Creating history: a case study in making oral histories more accessible in the digital age
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/DLP-06-2016-0016 |
| Pages | 48-62 |
| Published date | 13 February 2017 |
| Date | 13 February 2017 |
| Author | Kristopher Turner |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology,Records management & preservation,Information repositories |
Creating history: a case study
in making oral histories more
accessible in the digital age
Kristopher Turner
University of Wisconsin Law School Library, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this study is to examine how the University of Wisconsin Law School Library
sought to create easily searchable oral histories by partnering with the University of Kentucky and the
University of Wisconsin Oral History Program. Through this partnership, a digital archive of fully searchable
and indexed oral histories with links to relevant articles, Library of Congress keywords, summaries and maps
is being created, giving users the ability to delve into the Law School’s history more deeply and with more
historical perspective than ever before.
Design/methodology/approach –The implementation of the Oral History Metadata Synchronizer
(OHMS) and the development of a daily workow for adding University of Wisconsin Law School oral
histories to the program is closely examined. The pros and cons of the program are discussed as well as the
future of the Law School oral histories.
Findings –The OHMS program is a powerful tool that allows researchers to quickly and easily locate
relevant portions of an oral history, saving the time required to review hours of an interview. OHMS also
allows archivists and librarians to better organize and catalog each oral history by providing important
metadata tools that provide context and background on each unique oral history.
Originality/value –The University of Wisconsin Law School is the rst law school to implement the
OHMS program in concert with an institutional repository. The program, which is free and open source, may
be of great value to historians, archivists and non-prots who wish to make their content more visible and
more searchable.
Keywords Institutional repository,
Oral history, Indexing metadata, Oral History Metadata Synchronizer (OHMS),
University of Kentucky Louie B. Nunn center for oral history,
University of Wisconsin law school library
Paper type Case study
Oral histories can be a tremendous resource for historians, legal researchers and
colleagues who want to revisit the thoughts, beliefs and experiences of professionals
who have passed away or left an indelible mark on their profession. However, bringing
this content out of the dusty storage basement and making it easily available and
searchable to users has been a challenge, especially for libraries who do not employ
trained archivists or oral historians. When the University of Wisconsin Law School
Library sought to include oral histories of faculty collected over the past 40 years in a
new online institutional repository, a partnership with UW’s Oral History Program and
with the University of Kentucky’s Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History was forged.
This partnership will result in user-friendly oral histories via the use of the Oral History
Metadata Synchronizer (OHMS) tool. UW Law has begun the process of creating a
digital archive of fully searchable and indexed oral histories with links to relevant
articles, Library of Congress Subject Headings, summaries and maps. This partnership
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2059-5816.htm
DLP
33,1
48
DigitalLibrary Perspectives
Vol.33 No. 1, 2017
pp.48-62
©Emerald Publishing Limited
2059-5816
DOI 10.1108/DLP-06-2016-0016
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