Now in preparation, later this semester a new Alcohol Studies Exhibit will be added to Digital Exhibits maintained by Rutgers University Libraries (RUL). Complementing our Alcohol Studies page listed under Digital Collections, the Alcohol Studies exhibit site will replace the Alcohol Studies Archive site currently hosted on the Omeka platform created in 2021.
Why
In an attempt to consolidate digital exhibits hosted on various RUL platforms, the Alcohol Studies Omeka site was chosen as one of the sites to be migrated to a more robust Drupal version. Sophistication, sustainability, and integration with RUcore are the most obvious reasons for the upgrade.
What
Originally meant as a prototype to share content from the Alcohol Studies Archives, the Omeka site features both Collections and Exhibits, about 200 items, among them 172 images. These are all included in RUcore in the Images section of the Alcohol Studies Collection, a total of 379 still images.
Building strictly on content hosted on the platform, the Omeka site presents four exhibits, all to be preserved on the new platform, including the main exhibit/about page and subsections of each.
- “Firsts” in Alcohol Studies
- CAS Publications
- 80 years of Summer School of Alcohol Studies
- The Mysterious E. M. Jellinek
A fifth exhibit, planned but never developed on Omeka, will also make it to the site from the drawing board as pilot. It will feature items from the rich Temperance collection preserved by former librarians and uploaded to RUcore in 2023. Additional exhibits are considered, too, to showcase the unique content of the collection.
How
Calling myself the luckiest person in the world of digital content creation, once again I was pleasantly surprised that the bulk of exhibits could be (and had already been) migrated by web developer Sam McDonald by early January.
The migration preserved the original structure of the four exhibits with subsections called “child” pages in Drupal. The platform also allows adding more same-level content called “sibling” pages, i.e., creating more subsets to the four existing exhibits and developing new exhibits with their own subsections.
Redesigning the original four exhibits is considered wherever new content (uploaded to RUcore since 2021) can add further value to the exhibit. The Drupal site will also include new or more detailed narratives and new or better quality images.
Building on content related to alcohol studies uploaded to RUcore (currently 1,233 items), the Alcohol Studies Collection and Alcohol Studies Exhibit will be cross linked wherever possible.
Who
Just like with any projects in alcohol studies over the decades, the “it takes a village” approach applies here, too. Partners on my previous projects, Sam McDonald and Isaiah Beard have been and will be instrumental in setting up the site, teaching me about Drupal both by jumpstarting the project and providing the necessary handholding later on, working with me on putting what’s only in my head on paper (or, in this case, screen), correcting my mistakes (practicing a high level of patience), and in general, providing a lot more than just the minimal tech support one needs for a digital projects.
As for content, the site will be benefiting tremendously from the work previously completed by Kate Greenberg on the Temperance collection. In 2023 she uploaded nearly 200 images digitized in the mid-2000’s by librarians at the center to RUcore, with descriptive metadata, originally part of the defunct Alcohol History Database.
Similar to the Digital Alcohol Studies Collection, the updated narratives on the Digital Alcohol Studies Exhibits pages will rely heavily on various publications related to alcohol studies history I co-authored with trusted former colleagues Bill Bejarano and Nick Allred, who continue to support this project with their contributions.
When
January – migrate & learn
- Omeka to Drupal migration (completed)
- Training on new platform (completed)
Early February – learn & modify
- Pilot 1: reorganizing content with the goal to improve site and add necessary features (completed)
- Pilot 2: developing new exhibit: Temperance (completed)
- Formatting: paragraphs, padding, captions, styles (completed)
- To do: wrapping, image sizing, TBD
Late February to late March – consolidate & improve
- Add content from collection/blog/ links where needed
- Check for duplication of content with RUL site
- Rearrange / replace images accordingly
- Consolidate captions to images (short, long, with or without links)
- Add new content (plan: Keller, Notable People)
- Review and consolidate narratives and captions
Early April – improve & finalize
- Delete dead links, replace old links, and add links to new content on migrated and newly added Exhibit pages if missed during development
- Convert Omeka links on Alcohol Studies Collection site to Exhibit pages before launching
- Locate and replace links pointing to Omeka pages or Sites@Rutgers content anywhere else, such as LibGuides
May – launch & promote
First impressions
The presentation of the four migrated exhibits gave me a general idea of the new platform, mostly positive so far. Instead of to single-image representations, the new site comes with the potential of arranging content in a box-like layout (called paragraphs) on the same page, which enhances the organization of content in a more meaningful way than just posting images after images with descriptive paragraphs.
I particularly like the ease of integrating images from the Alcohol Studies Collection in RUcore. The displayed image is directly linked to the RUcore page featuring its full background using RUcore ID. The caption text box boasts fully editable html and can offer links to further content allowing for a more exhibit-like experience with the added benefit of moving on to related content from this section, too.
Migrating only the exhibits from Omeka might be seen as a loss in content. However, the Alcohol Studies Collection has already preserved it all and more, including content from the current Sites@Rutgers pages. With the option to link out to the Alcohol Studies Collection page from the Exhibit, no content will be lost from the Omeka site. After all pages are consolidated, the potential duplication of content (and work) will also be eliminated.
All in all, building on previous projects, the new Alcohol Studies Exhibit looks like a worthwhile investment and, with experienced colleagues working in a well-established team setting, it is attainable by May and sustainable for the future.
