Core Webinar - Best of Core Forum: Looking Beyond Your Digital Repository; Metadata for Storytelling

CHICAGO—Join Core for the webinar "Best of Core Forum: Looking Beyond Your Digital Repository; Metadata for Storytelling" on May 14, 2025, at 1 p.m. CT. In recent years, the traditional use of digital collections simply as proxies for the physical has shifted to a paradigm of viewing collections as data suitable for computational use and novel research methods. A metadata strategy with robust description can provide access and inspire new contextual narratives and knowledge. The presenters saw great potential for a collections as data exploration in a significant World War I archival collection to highlight lesser-known stories, including those of the Pioneer Infantry, women, and noncombatants. This case study presentation will discuss approaches to digital collections metadata, digital storytelling, data visualization and mapping, and will present real-world techniques that participants can use in their own work. The World War I Service Records collection contains a rich record of the experiences of students and alumni who engaged in military or community service. The collection, however, was accompanied by extremely minimal folder-level metadata, which, in combination with CONTENTdm's limited visualization capabilities, presented major challenges for exposing the collection's rich data and making its contents available. The presenters will share approaches to creating granular but scalable metadata and will discuss the use of ArcGIS and other digital humanities tools for bringing hidden stories of diversity to light.

This webinar was previously presented in-person as a session at the 2024 Core Forum. We are hosting this webinar, with the session adapted and presented live as a virtual event, to extend its reach.

Best of Core Forum: Looking Beyond Your Digital Repository; Metadata for Storytelling
Live Webinar: Wednesday, May 14, 2025, 1 - 2 p.m. CT

Presenters:

Emily Baldoni, Metadata Librarian and Assistant Professor, Illinois State University, Normal, IL
Maddi Loiselle, Metadata Specialist, Illinois State University, Normal, IL
Angela Yon, Cataloging & Metadata Librarian and Assistant Professor, Illinois State University, Normal, IL

Registration Fees:

Core Member: $57.67
ALA Member: $71.10
Nonmember: $79.00

How Do I Purchase Group Registration?

You can register a group by specifying the number of people who will be accessing the webinar during checkout. We offer webinars discounts based on the number of registrations you specify at checkout. If you are a Core member, you can purchase seats for yourself and your colleagues at the Core discount rate; ALA's new e-Learning store allows you to extend Core member savings to colleagues at your institution.

Can't attend the live event? No problem! All registrants will receive a link to the recorded session for later viewing at their convenience.

Register online or by phone at 1-800-545-2433 (press 1 to reach our customer service representatives).

For questions or comments related to Core webinars, please contact Core staff at corece@ala.org.

About Core

Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures is the national association that advances the profession of librarians and information providers in central roles of leadership and management, collections and technical services, and technology. Our mission is to cultivate and amplify the collective expertise of library workers in core functions through community building, advocacy, and learning. Core is a division of the American Library Association. Follow us on our Blog, Instagram and LinkedIn.