Audiences for Pennsylvania

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Audiences for Pennsylvanias digital collections
MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND
TEACHERS Students and teachers will be able to
use unique, rare resources that cannot be
accessed otherwise except at the institution
holding them. In so doing, they will meet
Pennsylvania standards for history that call for
students to develop the skills of explaining,
analyzing, interpreting, synthesizing, and
evaluating many types of historical
sources. LOCAL AND FAMILY HISTORIANS Nationwide,
some 35 million people use the Internet for
family history research, and Pennsylvania
libraries and archives report significant use of
their collections for this purpose. Increased
digitization of historical materials will aid a
growing audience interested in connecting with
personal and community histories. COLLEGE
STUDENTS Nationally, Pennsylvania ranks fifth in
higher education enrollment and third in the
number of higher education institutions. Having
access to a wealth of documents and other
historical sources online will encourage college
students to be more ambitious in undertaking
their class assignments and will provide them
with a wider array of research resources. SCHOLARS
AND RESEARCHERS This audience, numbering
thousands, uses Pennsylvanias historical
collections and extends awareness of them by
teaching, publishing, and making presentations. A
large selection of digitized Pennsylvania
materials available on the Web will call
attention to the key role the Commonwealth has
played in many histories, which, in turn, will
allow Pennsylvanians to gain a richer sense of
the Commonwealths heritage. HERITAGE TOURISM
DEVELOPMENT Heritage tourism has proven to be a
significant economic driver in Pennsylvania.
Digitized collections serve the heritage tourism
sector in two ways by providing the raw
materials from which tourism professionals
develop public programming and by providing
history travelers with additional reasons to
visit or to extend their stays. FUNDERS The
purpose of this project was to identify and
prioritize subject areas and materials for
digitization and link them to the needs of
diverse user communities. With this information
at their disposal, both funding agencies and
cultural heritage institutions will be better
able to plan and set digitization priorities.
What do you think? Are these the audiences for
digitization?
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Recommended priorities for digitizationtopics
1ST TIER PRIORITIES The environment and land
use Population groups from 1850 to the
present Transportation and industry Major
19th-and 20th-century conflictsand the
communities of conscience that have reacted to
war, injustice, and intolerance2ND TIER
PRIORITIES The economy From the 1600s to
today, important economic and labor trends,
including agriculture, commerce, and
manufacturing Politics and government From
the first elections held in the Commonwealth to
current local, state, and national elections,
materials that provide insight into how
Pennsylvanians govern themselves and their
relationships with other states and nations
Culture From built spaces to fine arts to pop
culture, especially in the 20th century,
Pennsylvanians as cultural trendsetters
Technology, science, and medicine Especially
from 1850 on, technology, innovation, and
invention in Pennsylvania and its importance to
the nation and the world Society Race,
gender, Native American populations, religion and
social justice, slavery and the Underground
Railroad, and their place in determining the
course of Pennsylvania history, along with the
effect of battles and wars on the people of
Pennsylvania, from the earliest settlers to the
present
Recommended priorities for digitizationmaterials
AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS Especially historical
sound and moving image resourcesVITAL
RECORDSIncluding birth, death, and land records
Do you agree? Should these be the priorities for
digitization?