Rutgers University Libraries have been selected as a Center of Excellence by Sun Microsystems. Rutgers University Libraries are acknowledged leaders in digital library repository development, particularly in the areas of digital preservation and metadata services. Rutgers University Libraries will develop an innovative, sophisticated digital preservation service suite and user portal for the Fedora repository architecture. The NJDH community will benefit from state-of-the-art digital preservation strategies, as the state's cultural heritage materials are made available to many generations of its citizens. The NJDH library and museum community will help specify and test the user preservation portal to enable busy managers to interact with the repository and manage their collections. The project will take digital preservation from the repository manager to the collection owner, for "local ownership, shared access!"

Elise Sims, teacher of 5th grade students from Abraham Lincoln PS#14 School in Elizabeth, has been recognized by IDE Corp. for her sustained professional development and success in infusing technology into the curriculum. Elise is one of the New Jersey teachers working with NJDH to develop and test the EMM - E-Learning Module Maker, a tool that allows teachers to teach using the digital primary resources of NJDH to teach history.

Read IDE's "Teacher Feature" article to learn more Elise approach to teaching with technology

The Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts presents:

Fundraising for Preservation and Conservation on Tuesday, October 11, 2005

A one-day workshop cosponsored by Rutgers University Libraries held at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ.

About the Workshop

This workshop focuses on the special needs of your special collections. In order to provide optimum care for your collections, should you invest in planning? In stabilizing the environment? In cataloging and describing? In digitization? Or in conservation treatment? Often, the honest answer is "all of the above," but since this response can lead to paralysis, it is important to identify a starting place. One key to moving ahead is the development of a funding strategy for preservation. On the federal level, funding sources are available to move your cultural organization ahead with preservation initiatives. These federal grants can leverage other donations, bringing more money and attention to your collections while ensuring that the treasures in your special collections will be available for the appreciation of future generations. Through thoughtful planning and effective grant writing, your organization can be competitive in applying for high-profile federal grants. This workshop will examine the planning process that reviewers want to see in place and the components that make a grant request compelling. Examples will be drawn from success stories at museums, libraries, and archives.

The workshop will address:

• Planning: Moving from a preservation needs assessment to a funding strategy
• Potential funding sources: Triaging your time to focus on your best funding prospects
• Writing the request: Anticipating the funder's questions and answering them concisely
• Evaluation: Incorporating the new standards

Location & Time

Scholarly Communication Center (SCC) Archibald S. Alexander Library

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey 169 College Avenue New Brunswick, NJ

9:00 AM Registration and Coffee 9:30 AM - 4 PM Workshop

Speaker Information

Lee Price, Director of Development at the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts, has worked as a fundraising consultant for many regional and national cultural institutions. He has written successful grant requests for preservation funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, and Save America's Treasures.

Brochure & Registration

Funding

This workshop is partially subsidized through funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

For information about CCAHA, its programs and services, please visit our website at www.ccaha.org or contact CCAHA's Preservation Services Office at 215.545.0613 or ccaha@ccaha.org.

William Fernekes, social studies supervisor at Hunterdon Central Regional High School (left) and Virginia Yans, a professor in the Department of History at Rutgers University give educators an overview of the historical content and educators' tools available to them on the NJDH website.

The New Jersey Digital Highway project reached an important milestone this week, as teachers from schools across the state met in New Brunswick to kick off the 2005 NJDH Educators Seminar Program. The educators met to have a first glimpse of the educational materials available to them from the NJDH website, and to learn how they can make the site work to their advantage in teaching their students New Jersey's heritage.

The seminar guests are gaining an in-depth understanding of major themes and sources available on the site for studying immigration history. As the seminar progresses through July 9, the teachers will prepare lessons using electronic collections from New Jersey archives, libraries, museums and historical societies that are currently being digitized by the New Jersey Digital Highway Project. Lessons prepared by seminar participants will be field-tested during the 2005-2006 school year, refined based upon student feedback and educator peer review comments, and mounted for broad dissemination on the New Jersey Digital Highway website by summer 2006.

Kayo Denda, a Librarian at the Douglass Library, Rutgers University, highlights content from Seabrook Farms which details the story of Japanese Americans and their treatment during World War II. She demonstrates a learning module to educators to show how content from the site can be included in classroom lesson plans.

Content available for the educators was diverse and based on the items submitted to the NJDH for digitizing by its collection partners. A rich offering from the Seabrook Cultural and Historical Commission included personal accounts and narratives about the Japanese-American experience during World War II. The plight of laborers trying to organize and fight for their rights is represented by photographs and documents provided by the American Labor Museum. An analysis of life in Newark at the turn of the 20th century was presented to seminar participants by the New Jersey Historical Commission.

The seminar was a collaborative effort that included not only the NJDH development committees, but also its numerous collection partners that supply the project with a rich mixture of content. Presenters from The New Jersey Historical Commission, The American Labor Museum, William Paterson University, the New Jersey State Library, and Rutgers University all took part in showing educators the best content that NJDH has to offer for their lesson plans.

Daniel Noonan, Chair of the New Jersey Digital Highway Content Working Group, will speak about the NJDH program at the Princeton Preservation Group Meeting, Monday, 7/11/05, 4:00 - 6:00 pm at the Monmouth County Library HQ, Manalapan.

Please RSVP to Shelagh Reilly sreilly@co.monmouth.nj.us

For directions click here.

The New Jersey Historical Commission is offering free workshops on "Putting Together the Perfect Project Proposal." These workshops are intended for those interested in applying to the NJHC's FY 2006 Project Grant Program. The workshops will be held at the following locations:

Tuesday, August 2, Frelinghuysen Arboretum, Morristown
Thursday, August 4, Alice Paul Institute, Mount Laurel

Both workshops will run from 10:00 a.m. until noon, with registration starting at 9:30 a.m.

To register, or if you have questions, please call Sara Cureton at the Historical Commission at (609) 943-3306 or by email to sara.cureton@sos.state.nj.us.

You can also get a copy of the workshop flier, which includes directions, by going to the NJHC home page http://newjerseyhistory.org. Scroll down to the "Highlights" section and click on the link to the workshops.

The American Labor Museum/Botto House is a partner of the New Jersey Digital Highway (NJDH). Photographs documenting the life and work of Sol Stetin, as well as numerous other materials from ALM/BH collections, are available through NJDH as part of our inaugural collection "The Changing Face of New Jersey - The Immigration Experience from Earliest Times to the Present." Sol. Stetin, respected labor leader and labor education pioneer, was former President of the Textile Workers Union of America, (TWUA), and the leader of one of the most ambitious unionization campaigns in American history. In 1975, during the drive to organize the 3500 workers in the J.P. Stevens textile company, he arranged for the 174,000-member strong TWUA to merge with the even larger Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. This combination resulted in the successful unionization campaign.

Mr. Stetin also played a key role in establishing this country's first labor museum at - The American Labor Museum at Botto House (site of the famous Silk Strike in 1913) in Haledon. After his retirement from active labor management, he taught labor studies at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey, and was named first Labor Leader in Residence at Rutgers University. Mr. Stetin died of leukemia on May 21, 2005, at the age of 95. Contributions may be made to the American Labor Museum/Botto House or to Jobs With Justice to fund an annual Sol Stetin Fellowship.

American Labor Museum/Botto House materials on Sol Stetin:

Tribute:

A tribute written by Bernard Bush is available here.

Additional collections of the American Labor Museum can be browsed, as well. Click "Advanced Search" in Search Our Collections, then select "Labor Museum" from the Collection list.

http://www.njstatelib.org/LDB/Grants/grntrfps.php

Click here for more information including eligibility and the application process.

The Fedora Users' Conference will be held Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14, 2005 in the Teleconference Lecture Hall of the Scholarly Communication Center, Alexander Library, Rutgers University Libraries, New Brunswick, NJ. Friday will include a full day of conference sessions with dinner in the evening. The conference on Saturday will conclude at 3:00 p.m. with a wrap-up session. The conference is sponsored by Rutgers University Libraries in collaboration with the Fedora Project Development Team.

Who should attend?

The conference is designed for users or prospective users of Fedora (Flexible Extensible Digital Object Repository Architecture). Presenters will discuss their experiences in using Fedora. Topics for presentation and discussion include presenting content on the web, digital preservation, institutional repositories, digital library architecture, content models, workflow management of projects and related issues.

For conference agenda, registration and accommodations, visit the Fedora Users' Group website: http://www.scc.rutgers.edu/fedora_conf_2005/

If you missed Mary Minow's NJDH presentation, you can see her presenting at the NJLA Annual Conference, April 11 - April 13, 2005 Ocean Place Resort and Spa, Long Branch