How to Participate
The Portal's partners include both private and family collectors, and institutions, such as libraries, museums, archives, churches, and historical commissions. Placing materials on the Portal to Texas History is a great way to provide free public access to people wanting to connect with your information and materials. Working with us also means that an electronic copy of your material is digitally preserved in our preservation archive for the long-term — peace of mind in case the worst ever happens.
Partnership Models
We have three partnership models:
- We do most of the work
- We both do part of the work
- You do most of the work
We do most of the work
Once your materials are delivered to UNT, we scan, process, describe, digitally preserve, and upload your content into the Portal to Texas History. Your only responsibilities are preparing your materials getting them here, and covering the costs of the work.
We both do a part of the work
Either you or UNT can scan or describe your materials. Costs are based on who does the work.
You do most of the work
You can send us scanned images and receive training to create your own descriptive records (metadata) in the Portal. There is a one-time charge for processing, uploading and hosting.
Funding
We can work with you to create budgets and possibly direct you towards private foundations interested in funding your project. Many local groups raise money within their communities through fundraisers and private donors. We would be glad to talk with you about strategies for raising the money to fund your project.
Requirements
Before we can start, you must complete a University of North Texas Libraries' Portal to Texas History Project Agreement form and a Temporary Custody Deposit form. If your collections include any materials copyrighted after 1923, you must secure permission from the copyright holder(s) to present digital versions of the materials on the Portal.
Preparing Your Materials
Historic materials delivered to UNT must arrive with a packing list that describes the number of boxes or containers and includes a general description as to the scope of the content within those boxes and a count of the number of items. If available, an item-level inventory is helpful. All boxes must be marked with your name. The box the materials are in must have a lid that fits securely.
Each item must have a unique identifying number supplied by you. A local tracking number or accession number works very well. (If you need assistance with creating such a number, we can assist you with this prior to delivery of the materials.) The numbers can be on the item itself or on any envelope or folder that encloses it.
Shipping
You may deliver your materials to the lab in person, or you may use a commercial shipping service. If you elect to ship your materials, you must advise us as to the amount of insurance you require for return of your materials. You are responsible for any shipping charges.
FAQs
Who owns the copyright to our materials? If you have materials that are still under copyright and your institution is the copyright holder, then you would retain any rights related to those materials. Our use policy states that the digital materials are free for the public to use for educational or scholarly purposes. For commercial, publication, licensing, or reproduction rights, we send all inquiries directly to you. Please see the Portal to Texas History Project Agreement form.
Can we get a digital copy of our materials? Absolutely. Each partner receives a copy of their images on DVD. You can use these images to print photographs for exhibits, sell reprints, or load them onto your own website or digital library. The images will be in uncompressed .tif file format.
Are there any limits on what we do with our digital images? No, there are no limitations whatsoever. They are your images. Our only stipulation per our Project Agreement form is that we will host your images in perpetuity on the Portal to Texas History. Who can participate? Anyone can participate. If you have any doubts about whether your materials would fit in the Portal, please contact us to discuss it.
How many people use the Portal to Texas History? A lot! Every month we are averaging 115,000 unique visitors and almost 4 million hits from all 50 states and over 100 foreign countries.
What types of materials can be digitized? We can digitize almost any type of material, so please contact us about your project to get more details. We can digitize: slides, maps, architectural drawings, oversize sketches, artwork, glass plate negatives, photographs, letters, manuscripts, broadsheets, audio tapes, video, etc. If you are interested in digitizing newspapers, please see our page about the Texas Digital Newspaper Program.
How much does it cost? Every project is different, so please contact us to discuss the material you want to contribute.
Is there a size limit on large items? No. As long as it will fit in our lab, we can do it.
What standards do you use when scanning images? Here are our scanning standards.
If we send our historic materials (originals) will they be safe until returned? Yes, when not scanning the materials, they are secured in our lab. The lab also has a keyed or password-only entry outside of our normal office hours.
How do I get my materials to Denton for scanning? Previous partners have driven them here or mailed or shipped them with insurance to cover their value. You are responsible for delivering the materials to and from the lab.
Can I scan my materials myself? Yes, as long as you can meet the minimum scanning standards. There is a small one-time fee for processing, upload, and hosting as well as for metadata, unless you would like to do that part of the work yourself. Please contact us to learn more. Digital images can be sent to us on CDs, DVDs, thumb-drives, or other storage devices.
How long will the materials be at UNT for processing and when can we get the originals back? This depends on how many items are involved and whether we are just scanning them or also creating metadata. In many cases it will take about 2-3 months or more if it is a very large collection. What is metadata? Metadata is the description of the photograph or item. If you would like to know all about our metadata, it is thoroughly documented in our [UNTL Descriptive Metadata Guide] (http://www.library.unt.edu/digitalprojects/assets/files/metadata/sections/descriptive-metadata.pdf).
If we decide to create our own metadata, how long does the training take? The training takes an hour to an hour and a half. After a bit of practice, creating your metadata is not difficult. We also have an online tutorial that explains the process.
Do people have to pay to access the Portal to Texas History? Never. The Portal to Texas History does not charge for access and we have visitors from all 50 states and over 100 foreign countries.
How much content does the Portal have online? We host over 420,000 digital images from our 95 collaborative partners.
Is this project open to all libraries (i.e. school, public, & special) or only academic libraries? We work with libraries of all types, as well as museums, historical societies, archives, or other groups who hold Texas heritage materials. We also work with private or family collectors.