Projects:

Office of Strategic Initiatives
National Digital Information and Infrastructure Preservation Program (NDIIPP)

The Office of Strategic Initiatives can host two students for any of the following five projects.


1. Bibliography of Current Literature on Geospatial Data Preservation
Geospatial information is interesting because it about location. As geospatial intelligence becomes an increasingly significant aspect of everyday software applications, it becomes even more important to ensure that geospatial materials are understandable and preservable for the long-term. Much of the literature on the long-term preservation of geospatial materials ranges across intellectual domains, originating from the disciplines of geography, computer science, and information and library science, amongst others. These materials are also challenging to compile as they are produced by a large variety of academic, government and private industry researchers. Working in this area, you will develop a bibliography of the available cross-disciplinary literature on geospatial preservation from a variety of domains and sources. This bibliography will be used by LC staff and made available to a variety of LC partners working on state and local geospatial preservation projects.


2. Research into the Archiving Practices of State and Local GIS Producers
One notable goal of one state Geographic Information Systems data preservation program has been to "socialize" the problem of preservation by exploring the levels of preservation awareness and preservation practice amongst county geospatial information producers within the state. It will be useful to have similar information available for other states or localities that have shown significant activity in this area. Working in this area, you will prepare brief case studies on individual states or localities active in preserving their digital geospatial information. These case studies would include an overview of each state's preservation practices regarding geospatial information, and might include: responsible agency (or agencies), contact information (name, address, phone number, E-mail), frequency of capture information, information on preservation formats and methods, and areas where the preserving entity wishes to improve. These case studies will be used by LC staff and made available to LC partners working on state and local geospatial preservation projects.

Participant Comments

"Used online documentation to research the archiving practices taking place in three different states, looking specifically at collaboratory efforts to preserve and share GIS data between state and local data producers. Compiled case studies for each of the states' programs, and presented my findings to the office supervisor on the last day of the week.

"I liked being treated like a regular and valuable member of the office I was working in. Writing the case studies and presenting my findings made for great practical experience. Meeting with the congressional cartographer was enlightening, and has made me think about what it would like to work with GIS and public policy. I previously thought I would prefer to work in an academic environment, but working with GIS at the LOC would be quite interesting. The feedback on my work that I received from my site supervisors throughout the week was very helpful."


3. Survey of State Electronic Records Management Policies
NDIIPP is looking forward to engaging with the states in an effort to preserve state and local electronic records. While some states have current and comprehensive electronic records management policies providing guidance for preserving state and local electronic records, others have less robust policies. This project involves a survey of state electronic records management policies to measure the current status of policies in this critical area. The deliverable will be a bibliography and brief narrative analysis of your findings. This information will be used by LC staff and others during the course of an anticipated project to implement multi-state digital preservation programs.


4. Survey of Digital Preservation Governance Models
NDIIPP is conceived as a network of networks, which makes its organizational characteristics complex and challenging. A competitive analysis of organizational models and characteristics would provide a spectrum along which the NDIIPP network management could orient itself. The focus of this project is to analyze the various characteristics of the governance/organizational models currently in practice in the digital preservation arena, libraries and archives, and cultural heritage institutions. You will review a list of potential models for network or system organization, perform an environmental scan to add any relevant models, review each system and analyze its functions and characteristics. The product will be a brief report on your findings and a matrix of the aspects of the model systems. This information will be used by LC staff and others during the course of a major effort to design and implement a national digital stewardship network.


5. Preservation Policies
To achieve NDIIPP's goal of creating a preservation network, information is needed about the various digital preservation policies and strategies that national libraries and archives outside the U.S. are currently using. Working with NDIIPP Program Officers, you would conduct a literature review and perform general research to capture the range of digital preservation policies at libraries and archives around the world. These would include strategic plans, funding programs, and other efforts to bring about positive change. The deliverable will be a brief report summarizing review findings. If time allows and you're interested in the subject, you could work with the Library of Congress Law Library to perform an international review of policies and laws that protect cultural heritage. This research would focus on both preservation in general and digital preservation. This deliverable would be a brief report of review findings.

Library Services Social Sciences Cataloging Division


6. Pre-1970 Congressional Hearings (One Student)
Prior to 1970, catalogers at the Library of Congress classified congressional hearings according to the topic of the hearing. Consequently, these older hearings were scattered throughout the library's stacks, making access to them difficult, especially since many of the bibliographic records are of poor quality. When the K classification for law materials became available, numbers were provided in the KF (U.S. Law) schedule for arranging hearings according to the committee or subcommittee holding the hearing. A project was launched several years ago to reclass the older hearings into the KF schedule, and, in the process, improve the bibliographic records. Much of this work has now been completed, but library staff continue to find many of these older hearings in the general collection stacks and then send them to the Law Team for processing. There is some urgency to completing this project, since Google started to digitize the pre-1970 hearings in July, and we obviously want the digitization to be as inclusive as possible. This project would provide an opportunity to work with the Library of Congress classification system, enrich bibliographic records, and contribute toward a major digitization effort.

Library Services Geography and Map Division


7. Cartographic Electronic Formats Collection (One Student)
The holdings of the Geography and Map Division (G&M) at the Library of Congress number over five million maps, charts, atlases, globes, models, and digital files, and occupy a 2.5-acre space in the James Madison Building. G&M houses the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world. Its mission is to document the history of cartography by acquiring geographic and cartographic resources worldwide covering all time periods, languages, geographic areas, and formats. G&M seeks a student intern who has some knowledge of or interests in cataloging cartographic materials. Knowledge of a foreign language is helpful. The project will consist of the student intern working with a cartographic materials cataloger on the Electronic Formats Collection (CD-ROMs). The student will search the ILS database for duplicates, organize the collection, view the CD-ROM to make sure it corresponds with G&M collection standards, and enter collection level catalog records into Voyager using the MARC format. The project will increase the student's knowledge and experience with metadata and cataloging. In addition the student intern will gain exposure to other units within G&M, such as Reference, Collection Development, and the Digital Library.

Participant Comments

"I examined cartographic software which had been provided to the G&M Division for possible collecting. I identified those items which did not fall under the collections policy and those which did; of the latter, I searched for existing records in the LC database and matched printouts to the physical material where possible.

"I enjoyed the work, even though it wasn't exactly exciting; I liked the judgment aspect of applying the collections policy to ambiguous material.

"I have been growing curious about a career in maps librarianship and the ASB assignment has only made me more interested. Iris Taylor was great to work for; she made me feel welcome from the very first meeting and never gave me the slightest hint otherwise. She made sure I met many of the catalogers and gave me the chance to see how much of the division operates. Iris and the G&M Division gave me more than they asked for in return.

"And everyone was so friendly and grateful to us. Plus, after getting an inside look at the workings of such a place, I feel very comfortable about my ability to step into this kind of work when I graduate."

Library Services Prints and Photographs Division


8. National Child Labor Committee Collection (One or Two Students)
Enrich online access to the National Child Labor Committee Collection by adding subject access points to existing catalog records. Look at scans of photographs created by Lewis Hine, 1908-24; use the thesaurus called LCTGM to select subjects for the topics depicted; and enter the index terms in Minaret MARC-format software. The images are available online.

Library Services Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC)


9. Competitive Sourcing Working Group (One Student)
Organize and annotate the papers of the Competitive Sourcing Working Group (CSWG), and create a resources page on Competitive Sourcing for the FLICC/FEDLINK Web site. The CSWG was established about five years ago to monitor outsourcing occurrences and trends in federal libraries. The group conducted a survey and collected various articles on the topic. This information now needs to be organized so it can be mounted on the Web site and used as a resource for federal libraries faced with the prospect of being outsourced.


10. Federal Library Census (One or Two Students)
Assist in setting the technical requirements for the FLICC/FEDLINK Federal Library Census. FLICC/FEDLINK last undertook a comprehensive census of federal libraries in 1994. It is long-overdue to conduct another census. This one will be online and will be administered with assistance from NCLIS and the Census Bureau. Before we can begin, we need to set the technical requirements for the census in terms of the final product. How will people view the results? Will they use the census to generate their own reports? Will they change the format to suit their needs?


11. Virtual Federal Library (One or Two Students)
Help to envision the virtual federal library. Many guidelines and standards exist in the physical library world in terms of acquisitions, collections, staffing, services, preservation, etc. What are the equivalents in the virtual library world and more specifically, what is a model for a typical virtual federal library? This project may involve a survey, some onsite visits and interviews, and a literature search.

Library Services Technology Policy Directorate


12. Library 2.0 Activities (One Student)
The "Library 2.0" movement brings "Web 2.0" concepts -- providing services at the point of need, providing users with involvement in the systems they use, etc. Review and evaluate Library 2.0 efforts at other libraries, in the following order as time permits: U.S. and overseas national libraries, academic and research libraries, and public libraries. Recommend possible Library 2.0 initiatives at LC to support the library's mission and goals.

Participant Comments

"I researched Library 2.0 in general and specific 2.0 projects at national libraries around the world. I conducted a literature review, searched national library Web sites, and communicated with contacts at national libraries by phone and E-mail. I also participated in a meeting among LC staff on blogs and wikis and I received a demonstration of Second Life from an LC staff member who is researching the virtual world.

"I liked that my days were full of interesting, challenging, meaningful work. But, there is a direct trade-off between having enough work to feel meaningfully engaged in an organization and having enough time to understand expectations/culture and produce good work. I met many wonderful people who were very open with me about their organization. This had the most impact on me. The LC is now an organization I will consider working for, both because of the people I met, the work I did, and because through ASB I got acquainted with D.C. and learned that I like the city.

"My supervisor, Erik Delfino, was a superb mentor and supervisor. I cannot say enough in praise of the job he did preparing my project, guiding my progress, imparting his knowledge, welcoming me into the setting, exposing me to other interesting members of the organization, and inspiring me professionally. My organization was also very welcoming and expressed its appreciation of our work. ASB at the LC was truly a wonderful experience!

"I most enjoyed getting an accurate taste of life as a professional at the Library of Congress."


13. Guided Search Tools (One Student)
The implementation of the Endeca "guided navigation" software with the North Carolina State University library's public catalog has generated enormous interest in this technology. Conduct a review of the marketplace and describe other tools that implement a "faceted" approach to presenting search results, especially those that have been in used in a library setting. The review should include both tools like Endeca, specifically configured to work with bibliographic and other structured metadata, as well as general tools that work with unstructured Web pages.

Library Services American Folklife Center


14. Field Recordings (One Student)
The student will help inventory field recordings in audio disc form. These materials are, on average, about 50 years old. Information will be entered in an Access database, including unique ID numbers and other metadata. The student will receive guidance on how to describe the condition of these materials, as an important way to document them prior to digitization.


15. Recording Logs (One Student)
The student will create recording logs for the 2004 Benjamin A. Botkin Folklife Lecture Series, a monthly series focusing on the best of current research and practice in folklore, folklife, and closely related fields. The student will listen to the recordings and learn about the process of describing sound recordings for reference use.

Participant Comments

"I watched eight videos, each one hour to 1.5 hours long, and took detailed notes about what was said, what images were shown, and the matching time on the tape. I liked seeing how the department worked and got to do a little research on a personal interest of mine.

"I disliked the work. I felt the assignment wasn't geared toward someone with the training I (or anybody at SI) have had. I realized that LC is a very bureaucratic place, and I probably don't want to work there, regardless of the great collections."

Library Services Instructional Design and Training Division


16. Web-Based Course Development (One Student)
Work with an instructor to assist with the development of Web-based courses with a library slant by doing research and writing. Possibly teach a course that has already been developed.


17. Training Facilitation (One Student)
Serve as a facilitator for Skillsoft courses on Microsoft Office suite, Web-related courseware. Intern would take the course and then work out how to facilitate it in the classroom.

Participant Comments

"I observed the facilitation of online Microsoft Skillsoft software courses -- actually took the class -- and proposed a template for uniform facilitation of the online course. Additionally, I designed auxiliary exercises to utilize when facilitating the Microsoft Word course.

"I enjoyed almost everything about the assignment. Immediately I was given meaningful challenging work to accomplish, and was supported by my hosting department. My suggestions were valued and I truly felt like a contributing member of the group. My supervisor was warm and welcoming, and even took time to get to know me personally.

"Upon returning home from ASB, I decided to leave the school media track in favor of pursuing the wide array of library-related jobs that I was exposed to at the LC.

"Judith Cannan was a wonderful mentor in addition to being an inspiring boss. Creativity, independent thought, and risk-taking were all encouraged and supported."