INFORMATION ON PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

The Postcards from the Past is a searchable online database of Alberta postcards. The PFP project seeks to provide online access to archival and historical materials related to the culture of the province of Alberta. Information in the database exists as reproductions of color or black and white postcards. As of July 2005, there are over 200 items in this database. The online catalogue is fully searchable in a range of ways including by subject, publisher, year, category or theme, name of place or person or other key word.

Image Selection

The images for the PFP project are part of the Calgary Public Library’s collection. The selection of items for digital conversion was designed to reflect a broad cross section of Alberta’s history, as well as reasonable thematic and geographic representation from across the province.

Copyright Clearance

Copyright clearance was undertaken for collection items that were not in the public domain or where the owning institution neither had permission nor held copyright.

Image Creation

Over 200 images were created by scanning from the original postcards. This work was undertaken by the Calgary Public Library. Epson Scanners with scanning software Software Image editing – Adobe Photoshop6.0

Image Description

An integrated metadata scheme was developed for the PFP project. Rules of Archival Description, MARC, Dublin Core and other local practices were considered and implemented. Collection descriptions were created in MS Excel, and then uploaded to the database using a staff web application.

Transcription

Transcription was undertaken for selected items, such as handwritten messages on the back of the postcards. These were created in MS Word and edited in MS Excel.

Databases

The databases on the PFP project have been created and are searched using SQL.

User Interface

The user interface for the PFP project was developed recognizing the range of potential users (novice to professional) and the varied physical environments in which the site may be used (home and classroom).
 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Calgary Public Library wishes to thank the following people who have contributed their expertise to this project:

Website Project Team Members

Gael Blackhall, George Loos (Project Lead), Ryan Perez

Alberta 2005 Committee

Susan Anderson, Jane Haney , Grant Kaiser, George Loos, Leeanne Morrow, Carolyn Ryder, Wendy Stewart

Calgary Public Library Staff

Christine Hayes, Anu Guha Thakurta

Contributors

Byron Harmon, Shaw Bros., Progress Photo Co.,