Community Spirit Keeping it Alive Our Roots and

Community Spirit: Keeping it Alive Our Roots and Our Future Our Past Multicultural Canada Conference June 1, 2006 Mary Westell, University of Calgary westell@ucalgary. ca

Multiculturalism • “of, relating to, or including several cultures” • “of or relating to a social or educational theory that encourages interest in many cultures within a society rather than in only a mainstream culture” Source: www. thefreedictionary. com

Our Educational Resources Our Roots educational partners create innovative learning packages in cooperation with K-12 students and teachers. These educational modules provide Canadian youth with engaging ways to make history personally exciting and relevant by bringing local histories into the curriculum.

“Hi, I live in Helena. Montana. I have a hollyhock plant out in our garden. Today (May 24, 2005) I found your web site about heritage seeds and read the story about grade 3 + 4. I think this is wonderful learning, so I want you all to know, that I am learning along with you. I harvested about 500 seeds. It is a red hollyhock. I hope they will grow. ”

A new audience. . .

• • • Genealogists School children History buffs Public libraries Connections to other history web sites Rare book hunters Researchers From all over the world All age groups

What are they saying? • • • Reference questions Offers of additional content Corrections (to digital content) Locations of printed copies Downloading of digital copies Suggestions for new projects Sharing of information Technical questions Quality assurance

Reference Questions “I have a project due tomorrow and I want to make sure that I get a really good mark on this. I was wondering everything on women – how they lived, the way they dressed, down to what they had to go through at home. Thank you for your help. ”

Offers of Content “You have some great material here. I would, however, like to see the addition of “Commemorative biographical record of the County of Kent” added to the copies of York and Essex in this collection. ” “I was disappointed that I couldn’t find “Mingling Memories”, the local history of communities east of Red Deer… If you don’t have a copy, I would be happy to provide one. ”

Corrections to Digital Content “Can you tell us why 727 Norbert is showing as the father of so many of the Chaboyers, plus he is showing as the father of himself. . . ? ” “The Table of Contents in your Annals of Calais, Maine and St. Stephen, NB has a typo. . . ”

Locations of Printed Copies “How would I go about purchasing a copy of a book on your website. . . ” I would like to know if a book. . . is still available for purchase and what the cost is? My mother, father, myself, and family are mentioned in the book. ”

Copyright and the Downloading of Digital Copies “How can I download a copy of the whole book and not just individual pages? ” “Do you have copyright permission to reproduce this book online? [My grandmother] doesn’t remember giving written permission. . .

Suggestions for New Projects “I’m wondering if you would be interested in a series of small booklets. . . Preserving the memories of early residents of the Wawa Michipicoten area. . . I would certainly be willing to send you a copy for scanning. ”

Sharing of Information “How I found your site I GOOGLED the name of a local author Her book was copyrighted by a town The Town Council minutes were online They had been asked for permission by you to digitize the book; they declined But that’s where I found the reference to you I GOOGLED you Your collection has given me hours of research, and saved me countless hours more, besides giving me access to texts I never would have been able to otherwise see or imagine. Thank you!”

Quality Assurance • • • Users like to help! Web site problems Typos and structural metadata Poorly scanned images Indexing problems Suggestions for help information

What can we learn from the comments? • • • More promotion, particularly to researchers Clear copyright indicators Forums and other ‘social networking’ tools (Web 2. 0) Links to Amicus and other bibliographic location tools Links to online booksellers? Better context and integration with other sites More content More educational resources Keep up the good work!

Mallaig (Alberta) “Amazed to find you on a website as I come from the village of Mallaig on the West Coast of Scotland. I am interested to know whethere are connections between the two places. I understand the name of Mallaig is from Scottish Gaelic meaning a small bay. Our principle industry is fishing and all its related occupations, plus tourism. ”

“It was wonderful reading words written by my Baba (Nellie) so many years after her passing. ”