ASGII Current Activities: Unifying Access

State documents are created and distributed in multiple formats and media, both print and digital, and these formats change over time as new technologies become available. In fact, the Initiative’s 2008 Survey of State Agency Publishing Practices found that North Carolina state government information is being produced in over 25 different formats (e.g., Word, PDF, BMP). The majority of state agencies began posting digital documents to the web between 1995 and 2000 and during the past decade numerous upgrades and revised versions of software and publishing formats have been released to create new digital documents. As a result, not only does state information exist in multiple formats, but also multiple versions of those formats (e.g., WordStar, Word 97, 98, 6.0, for Mac, and for Windows)! In addition to the complexities of digital formats, the transition from print to digital publishing has created discontinuity in serial publication runs (i.e., older issues/annuals in paper, newer in digital) that further complicates access to valuable state information. Although agencies are aware that digitizing older paper documents would help bridge this gap and facilitate access, few have actually done so.

Because serials, monographic series, and other data sets now exist in three or four formats and/or versions (some files online, some stored on a single staff person’s computer, some still in paper documents sitting in boxes in closets or store rooms) it is clear that access to these files needs to be unified. The most effective way to accomplish this is to digitize the paper versions and standardize the born-digital and digitized documents using a stable, preservation-friendly format.

• Digitizing paper state documents: Initiative staff will assist state agencies in identifying print publications they deem to be of greatest value to their constituents and preparing them for digitization and inclusion in the North Carolina State Publications Digital Repository; advising agency staff on digitization standards; and coordinating the preparation of paper documents for digitization by the Carolina Digital Library and Archive (CDLA) at UNC-Chapel Hill, a partner in the Initiative. The State Library will acquire all physical materials scanned as part of this project and add them to the Library’s permanent State Publications Depository Collection.
• NC MOSAIC (Managing, Organizing, and Strengthening Access to Institutional Collections): Because it is not possible to digitize or migrate all state publications, and because state government information can reside anywhere (even in “hidden collections” around the state), Initiative staff will work to discover, identify, and create an online clearinghouse to institutions with government information holdings. This single point of access is the “NC MOSAIC” web portal, a statewide initiative to make current and historical government and related information easily accessible to researchers throughout the state. The NC MOSAIC portal will identify and link to the various state government information collections and online exhibits held by institutions in North Carolina to provide citizens a single online location to connect them to various North Carolina government research resources. The ultimate goal of the portal project is to provide a dynamic, modern, user-friendly North Carolina government information finding aid for researchers.