The state librarian had declared we would have a digitization project and the task fell to me. I had no experience and had to develop the project from the ground up. My search for papers and other documentation provided best practices but no examples of how libraries like mine managed with little budget and few staff. That project, and a desire to collect stories of how libraries manage to place great resources online led to this book. During this project I learned the importance of having support both inside and outside of my library. I owe a great deal of thanks to Monica Villaire-Garcia who mastered the metadata and Laurie Canepa, my supervisor who provided so much support, and Shelley Thompson and Cynthia Baughman of El Palacio magazine, who were eager to have 100 years of their magazine online.
As the idea of collecting these stories was developed I asked three of my talented colleagues to lend their expertise. Professor Wendy Walker had experience with creating a digital collection in Nevada. She provided insights, interviewed several librarians, and provided considerable editing assistance. Digital Preservationist Sam Meister is well versed in how to maintain and care for digital files, and this knowledge is reflected in his chapter on “Digital Preservation.” Tammy Ravas wrote the chapter on “Digitizing Copyrighted Materials.”
I would also like to thank the many librarians around the country who were willing to answer my many questions and share their stories.