ATLAS

About

Alliance’s Trail to Learning-Casts and Syndicated Sites (ATLAS)
Alliance Library System (ALS) partnered with LearningTimes to create this innovative and exciting new model of collaborative digital imaging collections using multimedia and social networking tools to bring historical times to life and to involve community in the creation.

At the heart of the ATLAS project are digital images of historic people, places, documents and objects. The images are combined with audio descriptions and placed on a map of Illinois to produce an engaging new interactive learning model for libraries and their customers.

The project began with 10 short, high-quality podcasts about “Early Illinois Women and Other Unsung Heroes: The First One Hundred Years 1818-1918.” Produced by LearningTimes, each spotlights a specific person or topic area.

ATLAS visitors are able to mouse over a city in Illinois and select a story of one of these women, featuring engaging commentary and information.

A searchable database has been created to allow users to search sound files, photographs or animations using keywords. The programs may be enjoyed right from the ATLAS site, or downloaded by site visitors to a portable audio player.

Training Podcast Producers

The ATLAS site will support dozens of additional podcasts. To encourage continued growth and wide participation, LearningTimes trained over 50 librarians from all over the state to produce their own podcasts. Based on the popular LearningTimes program “Producing Great Audio and Video Podcasts,” these workshops offered concrete approaches for bringing each of the elements of a great podcast together.

Participants learned the practical skills and techniques they need to produce high-quality, highly engaging audio and video podcasts. Participants are expected to share two historical images which fit within the content of “early Illinois women” and will become part of the project website.

Funding

The ATLAS project was funded through a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Grant, from the Illinois State Library, a division of the Office of Secretary of State, through the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The LSTA goal is to expand services for learning and access to information and educational resources in a variety of formats, in all types of libraries, for individuals of all ages.