Earlier this year, Alder Grove Heritage Society applied to the Gulf & Fraser Foundation for funding to purchase new technology to help move its Digitization Programme forward.
The society was very pleased to learn on June 22nd that its application was successful, and with much gratitude to Gulf & Fraser the funding was received for two new scanners, two new high-powered computers, an in-house file server and a one year subscription to CatalogIT – all of which will lead to increased availability of AGHS documents, records, objects and photographs for AGHS members, our local community and those around the world who may have an interest in the many holdings of Aldergrove’s Community Museum & Archives.
What exactly does this mean? It means that we now have the computing power to process high-resolution images of everything in the museum, while previously donated laptops (for which we are grateful as they can be used in any room in the museum) and our older computers can be used to index and transcribe the documents and records as the digital files are processed and placed on the in-house server, allowing several volunteers to work on different files at the same time, instead of one or two.
A subscription to CatalogIT is what will make everything accessible at any time (once the scanning, processing and uploading is done). It will also mean that volunteers will be able to work on indexing and transcribing projects from home whenever they wish. Deep Cove Heritage Society also uses CatalogIT, and you can have a look at their online collection for an example of what Alder Grove Heritage Society will be able to do, thanks to the funding from the Gulf & Fraser Foundation.
Caveat: This will not be an ‘overnight’ or even a ‘done in a month’ process. It will take time and a lot of volunteer power to scan, organize, catalogue, index and transcribe each item for digital viewing, as well as annual budgeting and fundraising to keep the CatalogIT subscription active and accessible. Our current volunteer team is very small and AGHS is hoping that these new abilities will encourage more people to become active and join us on this path to preservation.