Agenda - 05-18-2010 - 8a - Laserfiche WebLink

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13 forward. If the Orange County Historical Museum takes on the responsibility of embracing the Heritage Center, a completely new estimate would have to be done, based on the space size and its existing environment. Other Heritage Centers: During the project I interviewed several other Heritage Centers (Johnson County, Union County and High Point Library) and learned that most receive funding or significant support through their County or their City government. Johnston County raises funds, contributing to approximately 1/10th of the budget. (Attachment E) The number of people who used these centers is approximately 3,500 annually. This compares to the attendance at the Orange County Historical Museum which is approximately 7,000 - 10,000 per year. Alternative: During my investigation, l questioned if these research and archival materials could or should be digitized. As there were few "original documents" it seemed costly to create a space for what was mostly excellent information, but information that didn't need special storage, that is, non-archival materials. The Library offered that they would be willing to become a partner and oversee digitization and web management, with access through computer in the library. With its current books and microfiche, we would be adding the other materials by accessing them through a computer. (The County IT department would have to agree, as creating a server, etc., would be an added cost but cheaper than a structure with staff.) While the partners saw the benefit of digitization, they were still interested in a Heritage Center. I began my further investigation with a visit to the NC Room at the UNC Wilson library. I wanted to see how many people they served a year. They serve approximately 6000 annually, with approximately two-thirds being from on campus. They, however, do not have any primary resources, only printed and published works. Through them I learned that the UNC Library was doing digitization. It was my thought that maybe they could assist us with digitization of the Orange County documents for a fee. I was encouraged to discuss my thoughts with the NC Heritage Digitization Project (NCHDP) that had just been established at UNC Chapel Hill. Lucinda Munger and I met with Nick Graham, Program Coordinator of the NCHDP and Natasha Smith, Head, Digital Publishing Group, at UNC, regarding UNC's two digitization projects. Initially we were hopeful to use the resources of the Digital Publishing Group to assist us with digitizing the various collections. We assumed there would be a fee to do this. However, the meeting turned out much better than we could have planned. Nick Graham was looking for groups to conduct a pilot project with their newly formed NC Heritage Digitization Project. He was interested in working with our group,