Case Study

Long Beach Public Library's Content Pro Digital Library Gets Global Interest

Long Beach Public Library (LBPL) launched its Digital Archive—a local history image collection—in February 2010. Since that time, LBPL staff have been delighted by the world-wide response to the materials. Journalists, researchers, historians, teachers, and corporations have requested copies of images in the collection, from as far away as China. Currently, LBPL receives an average of 35 requests for copies of photos per month.

When searching for a replacement digital library solution, staff at LBPL valued "ease of use" above all. The old digital collection management system made it hard for the librarians to do their job because there were so many steps involved with adding items to the collection. Furthermore, the old system was not compliant with the Dublin Core(SM) metadata schema, which limited its portability and accessibility on the larger web.

Content Pro makes it easy to participate in the digitization process by uploading digital images and creating metadata. With Content Pro's ease of use, the digital archive has grown rapidly from 100 images (cataloged before the Content Pro implementation) to a robust online repository with over 3,000 digital images. Says Sloan Sakamoto, LBPL's Manager, Automated Services Bureau: "Content Pro removes barriers for novice users. Technophobes to tech-savvy people find the interface so easy to use."

You can see what has been digitized to date on LBPL's website. Says Sakamoto: "As we move into a digital world, libraries must evolve. Through the Digital Archive, LBPL offers a unique service to people around the world."

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