Digital Collections in a Small Archives: Using Google Services to Help Present and Promote An Oral History Project

Providing online access to media collections, such as oral histories, can be challenging to do well, particularly for smaller institutions with limited resources. This presentation will focus on a recently completed project in which the Dole Archives leveraged freely available tools to provide access to a high profile oral history collection in a variety of formats, including streaming audio/video, full text searching capabilities, and a finding aid with direct links to digital content. By integrating Google services into our own website, the project receives benefits both from (a) local branding and exhibit/content hosting and (b) the increase of visibility of the materials to a wider audience through Google-based searches. Designed with end-user access in mind, it is our hope that this project will help to expand our audiences beyond the academic and be useful (and usable) for a variety of purposes, from K-12 student research to serving as a case study for future fundraising opportunities. This presentation should be of interest to institutions looking for a low-cost approach to providing online access to media collections or those who may be interested in seeing a new approach to using web-based tools to provide access to archival materials.