Adding Figgy’s Structure and Order Manager enhancements to materials from our Special Collections may require a partnership between a subject specialist and a member of our Library staff who is proficient in Figgy. Both individuals contribute their skills equally to help enhance digital objects with Optical Character Recognition (OCR), item level organization, structural metadata, and page labeling in order to make more effective research tools and provide better user experience for patrons and staff working with our digital collections. These enhancements add immense value to our collections as well as to our applications, while at the same time giving staff members the opportunity to work with colleagues and materials they might not usually interact with.

Getting Started

Subject Specialists interested in adding enhancements such as structure and page labeling to items in Figgy may contact Kim Leaman (kleaman@princeton.edu), who can provide Figgy training to them or an individual they will be working with. If requested, Kim can also help pair Library staff members proficient in Figgy with Subject Specialists for their projects.

As a Subject Specialist, what do I need to provide?

When collaborating with a colleague, Subject Specialists provide essential information about the item’s preferred structural organization, page labeling, and foliation/pagination to the Figgy Contributor via a spreadsheet. An excellent example of a spreadsheet has been provided here. As you can see from the example, a Subject Specialist has matched existing image numbers from the digital surrogate in Figgy (see column labeled “ view”) with preferred labeling and structure (see “Caption” column), foliation, and leaf #. We have also started an evolving controlled vocabulary for General Collections and Special Collections materials that we invite you to review and contribute to. Additionally, it is always useful and appreciated to share a bit of information or an overview of the work itself and why it may have been selected for digitization, for example.

Once your spreadsheet is complete, schedule a time to meet with your Figgy-proficient colleague or reach out to Kim Leaman, who can help pair you with a Figgy aficionado.

As a Figgy Contributor, what do I need to provide?

Figgy Contributors collaborate with Subject Specialists to ensure requested enhancements to the digital object in Figgy are reflected in either Order or Structure Manager and are in accordance with our evolving best practices. Additionally, it is always useful and appreciated to share a bit of information about how the work in Figgy is done and why some terms may or may not be better placed in Order versus Structure manager, for example.

Once requested Figgy enhancements are complete, email your subject specialist colleague (with a cc to Kim Leaman), letting them know their item is ready for review in Figgy.

The First Meeting: What to expect

The first meeting is an ideal place to discuss the work needing to be enhanced and walk through the spreadsheet together, asking questions and providing useful feedback to each other. The collaborators can then select a subset of the work that the Figgy Contributor will add Order and Structure to, which will then be reviewed by the Subject Specialist before work is commenced in earnest.

What if I have questions while working on an item?

Subject Specialists and Figgy Contributors are encouraged to communicate in ways they feel are most appropriate. If Kim has helped set up your collaboration or if there are questions about Figgy or any Figgy documentation, it might be a good idea to loop her into the conversation as well. There is also a weekly Figgy Check-in (Fridays, 11-12) that all are welcome to attend. If you wish to be added to the Figgy check-in invite, please e-mail Kim (kleaman@princeton.edu).

It is also possible to set up a Slack channel for larger projects, if necessary.

Once all enhancements in Figgy have been made, what’s next?

Once all enhancements have been made, the Figgy Contributor marks the item ready for Metadata Review and e-mails the Subject Specialist with Kim cced, letting them know the item is ready for review. The Subject Specialist is responsible for review of the order and structure of the item, as well as the item’s visibility and accompanying metadata. If everything looks good, the Subject Specialist then completes the item in Figgy and lets the Figgy Contributor and Kim know via email that the work has been marked as complete. If changes are needed, the Subject Specialist can request those changes via the same email thread as the review request.

Working Together: Order and Stucture with Special Collections Materials