[Fsfe-ie] Ireland's National Library Digitisation Programme

[Ben North]

Saw the below article a few days ago.  Main point of interest to FSFE
is the last bit of the quote, where the National Library's
Digitisation Programme Manager says "we have achieved [the overhaul of
our digitisation workflows and the putting in place of key technical
infrastructure] with limited full time technical resources and a very
restricted budget by collaborating on international open source
projects."

Good stuff.

- - - - 8< - - - -

The National Library of Ireland has released 10,500 newly-digitised
items online.

It means that a total of 63,000 items that tell the story of Ireland
are now freely available worldwide through the National Library
catalogue.

Photographs of 1916 leader Tom Clarke, his wife Kathleen and family;
and posters documenting the Suffragette movement are among the
newly-digitised items.

It also includes a portrait of the infamous Ellen Byrne, who was tried
for her husband's murder in 1842 after his badly decomposed body was
found in their shared bed.

Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan said the
newly-digitised collections "are a wonderful piece of our cultural and
literary heritage, which will now be preserved for and made accessible
to the people of Ireland for generations".

He also said it showcases Ireland's growing reputation as a centre for
the innovative use of digital technology.

The library's Digitisation Programme Manager Sara Smyth said it was
important to have an effective national programme of digitisation and
preservation to ensure public access to culturally important
collections.

She said: "Libraries have always collected, managed and provided
access to all forms of information.

"While this core remit has not changed, dramatic advances in
information technology means the NLI is driving forward a programme of
metadata creation, digitisation, digital preservation and online
access to our cultural heritage.

"Since 2010, we have overhauled our digitisation workflows and put in
place key technical infrastructures.

"We achieved this with limited full time technical resources and a
very restricted budget by collaborating on international open source
projects."

[http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0424/610963-national-library/]