundra Times’ place in
history, Rock reported:
When we came off the
press for the first time over five years ago . . . the
Native people were dead spiritually, it seemed, because
no news media would publicize their tragic situations
and their problems. The Tundra Times, more than anything
else, I think, has awakened the fervor to do something
and help to bring out the potential in leadership among
our people.
In 1997, the Tundra Times ceased
publication. The Ukpeagvik Iñupiat Corporation (UIC) of
Barrow acquired its archives and copyrights (attachment
A), including over 120 boxes of print material as well
as a photograph collection that consisted of over 15,000
black and white prints. A year later, the collection was
placed in the care of the Tuzzy Consortium Library. The
Library, through previous support from the Institute of
Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has digitized many of
the photographs and made them available to the public
through its website (http://tundratimes.ilisagvik.cc/).
This year, 2002, is the 30th anniversary
of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) and
the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Tundra
Times. Preparations are underway statewide to celebrate
these seminal events of the 20th Century for Alaska
Natives. It is quite timely that during this celebratory
year, a project to index the Tundra Times newspaper
should finally be initiated and the articles made
available on the Internet.
The Tuzzy Consortium Library was honored
when a collection as important as the Tundra Times
archives came into its charge. With this honor came the
burden to preserve and share the information with the
other Native communities in the region and the state.
Progress has been steady as the photographs were
extracted from the collection, preservation measures
applied and the photos digitized. This first phase of
the plan is nearly complete. The second and more crucial
phase, that of indexing the newspaper articles and
matching the photographs with their captions and dates
of publication, needs to begin. This phase will not only
work to advance the previous phase, but also put the
valuable information in the newspaper itself into the
hands of the public for the first time. Although much of
the hardware and software for such a project are already
in place, personnel and expertise are needed. The
Library’s budget does not support the hiring of a
technician to perform the work nor a consultant to train
and guide the staff. It is only through the generosity
of granting agencies like IMLS that this project can
hope to proceed in a timely and expert manner.
The Tuzzy Consortium Library (hereafter
"the Library") serves as the academic library for
Iļisaġvik College and the public library for the North
Slope Borough (NSB) of Alaska. Bordered in the north by
the Arctic Ocean and in the south by the Brooks Range,
the NSB is the northernmost organized municipality in
the United States, lying entirely above the Arctic
Circle. Treeless, lowland tundra dotted by marshes,
small lakes, meandering streams, and rivers dominate
this vast area, which is roughly equal in size to the
state of Minnesota. Iñupiat Eskimos have lived in the
region for thousands of years, their survival dependent
on their ability to draw sustenance from the land and
the sea.
Approximately 8,000 people live in the NSB.
Barrow, the largest town with 4,641 residents, is 53%
Iñupiat. Other North Slope communities are more than 92%
Iñupiat. Point Hope, population 805, is the largest,
followed by Wainwright, 649; Nuiqsut, 420; Anaktuvuk
Pass, 314; Kaktovik, 256; Point Lay, 246; and Atqasuk,
224. Distances between villages are great and none are
accessible by road. Point Hope on the west is 650 miles
from Kaktovik on the east, and 400 miles northwest of
Anaktuvuk Pass.
(Attachment A.)
Because of the remoteness of the North
Slope, material goods common and inexpensive in the rest
of the United States are rare and dear. The price of a
gallon of milk is $7.00 and a gallon of gas is $3.14. In
general, the cost of living is twice as high as in the
Lower 48. The cost of hiring a technician to perform the
work for this project may sound unreasonably high, but
by arctic standards, it is just a bit above minimum
wage.
Iļisaġvik College is a two-year
institution located in Barrow. The College is an
independent, public, nonprofit post-secondary school,
established in 1986 in a cooperative agreement between
the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and the NSB, as
an extension of UAF. Coming into its own as a nonprofit
institution in 1996, the College is currently a
candidate for accreditation by the Northwest Association
of Schools and Colleges, a process that it expects to
complete by 2003. Governance of the public library
system is through Iļisaġvik College.
The Library is headquartered in Barrow,
with seven outlying branches serving the other villages.
The branches also function as the school libraries
during the day. The village community libraries’ small
collections contain popular fiction, periodicals,
general reference materials, culturally appropriate
books and Internet connections to periodical databases.
Village residents needing access to a more diverse
library collection can receive materials through
interlibrary loan. The Library is a member of OCLC, the
largest library network in the world.
More than 90% of the bibliographic
resources contained within the Library are housed in the
facility at the Iñupiat Heritage Center in Barrow. The
Library contains about 40,000 books and subscribes to
125 periodicals. Nine workstations connected to the
Internet are available free of charge to the public.
Special collections include a growing Alaskana section
with particular emphasis on arctic and polar regions,
the North Slope of Alaska and Iñupiat history, language
and culture. Reversing the exploitation of the area’s
rich cultural heritage by institutions outside the
region is among the Library’s major goals. This can be
accomplished by strengthening its capacity to preserve
and disseminate collections such as the Tundra Times
archives.
With funding from IMLS, the Tundra Times
Indexing Project (TTIP) will improve library services by
making the Tundra Times articles accessible to the
public, students, and scholars, both in the North Slope
Borough and, via the College’s Web site, throughout the
nation. The newspaper has been microfilmed by the state
library and is held in most larger libraries throughout
the state. However, this valuable resource is not
indexed and therefore, rarely used. Development of a
project of this sophistication in Barrow is consistent
with the Library’s mission as a circumpolar resource and
clearinghouse for information on the arctic, its people,
and culture. In addition, TTIP will build the Library’s
capacity to complete similar projects by training staff
in indexing and digitizing as well as by supporting
project management skills.
Perpetuating and
strengthening Iñupiat culture, language, values and
traditions - much damaged in the 19th and 20th centuries
- is central to the Library’s mission. Development of
the Tundra Times index as a resource for the public,
students, and researchers will impact on the community
by making this previously unavailable historical
treasure accessible and creating a greater understanding
of events that continue to shape the lives of Alaska
Natives. The index of articles will enhance the
Library’s growing Alaskana collection, benefiting the
NSB communities and the larger audience outside the
region.
B. Project Description
The Tundra Times
Indexing Project is designed to digitize the microfilm
of the Tundra Times newspaper, index the articles in the
collection, and to make the index and newspaper images
available to the Native communities of the North Slope
and the entire State of Alaska over the Internet.
B.1. Goals and Objectives
The primary goal of this project is to
provide access to the articles of the Tundra Times
newspaper for the Iñupiat people of the North Slope
Borough and to the other Native people and villages of
Alaska in order to more widely share this valuable
resource.
There are five main
objectives of this project:
1)
To provide training and educational opportunities
to project staff
2)
To digitize the entire run of the newspaper from
the 25 rolls of microfilm
3)
To compile a full text index from the scanned
microfilm
4)
To disseminate the articles through the Internet
5)
To provide indexing for the 3,000 most important
articles to the Alaska Periodicals Index
6)
To contribute additional indexing to the Tundra
Times Photograph project currently underway
The approach to the project goals will be
comprehensive and systematic. Pre-funding preparations
are already underway and will continue through the fall.
The project workflow has been carefully researched and
laid out. Follow-up activities are part of the
long-range plan.
Preparations
When UIC acquired the Tundra Times
archives in 1997, it also obtained, “associated
copyrights, trademarks and service marks . . . including
but not limited to, any and all articles and photos
appearing in the Tundra Times newspaper and all personal
journals or other writings of Howard Rock . . .”
(Attachment B)
For purposes of this project, the Library obtained
permission from UIC, after consultations with their
counsel, to digitize the microfilm, index the articles,
and disseminate the articles as described in this
proposal.
With completion of the Iñupiat Heritage
Center in August 1998, the Library gained office and
workspace for an archivist and assistant that will serve
as the workspace for this project. The Tundra Times
collection is stored nearby in the secure and
temperature-controlled rare book room. The work area of
the project is equipped with computers that are clients
on the College LAN. The library has recently acquired
its own Internet access which will ensure a stable,
secure and fast conduit for the development of this
project.
Contact with OCLC’s Preservation Resources
group for scanning services has been initiated and costs
have been identified. An additional copy of the
microfilm as well as project development expertise will
be donated by the State Library. Connection with the
University of Michigan’s School of Information Science
has been established for the purpose of technical and
indexing assistance from them available during the
project. FineReader OCR software has been identified as
the best OCR software currently on the market.
Greenstone Digital Library software has been selected
for this project, a copy of which will be downloaded and
connections pursued with its producers at Waikato
University in New Zealand.
The relationship between the UAF’s
Rasmuson Library Alaska Polar Regions department and
Tuzzy Consortium Library will also be further developed
with this project. The need for expertise in indexing
will be provided by Ronald Inouye and the staff of the
Alaska Periodical Index (API). Tuzzy staff will rely on
the university for help in determining name authority
file and descriptors as well as for subject heading
consistency. Project staff will provide MARC records to
the API of the approximately 3,000 most important
front-page articles over the course of the project life.
Making this data available to the API is important as
larger plans are being developed for an Alaska Virtual
Library project. Tuzzy Library will be well positioned
to assist in the coordination of planning for developing
future electronic resources of cultural, educational and
historical significance.
Training
The need for training is crucial to the
success of this project. Opportunities for formal
training and ongoing mentoring have been designed into
the project so that staff can achieve project goals.
During the first quarter of the project training in
indexing techniques will be completed by the archival
technician at UAF. A project consultant will be brought
to Barrow to train the technician in the use of
appropriate technology and will develop documentation
for the processes involved to ensure project continuity.
Follow-up visits are scheduled in order for the
consultant to mentor staff and monitor quality.
Workflow
This project represents the second of
several phases required to digitize and index the Tundra
Times archives and disseminate them widely via the
Internet. The Tundra Times newspaper microfilm consists
of approximately 17,000 images on 35mm reels. A clean
copy of the microfilm will be contributed to the project
by the Alaska State Library. This copy will be sent to
OCLC’s Preservation Resources division currently in
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
While the microfilm is being scanned, an
archival technician will be hired and sent to Fairbanks
for two weeks to train in indexing techniques at the
university. After the training is completed, a
consultant will be brought to Barrow to help set up the
OCR software, train the technician in its use and begin
the process of developing documentation. Tests and run
times will be conducted to establish benchmarks for
production. Experts have determined that a normal person
can correct OCR scanned documents for about three hours
per day. The Library intends to utilize this standard to
develop project staffing work loads. Other ongoing
project activities will include Web page development
with the assistance of Iļisaġvik College IS support
staff, MARC record preparation for the API and
photograph database enhancement. At the end of each
month’s work, the corrected data will be processed
through the Greenstone software to produce the full text
index and any other indexes desired. Each month new data
will be integrated into the existing database.
Digitizing
Following the standards promulgated by the
National Archives and Records Administration and their
Guidelines for Digitizing and Archival Materials for
Electronic Access, microfilm images will be scanned as
8-bit grayscale images at a spatial resolution of 500
dots per inch (dpi) and saved in uncompressed tagged
image file format (TIFF). The TIFF image will be saved
to compact disk. File sizes generated for each image are
estimated to be in the 6-8 megabyte range. JPEG images
will be generated from these for use on the Internet.
OCR and Indexing
ABBYY’s FineReader 6.0 Corporate Edition
will be used for optical character recognition software
because of its versatility and proven record
particularly with non-Latin fonts and ease of use.
Processing will be done in-house. It has been estimated
that a qualified, experienced person can correct
approximately 500 pages per month. For this reason,
work-study students will be hired through Iļisaġvik
College during the school year to work on the project.
Students from the University of Michigan’s School of
Information’s Cultural Heritage Preservation Institute
will participate in the process during the summer.
Once a portion of the images are
corrected, a full text database will be compiled using
the Greenstone suite of software. This software creates
a structured digital library with a powerful search and
retrieval engine. This database will be made accessible
through the project web site with links to the full text
of the articles and to the scanned page image.
Additionally, full MARC records from the 3,000 most
important articles published in the newspaper will be
created for the Alaska Periodicals Index. By the
beginning of the funding period, this database,
currently on a VTLS database, will have been converted
to a SIRSI Unicorn database. Unicorn presents many
exciting possibilities which Tuzzy Consortium Library
will be able to explore as a partner in that project.
Processing Time
Consultations with indexing experts at
Rasmuson Library and with Alu Like in Hawaii where a
similar project is being conducted, have led project
staff to conclude that the goal of indexing the Tundra
Times and publishing it to the Web is achievable in the
project’s two-year timeline. However, research into OCR
correction activates and indexing indicates that it is a
lengthy and rather intense activity. It is estimated
that one person could not accomplish this project
without assistance. Therefore, other measures have been
arranged to guarantee additional assistance on the
project. The College has indicated that two work-study
positions will be made available each semester to assist
in this process. Additional students from the University
of Michigan’s School of Information will be made
available to work on the project during the summer.
After staff have become familiar with the equipment, it
is estimated that image processing will take a maximum
of 30 minutes, including all aspects of handling from
filing to publishing on the Web. A benchmark test,
conducted once equipment is assembled in the workroom
and staff are trained, will further refine this figure.
It is assumed that as staff become familiar with the
activities, processing time per page will decrease.
Follow-up
Activities
With the formal completion of the project
several components will continue. The IHC has expressed
an interest in compiling the editorials of Howard Rock.
The North Slope Borough School District will use the
articles to develop curriculum material and an Alaska
Native history. Additional MARC records will be added to
the API index. Additional work on the photograph
database started previous to this project will continue
to completion with the aid of the full-text database.
The following action steps have been
carefully developed. We foresee no problem in their
execution.
Preceding Quarter
1)
Acquire and analyze Greenstone manuals
–Archivist, IS staff and Technician
2)
Training Web design and XML - Archivist with the
College instructors
3)
Mount project web page on server - Archivist and
IS staff
4)
Conduct paper newspaper inventory – Coordinator
Quarter 1
1)
Hire technician and finalize consultant contract
- Project Director
2)
Attend training at Rasmuson Library (UAF) –
Technician
3)
Install and test software - Iļisaġvik College IS
staff
4)
Acquire duplicate microfilm from State Library –
Project Director
5)
Complete pre-implementation activities -
Consultant and staff
(a) continue
training staff in use of hardware and software – IS
staff
(b) establish and
document scanning and indexing standards, train staff
(c) test workflow
and processing time, train staff
(d) pilot OCR and
indexing of about 50 pages, refine workflow and
processing time estimates
(e) establish
quality control procedures for OCR work and indexing
6)
Send microfilm to Preservation Resources for
scanning.
7)
Conduct quarterly review-Project Director, staff,
consultant, and advisory group
Quarter 2
1)
Fine-tune workflow and processing time estimates
based on first quarter evaluation - Consultant and staff
2)
Begin OCR corrections - Technician
3)
Conduct follow-up on-site training– Consultant
4)
Conduct quarterly review - Project Director,
staff, consultant, and advisory group
Quarter 3
1)
Continue OCR process and compile first index file
- Technician
2)
Revise Web site as needed with introductory
pages, graphics, etc. – Technician and IS staff
3)
Post index to Web - Project Director and staff
4)
Commence indexing of API records - Technician
5)
Conduct quarterly review - Project Director,
Technician, Consultant, and advisory group
Quarter 4
1)
Continue OCR and indexing - Archivist and
Technician
2)
Publish the database to the Web site – IS staff
and Technician
3)
Begin development of a guide for the collection –
Consultant and staff
4)
Conduct quarterly review - Project Director,
Technician, Consultant, and advisory group
5)
Present project at Alaska Federation of Natives
conference – Archivist and Technician
Quarter 5-7
1)
Continue OCR and indexing - Archivist and
Technician
2)
Publish the database to the Web site - Technician
3)
Conduct quarterly review - Project Director,
Technician, Consultant, and advisory group
Quarter 8
1)
Complete guide to the collection – Consultant,
Archivist and Technician
2)
Post final index to the Web - Technician
3)
Complete final evaluation - Project Director and
staff
4)
Complete final project report and submit to IMLS
- Project Director and staff
B4. Appropriate Application of Technology
The hardware and software systems selected
for TTIP were chosen as the most appropriate technology
because of ease of use, pricing/availability, and fit to
the project. The major strategic decision in the
selection of both hardware and software was whether the
products met computer industry standards or library
standards. Additionally, trends in library standards
were examined in order to determine suitability for
future migrations to advanced platforms and formats.
·
Hardware-The College is standardized on Dell
IBM-compatible computers, a decision that gives
tremendous advantages in pricing, service, and end-user
training. Computers selected for the project are fully
capable of achieving the required processing speeds and
random access memory configurations required of the
software selected. The Library staff upgraded to Dell
Optiplex GX240 running Microsoft NT in 2002.
·
Software-All of the software
selected is in wide use and commercially available,
lending advantages in terms of end-user training and
customer support. ABBYY FineReader is recognized as a
leader in OCR software. Its support of Unicode and
multilingual capabilities makes it highly suitable to
deal with certain Alaska Native characters not found in
English. After extensive research, Greenstone Software
was selected for similar language handling capabilities.
It is extensible and open-source software with a proven
track record in libraries world-wide. It has the
additional advantage of outputting text to XML based Web
pages which is highly desirable. Greenstone is fully
documented and produced and supported by the New Zealand
Digital Library Project at the University of Waikato.
The College has a fully capable
Information Systems staff that currently services and
maintains the institution’s Web site, network, hardware,
and peripherals. Additional technical assistance will be
made available through the University of Michigan’s
School of Information and a paid consultant. Software
training in standard applications is available through
the College’s Computer Applications Department, and a
consultant engaged for the project will provide training
in the applications selected. The Library’s budget,
which is administered by the Project Director, will
allow for initial purchase of the software proposed, as
well as its periodic upgrade, and the College’s IS
budget is adequate to allow for hardware upgrades when
needed.
B.5. Scope of Project that Creates Positive Change
A major focus of TTIP is staff training
and systems development so that the Library is
positioned to continue work on the Tundra Times
collection. Mentoring from consultants and staff at
UAF’s Rasmuson Library will assure that Library staff
achieve a standard of excellence that can be continued
after the grant period and position the Library to
better provide services to its clientele. Providing a
collection of the nature of the Tundra Times to the
Native communities of Alaska as well as outside
researchers will help establish the Library as an
example to other rural libraries and encourage them to
take on challenging projects.
The Library looks forward to maintaining
the Tundra Times collection as a permanent part of its
Alaskana collection. Because Tundra Times founder Howard
Rock was born and raised in Point Hope, an NSB
community, the Library has a strong commitment to
sustaining his life work. TTIP has been designed to use
local resources and build local capacity so that the
project will fit seamlessly into the College’s
operations when grant funding expires. The Archivist, a
full-time, permanent employee, will manage and maintain
the collection in the Library. The Web site (http://ilisagvik.cc/tuzzy/library/default.htm)
will be maintained by the College’s IS staff. UIC, the
owner of the Tundra Times archives, is committed to
preserving and disseminating its collection, as
evidenced by its letter of support.
The management plan for this project has
been developed along the lines of similar successful
projects managed by the Library and Iļisaġvik College.
The plan ensures input, cooperation and sharing with
other organizations interested in the cultural outcomes
expressed in this project. The plan ensures that
practices and standards for indexing and Web page
development are upheld.
C.1. Oversight
for Action Steps and Activities
The Project Director, David Ongley, will
devote approximately 10 percent of his time to providing
oversight of the project (including assisting with
questions that arise about indexing). Spending
approximately 20 percent of her time on TTIP, the
Archivist will supervise activities on a daily basis.
After establishing systems and standards during the
project’s first three months, a consultant will return
to conduct follow-up training during the second quarter.
On a weekly and monthly basis, she will continue to
perform spot checks on the quality of the digitized
files and indexed records via the Internet. The
Oversight Committee will evaluate TTIP every quarter.
This combination of systems development, training, and
continuous quality control will help keep completion of
the action steps and activities to the highest
standards.
The Library has been the recipient of four
major grant awards. Included in these: Tumikut: Pathways
to Literacy, a Library Research and Demonstration
Project (Department of Education) which led to the
production of educational materials in the Iñupiaq
language, IMLS Enhancement grants in 1998 and 2000 for a
Catalog Conversion and Training Project and its current
Tundra Times Photograph Project. Iļisaġvik College is
managing several other major awards, including a
Workforce Development Grant from the U.S. Department of
Labor (nearly a million dollars annually), a Title III
award from U.S. Department of Education ($1.8 million
over 5 years), a National Science Foundation
Technological Education Program grant ($300,000), and an
award from the Working Connections Program ($250,000) -
giving it extensive experience in handling grant funds
and responding to audit requirements. As a result, the
College has the financial and project management
expertise to fully implement the project without
difficulty
The project staff
and Oversight Committee members are recognized
authorities in their fields of expertise. The
Iñupiat Heritage
Center in which the Library is housed is a
state-of-the-art facility. Its climate controls
safeguard precious collections, such as the Tundra Times
archives. A room set aside for the project is
conveniently located close to the storage area. The
Library will provide hardware, software, and supplies
described above for this project. Provisions have been
made to conduct the project according to the highest
library and archival standards. All of the pieces are in
place to make this project successful.
Iļisaġvik College’s Division of Business
and Finance employs generally accepted accounting
principles that meet all standards required for
government and/or nonprofit entities. Internal policies
and procedures have been established to guide
administration of accounts payable, reconciliation of
the general ledger, shipping and receiving,
encumbrances, payroll, accounts receivable, and
purchasing. Great Plains Dynamics Software is used for
all accounting needs. Modules include General Ledger,
Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Encumbrances,
Payroll, Fixed Assets and FRX Report Writer.
The general ledger chart of accounts was
designed to comply with reporting standards for
institutions of higher education as documented in the
Financial Accounting and Reporting Manual for higher
education developed by the National Association of
College and University Business Officers. The general
ledger account structure assures that general fund
accounts, grant funds, restricted funds, auxiliary
accounts and special revenue are separated according to
the type of funding source. For tracking purposes, every
grant is assigned a unique identifying number with funds
and expenses allocated to that account.
An independent certified public accounting
firm conducts an annual audit of all accounting
functions in compliance with the standards required for
educational and/or nonprofit entities. A financial
statement and independent auditor’s report are issued as
a result. The accounting firm of Mikunda, Cottrell &
Company currently provides these services to Iļisaġvik
College.
D. Personnel
The Project Team
(see attached resumes) will be headed by the Library
Director, David Ongley, who will serve as the Project
Director. Archivist,
Fannie Akpik, who is a
recognized expert in Iñupiat language and culture, will
oversee the day to day operation of the project. She has
worked with scanners and computers for many years in her
capacity as assistant professor of Iñupiat Studies at
Iļisaġvik College. She has training in web site
development and multimedia projects. She effectively
provides leadership of the photograph digitizing project
currently underway. The project technician will perform
most of the OCR activities as well as prepare the
indexing. (Job description. Attachment D). Consultants
for this project will be selected for their expertise in
indexing, database management and computer programming.
Local experts Brower, Savok and Harcharek as well as UAF
professor Inouye will serve on the Oversight Committee
and contribute expertise in project management, indexing
and cultural affairs.
·
David Ongley, Director,
Tuzzy Consortium Library Qualifications: Mr.
Ongley has an ALA accredited M.L.S. and 20 years
experience in the provision of professional library
services.
Experience: In the last 6 years, he has administered
16 grants totaling nearly a million dollars. Mr. Ongley
will devote 10% of his time to the project.
·
Fannie Akpik, Archivist, Tuzzy
Consortium Library Qualifications: Ms. Akpik is a
cultural expert who has been extensively involved with
revitalizing Iñupiaq language and culture in the NSB.
Experience: Ms. Akpik has served as the Chair of the
Iñupiaq Language Teacher Education Program at the
College for the last four years. Devoting 20% of her
time to TTIP, Ms. Akpik will manage the project on a
day-to-day basis.
·
Ronald Inouye, Editor, Alaska
Periodicals Index, UAF. Qualifications: Mr.
Inouye directs the preeminent indexing effort in the
state. His involvement is crucial to the successful
completion of this project. Experience: Mr.
Inouye has been an innovator and leader in a state-wide
indexing effort since 1987. He will devote two weeks of
his staff time to training the Tuzzy technician and
serve in an advisory capacity for the duration of the
project which includes 4-6 hours per quarter.
·
Ronald Brower, Director, IHC
Qualifications: Mr. Brower is a recognized expert in
Iñupiaq art, culture, and language. Experience:
He was on the Board of Directors of the Tundra Times
from 1992 to 1998 which makes him a valuable resource
for the project. As the Director of the museum housed in
the IHC, Mr. Brower is currently mounting an exhibit to
showcase Howard Rock and the Tundra Times. He is
planning to compile a book of the writings of Rock once
the newspaper articles are available. Serving in an
advisory capacity, he will devote 4-6 hours per
quarter to TTIP.
·
Christopher Savok,
Acting-Liaison, IHLC
Qualifications: Mr. Savok is a trained expert in
Iñupiaq culture, artifact cataloging and preservation.
Experience: The IHLC maintains a database of
artifacts and a historic photograph which Mr. Savok
helped develop, and now manages. His involvement with
the project will lend relevant expertise, and facilitate
coordination of their efforts at document preparation
and database development. Serving in an advisory
capacity, he will devote 4-6 hours per quarter to
TTIP.
·
Jana Harcharek, Manager,
Bilingual/Multicultural Instruction, North Slope Borough
School District Qualifications: Ms Harcharek’s
office develops curriculum material for the NSBSD that
is culturally relevant and grade-level appropriate for
Native students. Experience: Recognized cultural
expert. As the former IHLC Liaison officer she has
developed similar projects and has served in an advisory
capacity on several other Tuzzy projects. Serving in an
advisory capacity, her will devote 4-6 hours per
quarter to TTIP
E. Evaluation
The evaluation process employed for this
project will be comprehensive and systematic. A
combination of baseline data comparisons during the life
of the project and quarterly scrutiny by the Oversight
Committee will provide the basis for daily observation,
review and, if necessary, redirection by the Archivist
and Director.
Baseline data collected as soon as the
microfilm scan is completed will measure OCR correction
time and indexing quality and time. Because project
staff must be trained for the project, it is assumed
that baseline measurements will need to be reassessed
quarterly. It is anticipated that once the project is
underway and the indexer becomes comfortable with the
systems, indexing quality will increase as indexing
times decrease. As the project begins, consulting staff
will help the project director conduct a comprehensive
assessment of the readiness of the facility, equipment,
and staff so that any needed adjustments can be made in
the project completion schedule.
The Oversight Committee composed of local
cultural experts Brower and Harcharek, the UAF indexing
specialist Inouye, an appointee from UIC, the Archivist
and the Project Director will monitor quality, guide
development, and work to integrate the project with
programs at the IHC, IHLC and UAF. Convening four times
a year, the Oversight Committee will be instrumental in
conducting a concurrent evaluation of performance to
objectives and success in achieving the goal of
increasing public access to the Tundra Times collection.
The collected baseline data and schedule of completion
will guide the committee’s assessment of timetables and
the project’s ability to achieve its six objectives.
E.3. Measurement of Outcomes
The quantifiable measurement of project
outcomes in relationship to project objectives will be
conducted in an observable manner on an ongoing basis.
Several objectives can be measured simply by noting
whether or not they have been completed, such as the
scanning of the microfilm and availability of an online
index. During the course of the project, progress can be
measured by such factors as the number of issues
digitized, the number of articles indexed, the number of
corrections required and the amount of time spent at
each of the tasks. A standard “hit counter” on the
project Web page will measure usage of the information
presented.
The quality of the indexing is of more
importance than the quantity, but more difficult to
measure. The quality control measures designed into this
project will ensure that acceptable standards for
indexing are adopted. It is anticipated that the
consultant will examine the indexing on monthly basis
and find no more than 10% in need of correction either
in content or format with an additional expectation that
the error rate will decrease throughout the project.
Tuzzy Library is committed to measuring
the short term objectives and the long term impact of
this project to the North Slope and to other rural
libraries. Through training, educational opportunities
and experience, library staff will become knowledgeable
in advanced library techniques and increase their
capacity to provide technical assistance and
consultation to other institutions. As such, they will
be sought after for their opinions and expertise as
other libraries look for leadership in similar projects
of their own. This has already begun to happen through
the successful work on the photograph digitization
project.
After the initial training period is
completed, the progress on scanning microfilm and
placing the index online will be evaluated on a monthly
basis. The compilation of the index will depend on the
indexer’s ability to increase the speed at which s/he
becomes more experienced with the OCR software. This is
easily measured by counting the records generated each
month. Evaluation of the training will include quarterly
staff interviews and self-assessments by project
personnel. Progress toward completing the work discussed
above will also form an important measure of the
training’s success.
Through the community satisfaction survey
it should be possible to receive feedback which could
lead to future improvements. It is hoped that by
providing access to the articles of the Tundra Times to
the Iñupiat community of the North Slope and Alaska
Natives elsewhere, this project will promote a greater
understanding of the events that shaped their lives.
A community survey will be conducted among
library patrons and through the Web site. Users will be
invited to respond to a survey that includes questions
on: (a) who they are, e.g. educator, parent, etc., (b)
how easily they accessed materials, either in the
library or at the Web site, (c) how they intend to use
the information they obtained, (d) what related
information would be of interest to them and (e) from
where they have logged on. This self-report survey will
measure satisfaction. In an on-going effort to ensure
database user-friendliness, the Library will conduct
several usability exercises that the staff will monitor.
Users will be given a script to follow, and their ease
and success in accomplishing the steps will be rated.
Adjustments will be made to screens and instructions
based on findings from both the community survey and
usability exercise. Responses to the survey will guide
dissemination efforts, within the scope and budget of
the project.
The following evaluative questions will be
answered by the advisory committee in the final report
at the end of the project:
1)
Have the project goals and objectives been
successfully completed?
2)
What issues emerged from the project? What issues
need additional attention after the project ends?
3)
Were any techniques developed that can assist
other libraries, especially small libraries in remote
locations, with similar projects?
4)
What factors promoted training success? What
obstacles had to be overcome?
5)
In what ways did the project strengthen community
partnerships?
6)
How successful was the Web site in reaching a
regional and national audience?
7)
How will the findings from this project affect
future projects at the Library?
8)
What unexpected results emerged?
TTIP will employ specialized off-the-shelf
technology that is commercially available. The project
is unique in that a small, very remote library that
serves an indigenous population is undertaking it. Major
research facilities and state libraries have long
usurped data from other cultures and profited in so
doing without necessarily collaborating with or
returning anything to the people from which the data
came. The Library hopes to continue to reverse this
trend by demonstrating that a small library can
undertake a major project and successfully carry it
through to completion to benefit those it serves.
Like other libraries serving Native
Americans, the Library is building a rich archive of
materials related to its primary patrons but has limited
resources with which to support their broad use. Despite
this obstacle, Library staff are committed to conducting
the project themselves. They believe that they are
ideally suited for this purpose because they bring to it
an understanding of the historical, cultural, and
political forces that surrounded the Tundra Times during
its 35-years of publication. TTIP will be a model for
improving service to patrons in other Native American
libraries, especially those found in remote locations,
which have an opportunity to preserve unique historical
documentation but must train staff and work within
limited resources to do so.
The most obvious form of documentation of
the results of TTIP will be the project description on
the World Wide Web. A page detailing the project and
updating the progress will be maintained from the
outset. If funded, this proposal will be posted to it.
It is also planned that a paper will be written for
publication in newsletters and other periodicals that
will review how the project achieved its goals. A
PowerPoint presentation will be developed so that
presentations at conferences and meetings can be easily
accomplished.
Promotions for the TTIP will be widely
disseminated through a variety of media. It will be
available to anyone in the world with an Internet
connection. Furthermore, the staff of the Library
through the following means will promote it:
·
An interactive Web site on the World Wide Web.
·
A collection available to the
public at Tuzzy Consortium Library in Barrow, Alaska.
·
Press releases to print and
electronic media throughout Alaska
·
Presentations at professional
meetings, such as those held by the Alaska Library
Association, the American Library Association, the
American Indian Library Association, the International
Indigenous Librarians Forum, the Polar Libraries’
Colloquy and the Alaska Federation of Natives.
The Library expects to break new ground
with this project as it implements a high-tech effort
more than 500 miles from the closest urban center.
Lessons to be shared will focus on effective models for
training, project management, and quality control of
this type of technology-rich endeavor within a small
library serving a predominantly indigenous population.
Venues for sharing this information include the
statewide network of library professionals through their
annual meetings, and national conferences, such as that
conducted by the American Library Association. David
Ongley, the Project Director and Director of the
Library, is an active participant in these networks.
TTIP’s role in establishing a trend that will reverse
the outflow of cultural treasures from the arctic makes
it a central activity for the Library, and one about
which the Project Director has a commitment to report to
the Native library community.
G. Contributions and Cost Sharing
Commitment
The Tuzzy Consortium Library and its
parent organization, Iļisaġvik College, are committed to
supporting the costs associated with this project. As
such, the Library Director will commit 10% of his time
to the project and the Archivist 20% of her time.
Although this exceeds the percentage of cost-sharing
required, it is felt by the administration that this
project is of great importance and a desirable outcome
is anticipated. Cash matches will be provided by the
Iñupiat Heritage Center for the scanning of the
microfilm and by the Alaska State Library which will
donate a complete clean negative copy of the microfilm
from the master copy.
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