About Our Project
Digital Forsyth, the definitive online collection of historical photographs of Forsyth County, NC., is a grant-funded multi-year digitization project among Forsyth County Public Library, Old Salem Museum and Gardens, Winston-Salem State University's C.G. O'Kelly Library, and Wake Forest University's Z. Smith Reynolds Library and Coy C. Carpenter Medical Library.
The grant was awarded by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and is administered by the State Library of North Carolina.
As a collaborative project involving Forsyth County's largest libraries, the scope of Digital Forsyth necessitates clear goals and efficient workflow.
The project process demonstrates how we respond to managing a project of this size. To keep workflow efficient, we have organized several teams with representatives from each institution. For example, the collections team created selection criteria for choosing photographs while the user services team conducted surveys and focus groups for the creation of a web interface. Within each individual institution, the Digital Forsyth participants meet regularly and have established a workflow that suits their respective physical locations.
Communication among participants at each institution is handled through an all-group listserv, e-mail and telephone. Documents such as meeting minutes or procedures for scanning are shared through the web-based software program Blackboard. Participants also come together periodically for all-group meetings and more often for their individual team meetings.
The Mission and Vision statements are also available online. We hope the service we provide proves valuable and interesting.