a project of the Larimer County Digitization Initiative
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Study Tool Kit a project of the Larimer County Digitization Initiative |
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The Larimer County Digitization Initiative (LCDI) is a collaborative effort by libraries, museums and public schools in Larimer County, Colorado to promote access to local historical resources through use of the Internet and other media. The LCDI web site features "Windows to the Past," a map tour, and "Larimer County Water Ways" a searchable database of historic photographs. Windows to the Past"Windows to the Past," the map tour, showcases Historic Research Centers, present-day historic sites, and walking tours that are available to the public in Larimer County. The print version is available at Museums and Libraries in Berthoud, Estes Park, Fort Collins, Loveland, Red Feather Lakes, and Wellington.Using the Map Tour To get instructions on using the site, click the "map" link on the LCDI home page. To find historic resources of a city/town, click the name of that city/town.
Here we have clicked "Fort Collins." The page now displays a scrollable listing of libraries, archives, museums, walking tours, and historic sites available to the public in Fort Collins. Hours, locations, contact information, and when applicable, short descriptions and hyperlinks to web sites are shown: Note that each library or historic site has a number assigned. Click the link to "download the map tour in Adobe Acrobat format" in the right-hand column and a map with correlating numbers will appear to pinpoint locations of historic research centers and sites in each city/town. The right-hand column also includes links "How to Use the Map Tour," "About the Map Project," and a link to return to the LCDI "Home Page." The left-hand column contains links to other cities/towns. Larimer County Water WaysLarimer County Water Ways is a project of the Larimer County Digitization Initiative. This project has been funded in part by a sub-grant of the University of Denver's federal Institute of Museum & Library Services "Colorado Digitization Project" grant.The purpose of the Water Ways web site is to provide users access to archival information in the form of historical photographs dealing with the impact of water on Larimer County, Colorado. Over 1,200 photos have been collected, digitized and cataloged for the site. These photographs may be searched by Keyword or Topic. Enter the Water Ways site by clicking "photograph database" on the LCDI homepage. To begin a new search, click the "Search" link in the upper right corner of the page. A page will display with a Keyword search box in the center of the page, and Topic Searches available on the left-hand side of the page. Keyword Search Enter a keyword or phrase in the box provided. It is not necessary to capitalize. A Keyword Search will search in the Description and in the Subject Headings fields of the database. Keywords may include location, dates, people, names of buildings/objects, etc. It is also possible to limit a search by Repository (i.e. show only the photographs from Rocky Mountain National Park), by using the drop-down menu next to the "Go" button. Click "Go" to begin the search.
The search will return a list of thumbnail photographs in the lower left side of the page. Click on any of the thumbnail photographs and a large photograph and a photographic record will appear to the lower right. The photographic record will provide information about the photograph, such as Date, Creator, Repository, Catalog Number, Description, and any Subjects associated with the photo. It also provides links for information relating to Copyright issues and Photo Orders, and a link to open the record in a new frame to print or bookmark.
The keyword search is not Boolean, so operators such as "and," "or," and "not" do not work at this time. Instead the search engine will try to exactly match the word or phrase entered. If the keyword is very broad, such as the word "ice," the search will return any photograph with those three letters in the Description or Subject Headings. These may include photographs that have nothing to do with "ice," such as one with the name "Price," or another that includes the word "service." If the keyword or phrase is too specific, such as "poudre river by arapaho bend," there will be no results. It may be necessary to adjust the search by using "poudre river" or "arapaho bend" instead. Topic Search The Water Ways site provides users with pre-defined Topic Searches for research or discussion on the subjects: Natural Resource, Early Use of Water, Agricultural Use, Municipal Water Use, Transmountain Diversion Projects, Colorado Big Thompson Project, Floods and Droughts, and Recreation. Click one of these subjects to bring up a list of thumbnails on the lower left of the page, as well as a brief description of the topic on the lower right of the page. Clicking a thumbnail will again display a larger photo and photographic record to the right.
Technical Information The Water Ways site was built with a Microsoft Access database and Cold Fusion. It utilizes HTML frames and is optimized for viewing at screen settings of 1024 x 768 pixels but may be viewed at lower resolutions of 800 x 600. Original images were scanned in at 800 DPI and are archived in TIF format at the Fort Collins Public Library and the Colorado Digitization Project. Online access images are archived on the web site as JPEGs, and thumbnails are archived as GIFs. The Water Ways database includes photographic images of people and places dating from the 1860s to present day. Original photos are owned by various LCDI members and those institutions must be contacted directly regarding their policies for providing copies for use and publication. Study Tool Kit The Larimer County Museums and Libraries Internet site provides standards based Internet content for the K-12 teacher and classroom. This includes bibliographies, oral histories and other historical research information. The Study Tool Kit provides the Basic6 Skills that are used in developing curriculum content, and other tools such as classroom activities that can be used for K-12 curriculum. |
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