Association of Research Libraries (ARL®)

David Perry, Project Coordinator

University of North Carolina Press

As part of the American South Multimedia Database Project at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, the University of North Carolina Press is proposing to construct a multimedia database of material from some of our reference works on North Carolina. The pilot project is a database entitled North Carolina between the Wars that would incorporate material from the period between the two world wars. North Carolina between the Wars will draw on a rich collection of material from our list and elsewhere, including:

H. G. Jones, North Carolina Illustrated (an illustrated history of the state, with some 1100 images in all), approx. 17 pages of text and as many as 150-75 images and captions, supplemented by other images from the North Carolina Collection and North Carolina Archives and History.

Tom Parramore, Express Lanes and Country Roads (a volume in the series The Way We Lived in North Carolina, published in association with the North Carolina Division of Archives and History), useful for its focus on social history and its links to state historic sites.

William S. Powell, North Carolina Through Four Centuries (the standard college-level history text), approx. 65 text pages.

William S. Powell, Dictionary of North Carolina Biography (a six-volume work with biographical sketches of some 4,000 North Carolinians), 75-100 selected sketches.

William S. Powell, North Carolina Handbook (forthcoming, a sort of Encyclopedia of North Carolina history and culture), topical essays on cultural features (book in manuscript form currently, not yet edited, but Powell has offered to allow inclusion of appropriate essays where desirable). The WPA Guide to North Carolina (published in 1939 and still regarded as one of the best guides to the state), supplemental material where appropriate and other material from the WPA Writers Project.

Sound--music and spoken work from Southern Historical Collection and North Carolina Archives (Charlie Poole, blues, mountain music, worker songs, chanties, jazz, speeches, plays, prose readings, sermons, etc.).

Through the efforts of such agencies as the Farm Service Administration and the Writers Program of the WPA, the interwar period is one of the best-documented in our history. North Carolina between the Wars will draw on an extraordinary selection of photographs, life histories, and other documentary materials to supplement the historical narratives.

In the multimedia environment, users will be able to browse through the database using several different searching and linking strategies and read, see and hear related items. The database will be networked and made available through remote hookups to schools, colleges, libraries and individuals throughout the state (and elsewhere). Teachers and instructors could use the database to prepare class presentations, and advanced students could use it to explore topics and create research reports or their own presentations.

The Press will receive the necessary hardware (as well as the requisite training and guidance) to compile the database and support for digitizing and cataloging text, images, and sound from a university agency interested in developing classroom applications of electronic materials. The Press will be involved in identifying and editing the materials to be included in the database and building some of the links. The database will be mounted on a univesity computer, and the responsibility for user testing, maintenance, and technical support will be shared between the press and university.

Permission will be sought for the use of all materials the Press does not control. At least during this pilot phase we plan to make the database freely available through network access, while retaining the protections of copyright in the works used.

To help identify material to be included and to advise us on content, we are establishing an advisory committee of historians, archivists, and potential users.

Simple WAIS searches through the data will yield lists of all the places a given word or name appears, and the material identified could then be displayed. The capabilities of the World Wide Web (Mosaic) technology offer other possibilities for accessing the data. For example, the H. G. Jones text (from North Carolina Illustrated), which provides a concise running narrative of the state's history, could be read as a "base text." It is already keyed to many of the images that would be included, which the user could display as he or she encounters related topics in the text. Following hypertext links, the user could call up topical essays drawn from the Powell history (North Carolina Through Four Centuries), the WPA guide, or the Parramore book (Express Lanes to Country Roads) which take up in greater depth the subjects introduced by Jones in Biographies from the Dictionary of North.

Carolina biographies of persons named in the narrative or the "essays" could be called up for additional information. Special icons would notify users of the availability of accompanying audio pieces.

The Press's hope is that the pilot project can become part of a larger electronic project that is currently under discussion. This larger database, initially named the North Carolina Bookshelf, would incorporate complete versions of several of the works being tapped for the initial project: notably the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, North Carolina Illustrated, North Carolina Through Four Centuries, and the forthcoming Handbook, as well as other works now being written (e.g., new histories of women and African Americans in the state). Information gathered during the development of the pilot project will help anticipate the problems and project the resources needed for the larger effort.