Inspired by the purchase of an ATIZ scanner in 2009, Julie Kliever and the team at Philips Memorial Library at Providence College decided to digitize and archive their student newspaper, “The Cowl,” on Digital Commons.
With one staff person working on the project, content was strategically uploaded. First the library put up wartime issues from 1935-1948, then, according to Julie, “we decided to next scan issues from the 1960’s and 1970’s, as we knew these would attract a lot of attention from “baby boomer” PC alums! And we were right!” Once uploaded, she began hearing from alumni looking for old sports scores and player names.
Initially the library staff manually entered metadata for the first year of publications, and continued until 1935-1936 was complete. Then, after consulting with Client Services, Julie decided to use the batch-upload and revise feature to improve their workflow. She reports that the use of batch-upload and revise greatly cut down on the time needed to complete each upload.
Today over 700 issues spanning from 1935–1979 are available online. The issues are open access for a global audience of readers.
The Cowl – Providence College Publications – Providence College
