Reliable Witnesses: Integrating Multimedia, Distributed Electronic Textual Editions into Library Collections

FAIN: HD-50462-08

Ohio State University Research Foundation (Columbus, OH 43210-1435)
H. Lewis Ulman (Project Director: April 2008 to June 2014)

Development of strategies for integrating distributed electronic editions and digital projects into library collections, with attention to matters relating to acquisition, description, and preservation of these materials.

The Reliable Witnesses project addresses current vulnerabilities of distributed electronic textual editions and integrates such projects into library collections through workflows for acquisition, description, and preservation. Electronic editions of unique manuscript materials represent an important part of our cultural heritage, providing access to materials otherwise inaccessible to most users, serving as incubators for cutting-edge scholarship, and providing a platform for technological innovation. However, e-text projects frequently employ infrastructures from a variety of resources, and such innovative, distributed designs can result in projects that are not easily integrated into library collections, which consist primarily of traditional print and subscription digital resources. The Reliable Witnesses project will result in local best practices for meeting these challenges as well as a generalized life-cycle model that other institutions can adapt to their needs.